Idea for an adult game site
- Thread starter DoAdventures
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- Nov 20, 2017
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Still too late, I was faster.
It shocked me that a few deleted their account cause of this and Sam disable the ability for users to deleted their own account temporally because of this.
Well... I actually was online when from one refresh to the other the messege popped up.Still too late, I was faster.
It shocked me that a few deleted their account cause of this and Sam disable the ability for users to deleted their own account temporally because of this.
And...
But enough derailing of this thread.
- Jan 21, 2022
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It looks like the credit card companies may be walking back some of their more extreme restrictions on adult content, which is great news for all of us in the NSFW space.
But here's the thing: even with that shift, most adult devs I’ve spoken to still believe we may still need our own platform.
A platform that’s:
Built for NSFW creators from day one
Not afraid of adult content or hiding it
Transparent and creator-first
And let’s be real: if the payment processors are becoming less restrictive, there’s absolutely nothing stopping a dedicated platform from offering devs a better deal, like a 90/10 revenue split instead of Steam’s 70/30.
I'm not trying to be a bloated corporate storefront. I'm focused on a lean, dev-friendly. No pointless censorship, and no hoops to jump through.
This is about building a home for creators where discovery, freedom, and fair pay come first.
If you're a developer, fan, or even just someone tired of walking on eggshells with mainstream platforms like I am, I'm going to continue on this venture and if it can be something, brilliant! If it can't and we continue to have steam, Patreon and SS (Even better)
But here's the thing: even with that shift, most adult devs I’ve spoken to still believe we may still need our own platform.
A platform that’s:
Built for NSFW creators from day one
Not afraid of adult content or hiding it
Transparent and creator-first
And let’s be real: if the payment processors are becoming less restrictive, there’s absolutely nothing stopping a dedicated platform from offering devs a better deal, like a 90/10 revenue split instead of Steam’s 70/30.
I'm not trying to be a bloated corporate storefront. I'm focused on a lean, dev-friendly. No pointless censorship, and no hoops to jump through.
This is about building a home for creators where discovery, freedom, and fair pay come first.
If you're a developer, fan, or even just someone tired of walking on eggshells with mainstream platforms like I am, I'm going to continue on this venture and if it can be something, brilliant! If it can't and we continue to have steam, Patreon and SS (Even better)
"It looks like the credit card companies may be walking back some of their more extreme restrictions on adult content," - source please. i am really curious
but another platform is still needed (as you said). steam rules are weird, not known. they ban games for no reason (before this shitstorm i mean). no appeal. no way to reverse the ban, correct the game etc.
- Nov 20, 2017
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I doubt that any new platform will have more "freedom" than any who is currently already there. You can adjust the split from the money in the range of 100% me / 0% game devs to x % me / 1-x % game dev, where x is defined by the absolute minimum money you need to have to keep that platform running. And if you concentrate on only a few devs with not so much revenue, that per cent will be relativity high.
Eg. from a real seller you pay $8 per month for 100 GB, thus I assume the 100 GB will get you at best space for 20 games. Then using the data from our count and assuming they all earn $250 per month. Thus: $8/$250/20 will would mean 0.16% of the revenue you need for the web hosting alone. Assuming your from US and work on the page 20% of your time and therefore using 20% of 100% the average salary of $5400 get you $1080. Now your minimum per month is $1088 and with the same base calculation you minimum fee would become 22%.
Therefore I doubt you will have success. You have all the established platform against yourself and need to find a market where you can exist beside them. As the Patreon with its current rule exist since a long time and most game devs have adjust their games to that. Also has still Subscribestar less supporters than Patreon.
Peerverter has 720 supporters on Patreon and only 203 on Subscribstar, therefore having a income of $2300 on Subscribestar and $8150 on Patreon (based on the same numbers, what is open for debate).
Assuming you have 20 Peerverter and your platform will get 20% of attention (and income) than Subscribestar is getting; thus:
$1088/(20%*$2300*20) = 12%
Q.E.D.
Their house their rules. On this site when you ask for identification of "8 year old class having sex with teacher game" game, you get the one way ticket out of the board too:
And obviously I believe that a new platform will also has some case, where you get the instantly, no appealable ban too (eg. adding virus/malicious code to your game).
Thanks for running the numbers, genuinely. It’s good to have realism at the table too.I doubt that any new platform will have more "freedom" than any who is currently already there. You can adjust the split from the money in the range of 100% me / 0% game devs to x % me / 1-x % game dev, where x is defined by the absolute minimum money you need to have to keep that platform running. And if you concentrate on only a few devs with not so much revenue, that per cent will be relativity high.
Eg. from a real seller you pay $8 per month for 100 GB, thus I assume the 100 GB will get you at best space for 20 games. Then using the data from our count and assuming they all earn $250 per month. Thus: $8/$250/20 will would mean 0.16% of the revenue you need for the web hosting alone. Assuming your from US and work on the page 20% of your time and therefore using 20% of 100% the average salary of $5400 get you $1080. Now your minimum per month is $1088 and with the same base calculation you minimum fee would become 22%.
Therefore I doubt you will have success. You have all the established platform against yourself and need to find a market where you can exist beside them. As the Patreon with its current rule exist since a long time and most game devs have adjust their games to that. Also has still Subscribestar less supporters than Patreon.
Peerverter has 720 supporters on Patreon and only 203 on Subscribstar, therefore having a income of $2300 on Subscribestar and $8150 on Patreon (based on the same numbers, what is open for debate).
Assuming you have 20 Peerverter and your platform will get 20% of attention (and income) than Subscribestar is getting; thus:
$1088/(20%*$2300*20) = 12%
Q.E.D.
Their house their rules. On this site when you ask for identification of "8 year old class having sex with teacher game" game, you get the one way ticket out of the board too:
View attachment 5069705
And obviously I believe that a new platform will also has some case, where you get the instantly, no appealable ban too (eg. adding virus/malicious code to your game).
But here’s the thing: I don’t see this as a “clone of Patreon/Subscribestar” with the same overheads or assumptions. I'm not trying to build another massive monolith with armies of staff, layers of corporate policy, or an all-purpose platform. The core aim is to serve NSFW creators with targeted tools, transparency, and a respect for freedom of expression that existing platforms increasingly lack.
You're right, most platforms need 15–30% just to stay afloat. But there are alternative models emerging:
- Open-source infrastructure
- Serverless architecture or decentralization
- Revenue pooling with capped margins
- Voluntary tipping/boosting for the platform itself
- Self-hosted storefronts + cooperative network effects
And on the Peerverter numbers, sure, maybe Subscribestar is smaller than Patreon, but it still pays creators without micromanaging their content. The demand for freedom is real. Creators are just waiting for a viable, trustworthy alternative that doesn’t feel like a downgrade in UX or community.
This is early days. But saying we can’t find a better balance between fairness and sustainability, especially in a niche under attack, is exactly the defeatist mindset that lets gatekeepers win.
If we stay small, agile, transparent, and creator-led, then even a 90/10 or 85/15 split becomes achievable, especially if the platform’s own content succeeds alongside it.
Appreciate the pushback and I'll be the first to say it will need refining.
some rules need to be set, and yes. But steam has a very totalitarian rules, which is not really acceptable. Sure they are not the only one who do that.
as for the first part of the comment. sure, it's hard, sure you might not succed. But i think is has to be done. Also many of the very successful business at this moment started with little chance of succeeding. I i don't want to say that this site might be a multibillion company in a few years, I'm just pointing out that it is possible
and that the only failure is to not try. Especially given what happens ATM on the internet
- Nov 20, 2017
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My few thoughts on that:
Also my calculation was simple at some point you need to invest your time into/manpower into it, that is simple a cost point (and the major one). This is the $1000/month the rest is just $8 even if it would be $100 it will still be just 10% of the cost of manpower.
Thus it does not really matter which architecture you use for the cost, it will still be manpower + technical cost and usually manpower << technical cost.
Also you see this with the eyes of game devs. I see it with the eyes of a buyer/supporter/player. I simple don't really care - also Steam and co. don't advertise it - how much their cut is. What I care is the end price of a product, if they give me something I can't get anywhere else legally and the security of the shop and payment methods and the accessibility.
Generally (for me):
If it is a passion project and you do it in your free time than it is another case.
And also as since Patreon delete some games (cause incest and violating their ToS) nothing (beside Subscribestar) has come into the light, so I believe it first, if I see it.
Most of them need time and also don't much of direct control. And you will need to have some level of control (obviously in my eyes) just to remove the bad actors who will use the platform for their schemes and violate law (not Terms and Service, just plain and simple state laws).
Also my calculation was simple at some point you need to invest your time into/manpower into it, that is simple a cost point (and the major one). This is the $1000/month the rest is just $8 even if it would be $100 it will still be just 10% of the cost of manpower.
Thus it does not really matter which architecture you use for the cost, it will still be manpower + technical cost and usually manpower << technical cost.
Also you see this with the eyes of game devs. I see it with the eyes of a buyer/supporter/player. I simple don't really care - also Steam and co. don't advertise it - how much their cut is. What I care is the end price of a product, if they give me something I can't get anywhere else legally and the security of the shop and payment methods and the accessibility.
Generally (for me):
- I don't use the dark net
- I don't use crypto coins, as most of them are volatile and make it impossible to know what you really pay (in fiat currency) and what was your loss (or win)
- You will have no reputation at first, therefore my willingness to share credit card details, ... is low
- You most likely will have not many exclusive content, thus I can get to the "competition" and eg. add those well know patches to get access to content those platform don't allow
If it is a passion project and you do it in your free time than it is another case.
And also as since Patreon delete some games (cause incest and violating their ToS) nothing (beside Subscribestar) has come into the light, so I believe it first, if I see it.
Totally fair take and I agree with a lot of what you said.My few thoughts on that:
Most of them need time and also don't much of direct control. And you will need to have some level of control (obviously in my eyes) just to remove the bad actors who will use the platform for their schemes and violate law (not Terms and Service, just plain and simple state laws).
Also my calculation was simple at some point you need to invest your time into/manpower into it, that is simple a cost point (and the major one). This is the $1000/month the rest is just $8 even if it would be $100 it will still be just 10% of the cost of manpower.
Thus it does not really matter which architecture you use for the cost, it will still be manpower + technical cost and usually manpower << technical cost.
Also you see this with the eyes of game devs. I see it with the eyes of a buyer/supporter/player. I simple don't really care - also Steam and co. don't advertise it - how much their cut is. What I care is the end price of a product, if they give me something I can't get anywhere else legally and the security of the shop and payment methods and the accessibility.
Generally (for me):
In your case:
- I don't use the dark net
- I don't use crypto coins, as most of them are volatile and make it impossible to know what you really pay (in fiat currency) and what was your loss (or win)
So, I see, business wise critical that this will become successful and I define success as simple as that it can pay all the cost (technical + manpower) that its generate (also for the manpower just average salary that let you live in the country without being poor).
- You will have no reputation at first, therefore my willingness to share credit card details, ... is low
- You most likely will have not many exclusive content, thus I can get to the "competition" and eg. add those well know patches to get access to content those platform don't allow
If it is a passion project and you do it in your free time than it is another case.
And also as since Patreon delete some games (cause incest and violating their ToS) nothing (beside Subscribestar) has come into the light, so I believe it first, if I see it.
You're absolutely right that manpower is the biggest ongoing cost, and without a strong base of trust, reputation, and legal clarity, no platform will scale, no matter the tech stack. The ideas I listed (serverless, open-source, tipping, etc.) are less about solving all problems at once, and more about seeding a foundation that’s harder to be co-opted or censored long term. The idea isn’t to run from laws, it’s to build something resilient within them, with transparency and creator input baked in.
And yes, buyers absolutely want convenience, safety, and trust. That’s the challenge: how do we create those conditions in a space that’s been repeatedly undercut by unclear rules, platform purges, and opaque moderation? Steam has the reach, but not the stability for many 18+ devs. So a new platform, if it ever exists has to work from both ends (dev and buyer), or it’s just another failed passion project.
Anyway, your points are well made, and I appreciate the honesty. This isn’t easy to solve. But if we don't explore alternatives, we stay vulnerable to the whims of those who already have the power to silence entire genres overnight.
- Nov 20, 2017
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I would really like to see another platform that is legal and is "good" enough to compete with all the others, even if it is only in the small subset of adult game, legal but shunned on.
My impression is, that very often the time and work something like this needs (or same for the "I'm new, want to do a AVN and life from it") is not realistic considered. Therefore, I try to show this site and for every successful business/dev/ideas they always are many more unsuccessful ones. Doing anything with the goal of becoming professional will you first cost you time and most often money too and it is never sure that you will get any of the money you invested back.
This is different with making an AVN as the cost there can be zero to invest (even with a toaster as a PC) and so it is only time you need to invest. Here, regardless of it, this will cost money.
As I'm thinking about it, ASLPro3D perhaps something for you or you may have some inputs for that.
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- Jun 10, 2017
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Totally agree, and the unrealistic part apply all way.
Unrealistic estimate of the works to do.
It will handle financial transaction, the traffic must be monitored 24/24 by highly competent persons.
It will be something professional, the servers must be monitored 24/24 by people that can fix them as soon as possible.
Unrealistic estimate of the cost.
F95Zone is just a forum, and yet there's
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, plus 6 for the extra parts. And 24/24 availability being optional, redundancy isn't a key factor here.To this you have to add the salary for the guys monitoring the traffic and the ones monitoring the servers, plus the ones that will have to deal with the users issues.
You can possibly have they works from home, but then you better have a really good lawyer wrote their contract if you want to avoid possible issues. And, of course, the alternative is to rend a workplace.
Unrealistic estimate of the competition.
When Patreon started its ban, members searched alternatives. Except SubscribeStar, all were too shady (more than SubscribeStar...), but it's something like a tenth platform that were named.
Just counting the big names, for the adult games market there's already dlsite, itch.io, Patreon, SubscribeStar and Steam. Even if only dlsite and Steam are direct competitors, the three others still count since they are used to fund the games. And this is without counting the crowdfunding platforms.
So, it will be yet another site, that will have to stand out. And it's something that is far to be easy; someone else is trying since few weeks already.
Unrealistic estimate of the legal issues.
It's a platform that will serve as intermediary for financial transactions. Soon or later it will draw the attention of the authorities, and you'll need at least one person competent enough to understand their language (they'll speak English, but legal English), understand what it imply, and understand how to answer and what response to implement; then you'll need someone competent to actually implement it the right way.
After, this doesn't mean that you can't succeed with a small team and small cost. But this will be at the price of the trust, professionalism and security. And you'll still have to be able to cover the costs, whatever how small they'll be, until it starts to pay.
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You're getting old or does the week where you life have 24 days?
I would add
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, as well as Epic (which through you can, as we know since Epic vs. Apple, access itch...) here.Taking that up, they might speak English. If the platform is active for many regions - saying all where it can be legally active - then you need to work with 100 of difference countries and 100 of difference legal system. So, one competent person may help you for, in the best case, a group of countries with similar laws - the person still need to read all those law in details as he can't know every law from even only a dozen countries and devil is in the details.
Thus, you need to work with a big enough, global accredited law firm and that cost a lot of money ($|£|€|CHF|... 300/h to up to over $|£|€|CHF|... 1000/h - and as it is global and big enough one, take the more expensive hours rate).
And that is without countries like China, Russian, United Arab Emirates, ..., where you need a (good) lawyer for this type of things to just understand what is illegal and what will only get your the "heat" from the local government.
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- Jun 10, 2017
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I'm still young enough to know that there's 24 hours a day.You're getting old or does the week where you life have 24 days?
Which I could say the same for you.
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We both know that currently length of a day is 86 400.002 seconds and most likely, will even get longer.I'm still young enough to know that there's 24 hours a day.
Which I could say the same for you.
But ok, you mean it as that, I thought you mean 24/7.
MissCougar
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Honestly I think you would have more success trying to convince the world that payment processors can't act like moral guardians and bypass regional laws because "they don't like something" and block it and be more or less a service than you would trying to navigate laws and payment processors to try to set up what seems like a quasi-legal webpage that will effectively exist up until it gets on someone's radar and is then taken care of and you all get taken down notices or worse.
It seems like you are not taking a moral high ground and trying to think you don't need to police content or have good moderation if you have a good ToS. This feels very dangerous and like a path you don't want to go down.
Hagatagar made some real good points on the last page and I hope you see those very well.
- Dec 17, 2020
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> devs first
> 90/10 split
What is the 10% split for?
Patreon has a massive userbase and only gets ~8%. Steam takes 30% sure, but has a userbase of hundreds of millions. I could see an argument for 5% or maybe even 10% if you'd a couple years behind you and a userbase but starting off with 10% is....ballsy to say the least.
> 90/10 split
What is the 10% split for?
Patreon has a massive userbase and only gets ~8%. Steam takes 30% sure, but has a userbase of hundreds of millions. I could see an argument for 5% or maybe even 10% if you'd a couple years behind you and a userbase but starting off with 10% is....ballsy to say the least.
Thanks for the thoughtful responses, I really do appreciate people taking the time to lay out concerns in good faith. Just to be clear: I'm not walking into this blind. I’m aware of the technical, legal, and operational complexities involved in setting up a platform like this. Payment processors, server infrastructure, global compliance, customer support, all of it.
When I talk about a "dev-friendly platform" or a better rev split like 90/10, it's not from a place of naivety. It’s from a place of frustration. As creators, we’ve watched platforms clamp down on NSFW content, not because of law, but because of pressure, often from payment processors or activist groups. We’re already working under constant threat of losing income, visibility, or access to our own audiences.
And yes moderation, security, and legal compliance matter. A good ToS isn’t a magic shield. But we’ve seen time and again that platforms use those things as an excuse for overreach or outright censorship. I believe it's possible to build a space where adult content isn't treated as radioactive, where rules are clear, moderation is responsible, and freedom and safety aren't mutually exclusive.
As for the revenue split, I completely agree it sounds ambitious. But it’s meant to be. It’s not based on matching Steam or Patreon’s user base, it’s based on building leaner, purpose-driven infrastructure, not bloated corporate overhead. If there’s any advantage to starting small, it’s being agile enough to make the economics more creator-friendly.
If this never goes beyond discussion, that’s fine, we still benefit from talking about it. But dismissing the entire idea as “unrealistic” just reinforces the current status quo, and personally, I think creators deserve better than that.
When I talk about a "dev-friendly platform" or a better rev split like 90/10, it's not from a place of naivety. It’s from a place of frustration. As creators, we’ve watched platforms clamp down on NSFW content, not because of law, but because of pressure, often from payment processors or activist groups. We’re already working under constant threat of losing income, visibility, or access to our own audiences.
And yes moderation, security, and legal compliance matter. A good ToS isn’t a magic shield. But we’ve seen time and again that platforms use those things as an excuse for overreach or outright censorship. I believe it's possible to build a space where adult content isn't treated as radioactive, where rules are clear, moderation is responsible, and freedom and safety aren't mutually exclusive.
As for the revenue split, I completely agree it sounds ambitious. But it’s meant to be. It’s not based on matching Steam or Patreon’s user base, it’s based on building leaner, purpose-driven infrastructure, not bloated corporate overhead. If there’s any advantage to starting small, it’s being agile enough to make the economics more creator-friendly.
If this never goes beyond discussion, that’s fine, we still benefit from talking about it. But dismissing the entire idea as “unrealistic” just reinforces the current status quo, and personally, I think creators deserve better than that.