I'm not trying to start anything, I just feel like the majority of western adult games are from Russian developers which is interesting. Like is there a bigger market for adult games in Russia or something?
Is it a coincidence that so many adult game developers are Russian?
- Thread starter mazqaz
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- Aug 26, 2016
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While there a lot, but doesn't mean it's majority. There's many came from Central Europe like Spain, Italy, France & Portugal. There's a lot from South American too. Maybe you think all "Engrish" game made by Russian, are incorrect. It just Russia had better population as 1 country that make looks they are majority. But if you count only Western "Russian Dev aren't half from total" you see in here.
There are also developer from Asia continent "That aren't make Japan Hentai games". Their game appearance using 3D / DAZ asset games are the same as any others western developers. The "market" of porn games are popular for an amateur games developer from a weak economy country.
For example, Russia Minimum Wage is 10.000~15.000 Ruble. Any developer from Russia who donated in Patreon for +$200, it's already matched with the lower worker salary rate. If the game donation reach $1.000 ... that Russian Developer already live like senior office wage. Same condition to my country in South East Asia.
So the market aren't the country, but depend how powerful their country economy. I would be amazed if there's a developer from North America who made a lot of effort to make a game and paid less than $1.000 per month ... even Garbage collector paid more than that in USA.
There are also developer from Asia continent "That aren't make Japan Hentai games". Their game appearance using 3D / DAZ asset games are the same as any others western developers. The "market" of porn games are popular for an amateur games developer from a weak economy country.
For example, Russia Minimum Wage is 10.000~15.000 Ruble. Any developer from Russia who donated in Patreon for +$200, it's already matched with the lower worker salary rate. If the game donation reach $1.000 ... that Russian Developer already live like senior office wage. Same condition to my country in South East Asia.
So the market aren't the country, but depend how powerful their country economy. I would be amazed if there's a developer from North America who made a lot of effort to make a game and paid less than $1.000 per month ... even Garbage collector paid more than that in USA.
- Dec 4, 2016
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Russia has the 9th largest population on earth so it shouldnt be surprising that a fair number of adult game developers hail from that nation. However I think underlying reason that it seems like there is a disproportionate number of games of Russian origin is that the in-game dialogue and menus, when translated from Russian to English (both machine-translated and translated by a native Russian speaker with a large but imperfect knowledge of English), has a very particular look to it with certain patterns and idiosyncrasies that can make it seem obvious the author is Russian. There are also certain games where I can subconsciously tell that the developer is a native Spanish or maybe Portuguese speaker.
- May 30, 2017
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No, but they sure know how to milk westerners though.
When they don't steal their credit cards and pass for patrons themselves to steal patreon pages' content (based on my personal experience).
- May 8, 2017
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Yeah, most devs on Patreon is russian. That's not because they have some great market but because:
- They have almost no restrictions when it comes to law. They can do whatever and they can copy whatever as copyright are also more or less dead in Russia.
- They are poor. Typical American is not aware of that fact that Russia is on a similiar level as all these African countries when it comes to their income. Except for a military and a couple main cities, Russia is a 3rd world country in which you can live much better than averege if your patreon has 1k$ income. Hell, even with 500$ you can do that.
It all comes to money
- They have almost no restrictions when it comes to law. They can do whatever and they can copy whatever as copyright are also more or less dead in Russia.
- They are poor. Typical American is not aware of that fact that Russia is on a similiar level as all these African countries when it comes to their income. Except for a military and a couple main cities, Russia is a 3rd world country in which you can live much better than averege if your patreon has 1k$ income. Hell, even with 500$ you can do that.
It all comes to money
Besides the money / wage issue, another thing is that Russian culture is actually quite close to (North Western) European / Anglo Saxon culture.
Much more so than the another big adult content producer: Japan.
There are of course differences, such as the fact that Russian women usually have a softer, more subservient role than in Western Europe / North America, but in general the culture is similar.
Which leads to stories which (if well written) are more believable and enjoyable for Europeans / Americans.
I mean, Japanese games are often completely incomprehensible to a Westerner.
Much more so than the another big adult content producer: Japan.
There are of course differences, such as the fact that Russian women usually have a softer, more subservient role than in Western Europe / North America, but in general the culture is similar.
Which leads to stories which (if well written) are more believable and enjoyable for Europeans / Americans.
I mean, Japanese games are often completely incomprehensible to a Westerner.
- Sep 18, 2017
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There are always Russians where you can make some money on the Internet.
- Sep 1, 2017
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I'll also add that a lot of Russian coders are very good. They clearly do a good job over there teaching people how to write software.
You'd probably be surprised how much software you use every day that was written, at least in part, by Russian coders. And I'm not just talking about adult games.
You'd probably be surprised how much software you use every day that was written, at least in part, by Russian coders. And I'm not just talking about adult games.
- Apr 27, 2017
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You have to take into account the opportunities or lack of them in Russia, they may have a large population, the sixth largest economy in the world(just below Italy) and a strange legal situation. In short internet business is more attractive for a Russian than for other industrialised nations, a dollar is worth more to them than someone in the euro or £, you could say that while living on 14K dollars from patreon would be extremely tough for a Brit or American, convert that to ruble and well, it doesn't seem so bad.
- Jul 31, 2018
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Yeah, when I see a Patreon goal that says "If I can reach $1,000/month in Patrons, I can quit my job and work on this game full time" I am pretty sure they are not in the U.S.
(Just from some casual research I also discovered Patreon files with the IRS if you make more than $20,000 in a calendar year. I know you are *supposed* to report any income regardless, but damn, if you made $19,999 in a calendar year, you could theoretically clear $19,999. Hit $20,000, and you are out a huge chunk of that as an independent contractor. Something to think about when you check the list of what Patreons are making/month gross)
- Aug 9, 2016
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Well, according to Graphtreon, there are 2,226 Adult Game makers with 1+ patron. I firmly do not believe the majority is Russian.
Is there a sizeable portion? Maybe (or at least it may appear to be), considering that :
- Russians are collectively infamous for various reasons (grindycopycat games, alleged/actual milking, etc.) which makes their presence more prevalent. If someone stumbles across a handful of, say, French devs he won't pay attention. Russian tend to stick out more.
- There was a flourishing "professional" Russian porn game industry for many years. Think of your average VN but with real hired actors and original video circulating in DVDs. That helped spark a culture around it.
- The Russian amateur porn dev community has also been strong and around for many years, and they were quite supportive of each other, resulting in many people dipping their toes into game-making (especially with the early surge of QSP).
- As others mentioned, it's far easier for someone from Russia to make a living out of donations/Patreon than it is for someone in other countries. E.g. Avenger (of SoB) initially asked for a 200 ruble donation for the next 3 releases. That's ~$0.7 per release and still what he gathered was non-negligible. Depending on where you live, you might need to make upwards of 10x the average Russian income to sustain yourself.
Is there a sizeable portion? Maybe (or at least it may appear to be), considering that :
- Russians are collectively infamous for various reasons (grindycopycat games, alleged/actual milking, etc.) which makes their presence more prevalent. If someone stumbles across a handful of, say, French devs he won't pay attention. Russian tend to stick out more.
- There was a flourishing "professional" Russian porn game industry for many years. Think of your average VN but with real hired actors and original video circulating in DVDs. That helped spark a culture around it.
- The Russian amateur porn dev community has also been strong and around for many years, and they were quite supportive of each other, resulting in many people dipping their toes into game-making (especially with the early surge of QSP).
- As others mentioned, it's far easier for someone from Russia to make a living out of donations/Patreon than it is for someone in other countries. E.g. Avenger (of SoB) initially asked for a 200 ruble donation for the next 3 releases. That's ~$0.7 per release and still what he gathered was non-negligible. Depending on where you live, you might need to make upwards of 10x the average Russian income to sustain yourself.
You say it 100% right man.
Iam from central europe and wage about 1500 is pretty nice.
Being here in the states myself I can say $1500 a month is not a livable wage. I don't do this for a living but I don't make a lot of money either. The big goal is to build a better Render Rig. Ptolemy is in Romania so it's a lot to him. $1500 is about what my 3 bedroom house cost to rent with 2 other people. not a big house either
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- Oct 27, 2018
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People have explained pretty well, why there are so many Eastern European devs (not only Russians, btw, most if not all of the ex-communist block countries share a few things - pretty good educational base turning out people with good skills, weak economies (1500$ is freakishly good) and lackluster copyright enforcement) in gaming as a whole. I've noticed that in many of those countries the culture surrounding sex is much more different than in the West.
Also, it seems a lot of people need to go and re-study their geography. Just saying, Spain and Portugal are not in Central Europe.
Also, it seems a lot of people need to go and re-study their geography. Just saying, Spain and Portugal are not in Central Europe.
You sait it rightPeople have explained pretty well, why there are so many Eastern European devs (not only Russians, btw, most if not all of the ex-communist block countries share a few things - pretty good educational base turning out people with good skills, weak economies (1500$ is freakishly good) and lackluster copyright enforcement) in gaming as a whole. I've noticed that in many of those countries the culture surrounding sex is much more different than in the West.
Also, it seems a lot of people need to go and re-study their geography. Just saying, Spain and Portugal are not in Central Europe.
In Czech here it is 100% as you said.