Western style games are more popular on Patreon. Anime style - on Steam. Why?

[Girm Ork]

I've checked out Patreon statistics here:

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and aside from Monster Girl Island I don't see any major anime-style game.

But it is a different story on Steam. Almost all popular adult games here are in 2D and with anime-style art. You probably know them: Nekopara, Mirror, Hunie Pop.
Also, it is almost impossible to find a DAZ-studio-based game on the Steam top, while games like Milf City or Parental Love are very successful on Patreon.

Why it is so different?

 

[redknight00]

Because the bulk of japanese games are released finished, most western games are released in-development.

 

[Guntag]

I'm not a game developper, so I might not have all the details necessary to answer. In my opinion, it depends on availability, not on preference. The DAZ-games are first developped and founded on Patreon, then sometimes made available on Steam. Most players interested in those games already get them through Patreon and don't pay again to get them from Steam. On the opposite, all the popular 2D games you mention are released complete, as mentioned in the post above, and they can be released directly on Steam.

 

[Girm Ork]

Because the bulk of japanese games are released finished, most western games are released in-development.

Yeah, it is almost impossible to release something like Mirror as an in-development game. While Patreon games are usually visual novels and it is easy to update them.
On the other hand, why nobody is releasing Japanese visual novels on Patreon?

The DAZ-games are first developped and founded on Patreon, then sometimes made available on Steam

I saw some games really popular on Patreon, but not on Steam. I have a feeling that the Steam audience has a different taste. Steam players are very attractive to cute (and sometimes too young) anime girls drawn in 2D.

 

[Crimson Delight Games]

Could be because westerners are more likely to support ongoing projects that cater to their interests, whereas people from Asia or wherever prefer a finished product from a reputable company. Just a gut feeling, this is based on no evidence whatsoever.

 

[Story Anon]

Professional releases done by JP companies or the western companies who licensed and translated them as opposed to the many indie VN developers that rely on Patreon.

The answer probably makes more sense if you flip the question on it's head and ask "Why aren't there more western VNs on Steam?" and it's mostly because getting that sort of content onto the platform is a coin toss at best, imho.

 

[Girm Ork]

Probably because they have pretty vague, yet draconian rules about bestiality, incest, or anything else that could be interpreted as less than 110% consensual.

Steam is showing every game to its target audience via visibility rounds. They don't really want some "normie" player to see a game about a beast raping his mother in his recommendation feed.
Patreon, otherwise, is not showing anything to a wide audience.

 

[Crimson Delight Games]

69 others
It's not even Patreon's fault, it's the payment processors who refuse to be associated with pornographic material.