Why are adult 3dcg games more financially successful than real adult 3D games?

[joecoe]

There are few games and visual novels where developers make significant amounts of money. But I've noticed that among these games, visual novels or games using Ren'Py usually bring a lot more money to developers than real 3d games using engines like Unreal Engine or Unity.
I know a lot of 3D games don't have much content. But there are well rated 3D games like Last Hope, that have a decent amount of content, but still, the amount of money they make isn't exactly impressive.
What do you think the reason is? Do most adult game players have a computer without a decent graphics card that can handle Ren'Py but not actual 3D games, so the potential player base of adult 3D games is smaller?

 

[obibobi]

This one isn't hard to answer, ultimately what most people want out of a sex "game" is the story.

Last Hope is a decent game, women are hot and scenes are well animated, but the gameplay is a bit janky and the story is skeletal. The gameplay doesn't combine well with the sex element and that's true for most devs who insert gameplay.

NLT are one of the best around at developing gameplay, but their last game, The Genesis Order, the effort that has gone into, the work these guys do, puts some of the top earners to shame, but it has been met with luke warm reception because of its story and characters.

 

[Count Morado]

Take Wild Life, for example; it's essentially a 3D animation viewer with over 11,000 patrons, likely earning more than $50,000 per month.

Adeptus Steve is the #1 adult game creator on Patreon when using monthly earnings. (Dark Cookie is the #1 for subscriber numbers, but monthly earnings are less).

Before they hid their monthly earning, Adeptus Steve was bringing in big money - as high as $113k per month in early-to-mid 2022. Still, though - they are around $90K, currently.

 

[Winterfire]

There are few games and visual novels where developers make significant amounts of money. But I've noticed that among these games, visual novels or games using Ren'Py usually bring a lot more money to developers than real 3d games using engines like Unreal Engine or Unity.
I know a lot of 3D games don't have much content. But there are well rated 3D games like Last Hope, that have a decent amount of content, but still, the amount of money they make isn't exactly impressive.
What do you think the reason is? Do most adult game players have a computer without a decent graphics card that can handle Ren'Py but not actual 3D games, so the potential player base of adult 3D games is smaller?

Most people playing these games fap in their bathroom with their 100 dollars chinese phone. Some might have a computer where they decide to put porn as well, but how many of those have a mid-range setup to be able to run those real time 3d games? I'd say not many.

 

[MarshmallowCasserole]

There are financially successful 3D games. project helios, breeders of nephilim, subverse, pure onyx. Wild life was already mentioned.

I know a lot of 3D games don't have much content.

That's the reason. Another one is that making good 3D physics simulator is hard, while in 3DCG an artist can do it by hand convincingly.

 

[Winterfire]

So, why aren't you creating official android port for your games? To reduce playerbase

Because part of my game is real time 3D, as for my older projects, back then (assuming that has changed) you couldn't make android build of a game over 2gb.

 

[obibobi]

With nearly 13,000 patrons, they have established themselves as one of the top earners in the industry, if not the top.

NLT has shaped its player base by creating incest themes from comic book times to their early games. However, as they gained popularity, they transitioned to producing content focused on vanilla themes.

I know they are one of the top, they earned it and by sex game standards Genesis Order is way ahead of most of the competition in terms of effort put into it.

But the common complaint about the Genesis Order is about the story and characters, which is the bread and butter of most sex games. Genesis Order is the same as Treasures of Nadia in the having characters that treat the MC as family but totally aren't related, the Incest theme is close to non-existent in both.