Why aren't adult porn games popular in general?

[allura404]

I don't think adult porn games are popular in general. Sexuality is something that the whole world is interested in every sense. Whether it's porn, hentai, pictures, gifs, videos, it's a very popular area with everything. Other than these things, I don't think adult porn games are popular enough. If we think outside the forum, most people are not even aware of these games. You couldn't come across any talk or humor about these games while surfing on the internet randomly. If you tell someone you're playing a porn game, it seems pretty weird to people. As I said, I wonder why these games are not popular enough when sexuality is something that people are interested in every sense. It may sound silly but just curious.

 

[Meaning Less]

I believe the simplest answer would be that Porn Games are a specific niche.

Even with non-porn content that is more spicy like game of thrones you will see that they only use implicit or soft porn, you won't be seeing a 10 minute explicit sex scene otherwise people that aren't in the mood for sex would just tune out of it.

Porn games are basically an attempt to mix the best of all worlds (good story, gameplay and sex), but that basically just creates another niche because people that just wanted a quick fap won't want to play a full game just to see sex and people that just want to play a good game won't want to sit through many explicit sex scenes taking focus out of the story.

Even within the porn game community you will find plenty of people that are going to fall in slightly different areas on what they are looking for, some just want to fap to quick 3Dcg kinetic novels, others want play 20 hours+ games with some sex on the side.

 

[allura404]

I believe the simplest answer would be that Porn Games are a specific niche.

Even with non-porn content that is more spicy like game of thrones you will see that they only use implicit or soft porn, you won't be seeing a 10 minute explicit sex scene otherwise people that aren't in the mood for sex would just tune out of it.

Porn games are basically an attempt to mix the best of all worlds (good story, gameplay and sex), but that basically just creates another niche because people that just wanted a quick fap won't want to play a full game just to see sex and people that just want to play a good game won't want to sit through many explicit sex scenes taking focus out of the story.

Even within the porn game community you will find plenty of people that are going to fall in slightly different areas on what they are looking for, some just want to fap to quick 3Dcg kinetic novels, others want play 20 hours+ games with some sex on the side.

Yeah, what you said makes a lot of sense. It can't be expected that porn games will become popular and classic like pictures, porn and videos, but I would expect it to become popular among the gamer community at least enough to be considered a game genre and people would have an ear familiarity with this genre. Even Being a Dik and Milfy City, which we can call the most popular adult games when compared to other normal games, are actually not that popular. Actually, it's not a very old industry, as far as I know. Maybe we can attribute the reason to this too. Maybe it will get more popular over time.

 

[Pretentious Goblin]

Compared to most of the alternatives (streaming video, hentai, 3D animations), what do games have to offer? A story (which often suck and are built around fetishes such as incest or corruption) and/or gameplay (which almost universally sucks compared to mainsteam games). In short, it's mostly a niche for certain fetishists. Most would just fap/schlick to mainstream/amateur porn and get on with it. Takes a lot less time, too.

I think there's also a wish-fulfillment aspect for some players, like they self-insert as the MC, and those games are more vanilla. By having a generic, relatable MC and a modicum of control over the story, those games offer something a non-interactive medium can't.

 

[Meaning Less]

Maybe it will get more popular over time.

It certainly is getting more popular, but I doubt it will ever reach the normal game industry because of it's niche approach.
Most gamers just want to play a good game and when they are horny they look for fanmade content around that game or parodies instead.

If we look at Japan where the Adult game market has matured for decades, even though there is a lot more acceptance around the subject and games get more popular it still is seen as a niche usually assigned to perverts when compared with normal games. And if the games are good enough to get an adaption for tv they then remove all explicit content in the process to make it more appealing for a larger audience.

 

[Hagatagar]

Because anything pornographic or somewhat sex-themed is still considered frowned upon in society and many do not (dare to) openly speak out about it.

 

[LVSTFVL]

People just like to touch grass more than get into niches, but at least it's growing.

 

[allura404]

Compared to most of the alternatives (streaming video, hentai, 3D animations), what do games have to offer? A story (which often suck and are built around fetishes such as incest or corruption) and/or gameplay (which almost universally sucks compared to mainsteam games). In short, it's mostly a niche for certain fetishists. Most would just fap/schlick to mainstream/amateur porn and get on with it. Takes a lot less time, too.

I think there's also a wish-fulfillment aspect for some players, like they self-insert as the MC, and those games are more vanilla. By having a generic, relatable MC and a modicum of control over the story, those games offer something a non-interactive medium can't.

I think there are games with models and scenes that will appeal to most people. Some games may even offer real-life experiences. It's hard to find a good game from all angles as it's not a very popular area. I think that if it was a more well-known field, much better quality works would of course be produced. As you said, people are turning to more easy consumable content for fap. So, the games are a bit counter to this orientation of the people. Although this is the biggest reason why it is not popular, I think this industry needs awareness. Maybe these games are what people are really looking for. But almost no one is aware of the existence of these games. Although the audience on this forum seems to be quite large, it is actually quite niche.

 

[allura404]

It certainly is getting more popular, but I doubt it will ever reach the normal game industry because of it's niche approach.
Most gamers just want to play a good game and when they are horny they look for fanmade content around that game or parodies instead.

If we look at Japan where the Adult game market has matured for decades, even though there is a lot more acceptance around the subject and games get more popular it still is seen as a niche usually assigned to perverts when compared with normal games. And if the games are good enough to get an adaption for tv they then remove all explicit content in the process to make it more appealing for a larger audience.

Japan was a good example. Japan is almost the capital of all sexual content. As it can be seen from sites such as Dlsite, there are quite a lot of Japanese games. If the games are not popular even in a place like Japan, it seems very difficult for them to be popular all over the world. But still this industry needs some form of advertising, it needs to be viral. Otherwise, it will continue to appeal to a niche audience and will not grow much.

 

[allura404]

Because anything pornographic or somewhat sex-themed is still considered frowned upon in society and many do not (dare to) openly speak out about it.

When I said people think it was weird, I didn't mean it exactly in that sense. It would be considered extra weird as it is an unknown sector. Contents of sexuality such as porn and hentai are quite common and humorous in normal conversational language on the internet.

 

[Losersriot]

Porn games are much more popular than porn. They bring their creators $1,000 a month. No ordinary porn will ever earn that much: try sale your home video lol

 

[Carrera]

Because anything pornographic or somewhat sex-themed is still considered frowned upon in society and many do not (dare to) openly speak out about it.

This

Just look at any given AAA game, I've beat this topic to death but it still holds true. Look at any mainstream game and you can have epic levels of violence, beheadings, ass murder, blood and guts everywhere and most are okey dokey with it, but you have ONE FUCKING SCENE in a strip club and people freak the fuck out about it.

SKIN IS EVIL!!!!ONEONE

Now people are also freaking out over smoking in games, no skin, no smoking, and gawd forbid you decide to make your protag a white guy.

 

[Carrera]

Porn games are much more popular than porn. They bring their creators $1,000 a month. No ordinary porn will ever earn that much.

As someone that produces porn and has as of right now about 400 full time employees that do everything in front and behind the camera you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.

 

[Losersriot]

right now about 400 full time employees that do everything in front and behind the camera.

...while you're sitting on a teen fanfic site?
Don't be late for school tomorrow

 

[Clown fish]

As I said, I wonder why these games are not popular enough when sexuality is something that people are interested in every sense. It may sound silly but just curious.

Because it's not specifically about sexuality, it's about how it's used.
I've read enough threads on sites that weren't designed for porn game themes, and I can tell you this, what scares most people away from our industry is that there are almost no good games.
What is considered here to be good games and which are praised in the comments, people unfamiliar with the industry won't even look in their direction, but rather will forget porn games forever.

 

[Carrera]

...while you're sitting on a teen fanfic site?
Don't be late for school tomorrow

And which teen fanfic sight would that be, oh all powerful psychic one?

 

[Losersriot]

And which teen fanfic sight would that be, oh all powerful psychic one?

THIS ONE

 

[woody554]

not very available, focus on story vs porn, are actively hidden by mainstream, and getting into them pretty much requires you first finding your way into these tiny questionable pockets of internet like this site. a lot of filters before a random dude gets here.

what it's not caused by is lack of interest.

 

[allura404]

Porn games are much more popular than porn. They bring their creators $1,000 a month. No ordinary porn will ever earn that much: try sale your home video lol

If you can market yourself well on social media in terms of sexuality, you can gain fame and money very easily. A game has no chance of becoming more popular than real life content. You don't even need to be naked, people can become famous very easily even by giving a cleavage. As I said, for someone who knows how to market themselves well, it is very easy to pass even the highest grossing devs such as Milfy City and Summertime Saga.

Today, masturbation is almost as indispensable as water and food. People meet this need with porn pictures and videos. Porn games can't be expected to become as popular as content such as porn, pictures and videos but it should have created a familiarity in people. Many people are unaware of this industry, and I wondered why porn games weren't gaining enough popularity at a time when sexual content was so popular in almost every aspect.

 

[CocoVC]

Porn games are at a cross-section of pornography, erotica,comic books, and video games- all of which provide better and more quality pieces of work than porn games themselves. Want to just fap to sexy images? Porn (professional, amateur, homemade) does it better. Want to read sexy stories? Literotica and Wattpad have more stories than you can ask for. Want to add a bit of sexiness in your video games? Just download a NSFW mod and install it into your game.
Porn games combine all three and it is not easy to pull off. And a big factor is probably "what DO people expect when they hear 'porn game'?" Is it a visual novel with sex elements? A match-3 game with nude girls? Or a VR game where the person can have sex with the NPCs in the game? That's where we are right now.