Why aren't adult porn games popular in general?

[chainedpanda]

I think this is a multi-prong problem that many could write a small book about.

I haven't read the other posts, but I'm sure others have typed about the cultural problems or claimed it was "lack of AAA games". While not wrong, I believe that's only a small fraction of the problem keeping them from the mainstream, but not necessarily limiting their growth.

It's certainly not about a lack of interest. Several Skyrim mods including nude bodies, skimpy out fits and T&S physics were very popular back in the games peak. Furthermore, most Sims players are aware, and play with, adult mods. Plus, games with sexy characters have always been popular, see Tomb Raider or Bayonetta.

The first major problem is with "gamer" culture and Visual Novels. Most gamers aren't interested in VNs, some to the point they claim that "they aren't real games". Since the vast majority of Adult Games are VNs, one could easily understand the disconnect. If Adult Games had more "games', not referring to massive AAA developers or indie sensations, just decent management games for example. They would certainly attract larger audiences. After all, Adult Games and management games should go hand in hand, however there is a massive void there causing the issue. The same could be said for Jrpg-like or rogue-like games. Afterall, look around enough in the current community and you'll find quite a few who ignore VNs as is. Claiming that it would be better just to watch porn.

Then there is the issue with "VN" itself. VNs are associated with anime, and adult anime is hentai. While hentai may seem popular online, it's still a very niche genre overall. In addition, mainstream hentai is primarily loli, furry, ahegao and tentacle. All of which are niche in itself. Making a niche genre to appear even more niche to the broader public. If hentai is niche, how niche do you think Adult Games are? Considering that most would associate Adult Games with hentai since VNs are associated with anime?

Next we have exposure. The rise of anime, manga, video games and even hentai have been on a rapid rise since due to the internet. This is primarily due to websites like Twitter and Reddit. However, there is very little exposure for Adult Games on those sites. For starters, while Video Games and Anime can make the front page of Reddit and reach new eyes, Adult Games can't. Plus, Twitter may just ban any and all adult imagery, I wouldn't know tho. Don't use Reddit. If that's true, than Twitter offers even less exposure than Reddit, and Twitter is the larger of the two.

While Reddit does have Adult Game subReddits, they are obscure, tiny in comparison to F95. As for the subs, I haven't visted them in some time, but from what I remember they were just a handful of devs promoting the same game, or more so their Patreon. Not a lot of options and they few that did exist there where shoved down their throats. There is Steam, but it's limited, and crowded with garbage VN/clicker games. Instant turn off there. The only decent place to discover games is on f95, and this site can be tricky to find. Especially for a casual who hasn't had any interest in adult games prior. Chances are, the majority of us discovered F95 because we already had a prior interest or experience with Adult Games. So, lack of exposure.

Then there's the Patreon model itself holding the industry back. While I believe 100% that Patreon isn't perfect, but it is the best thing for devs and fans alike. That said, for the wider audience crowd funding has a negative reputation attached to it. For those unfamiliar with adult games, they may not realize that the majority of them have a free version available, or may assume the free version is limited like a mobile game. This would also be a major turn off for potential users. I myself, many years ago now, also fell in this trap. I ended up subbing to maybe a dozen games just to try them out, of course this was before I found F95. Nonetheless, this can, and likely would, be a turn off for the majority of people who fell into such a practice.

Then there's the repetition. Even once someone finds Adult Games, its easy to fall into a pattern of seeing the same thing over and over again. This can easily turn off many veterans in the genre. Albeit I will claim that I myself have been largely turned off by Adult Games and don't play as frequently as I once did. That said, It does appear like this problem is slowly solving itself.

There are so many topics to cover here, that I nor anyone else can truly give this topic justice. I simply just wanted to point out a few things that others may not have pointed out. Many people could likely go all day about this topic given the will to do so.

 

[allura404]

I think this is a multi-prong problem that many could write a small book about.

I haven't read the other posts, but I'm sure others have typed about the cultural problems or claimed it was "lack of AAA games". While not wrong, I believe that's only a small fraction of the problem keeping them from the mainstream, but not necessarily limiting their growth.

It's certainly not about a lack of interest. Several Skyrim mods including nude bodies, skimpy out fits and T&S physics were very popular back in the games peak. Furthermore, most Sims players are aware, and play with, adult mods. Plus, games with sexy characters have always been popular, see Tomb Raider or Bayonetta.

The first major problem is with "gamer" culture and Visual Novels. Most gamers aren't interested in VNs, some to the point they claim that "they aren't real games". Since the vast majority of Adult Games are VNs, one could easily understand the disconnect. If Adult Games had more "games', not referring to massive AAA developers or indie sensations, just decent management games for example. They would certainly attract larger audiences. After all, Adult Games and management games should go hand in hand, however there is a massive void there causing the issue. The same could be said for Jrpg-like or rogue-like games. Afterall, look around enough in the current community and you'll find quite a few who ignore VNs as is. Claiming that it would be better just to watch porn.

Then there is the issue with "VN" itself. VNs are associated with anime, and adult anime is hentai. While hentai may seem popular online, it's still a very niche genre overall. In addition, mainstream hentai is primarily loli, furry, ahegao and tentacle. All of which are niche in itself. Making a niche genre to appear even more niche to the broader public. If hentai is niche, how niche do you think Adult Games are? Considering that most would associate Adult Games with hentai since VNs are associated with anime?

Next we have exposure. The rise of anime, manga, video games and even hentai have been on a rapid rise since due to the internet. This is primarily due to websites like Twitter and Reddit. However, there is very little exposure for Adult Games on those sites. For starters, while Video Games and Anime can make the front page of Reddit and reach new eyes, Adult Games can't. Plus, Twitter may just ban any and all adult imagery, I wouldn't know tho. Don't use Reddit. If that's true, than Twitter offers even less exposure than Reddit, and Twitter is the larger of the two.

While Reddit does have Adult Game subReddits, they are obscure, tiny in comparison to F95. As for the subs, I haven't visted them in some time, but from what I remember they were just a handful of devs promoting the same game, or more so their Patreon. Not a lot of options and they few that did exist there where shoved down their throats. There is Steam, but it's limited, and crowded with garbage VN/clicker games. Instant turn off there. The only decent place to discover games is on f95, and this site can be tricky to find. Especially for a casual who hasn't had any interest in adult games prior. Chances are, the majority of us discovered F95 because we already had a prior interest or experience with Adult Games. So, lack of exposure.

Then there's the Patreon model itself holding the industry back. While I believe 100% that Patreon isn't perfect, but it is the best thing for devs and fans alike. That said, for the wider audience crowd funding has a negative reputation attached to it. For those unfamiliar with adult games, they may not realize that the majority of them have a free version available, or may assume the free version is limited like a mobile game. This would also be a major turn off for potential users. I myself, many years ago now, also fell in this trap. I ended up subbing to maybe a dozen games just to try them out, of course this was before I found F95. Nonetheless, this can, and likely would, be a turn off for the majority of people who fell into such a practice.

Then there's the repetition. Even once someone finds Adult Games, its easy to fall into a pattern of seeing the same thing over and over again. This can easily turn off many veterans in the genre. Albeit I will claim that I myself have been largely turned off by Adult Games and don't play as frequently as I once did. That said, It does appear like this problem is slowly solving itself.

There are so many topics to cover here, that I nor anyone else can truly give this topic justice. I simply just wanted to point out a few things that others may not have pointed out. Many people could likely go all day about this topic given the will to do so.

It's a good article on the subject. I think adult porn games are a genre that needs wicking. In general, I think sexual content is newly added to the game industry. The gradual normalization of this may increase the adult game industry. Now companies take great care to add sexy, big-breasted characters to their games. Such character additions can break social media and can be a pretty good strategy for their games. I haven't played cyberpunk, but I guess we can get different sexually explicit scenes thanks to our choices, just like in adult games. Examples like this began to multiply. If these examples and diversity increase, people can reveal their lust in this direction and explore this sector.

For example, the value of anime has increased considerably thanks to short video platforms such as tiktok, because anime edits can be enjoyable to watch. Since big-breasted, sexy characters are very common in anime, the appreciation of the anime also led to the appreciation of Hentai. By Hentai, I mean not only animations and hanimes, also drawings and comics (manga) are made quite a lot too. So, as I said, as sexuality increases in games, interest in this sector may increase.

 

[Biomacchia]

I don't know that porn games are unpopular. I think people are just unwilling to talk about them in public. And because of the level of shame attached to them, people are generally more than happy to steal them. It could very easily be the case that a few million people have played Summertime Saga, even if only a few thousand have ever paid a dime for it.

Consider porn: it's sort of broadly known that people watch a lot of porn movies, to the point that basically every household has somebody who does it on average, but who talks about the specific porn aside from on niche websites? When was the last time you had a water-cooler conversation about your favorite C4S stepcest studio? Yet, they seem to be able to keep the lights on.

I agree, and I honestly think porn games are at a good place considering the zeitgeist.
The most academic answer as to why porn games aren't that popular is that historically, pornography has been publicly shunned and abhored by christian-funded westen societies. History is a really powerful thing and very adverse to change, so most pornographic matters nowadays are done and discussed in the shadows, in niche groups, what have you. It's why you'd soon see 20+ characters have their head cut off and entraits played with than a vagina on Mortal Kombat.

That said, I'd think that, due to the internet, most of these once insular cultures have been influencing one another for better or worse. Anyone over 20~25 can attest to the fact you'd have to hide any and all porn mags with the greatest zeal from your parents, while kids today openly have tiktok on their phones, which imo can be just as explicit as any pornmag from the 80's/90's.
Erotic games by themselves are also a lot more accepted, especially the anime inspired ones (even if "ironically" by a large number of people),. Though some companies like Nintendo still have a strong resistance to them (understandably, since they market most of their games to children), you can see some pretty sexual stuff popping up all across the board.

 

[gunderson]

Also, if we're talking social media specifically, Patreon outright hassles people and takes down projects not only for what they say on their own site (obviously) but also on twitter and on discord and other sites. Advertising your game the wrong way could result in your own game getting shut down. So if it feels like porn games aren't getting much advertising, it's at least in part because the likes of Patreon ensures that advertising for porn games has to be done on sites like this rather than in a more public forum.

 

[おい！]

Well here are some reasons, in no particular order.................

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[allura404]

Well here are some reasons, in no particular order.................

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These things you count can be found in hentai and comics/manga. These are much more popular than adult games. Like I said, I don't think quality matters that much. It attracts a lot of attention in amateur shootings in the porn industry.

 

[Clown fish]

These things you count can be found in hentai and comics/manga. These are much more popular than adult games. Like I said, I don't think quality matters that much. It attracts a lot of attention in amateur shootings in the porn industry.

But they have a choice of watching amateur or professional studios. And all the choice we have is RPGM and Renpy, I exaggerate, but the point is clear.

 

[Biomacchia]

But they have a choice of watching amateur or professional studios. And all the choice we have is RPGM and Renpy, I exaggerate, but the point is clear.

It's not a very good point though, the exageration makes it even worse.
AliceSoft is a professional adult game studio, as is ClockUp, as are many others. This genre isn't composed entirely of trashy, low effort 3D games just like the manga industry isn't composed entirely of DragonBall clones. Saying that is a extremely myopic take.

 

[ayushiest]

If you make a sex game with micro transactions does that make you a pimp?

 

[pharal]

I have heard more times than I can count (in the general sphere): "Why would you ever need a story? Porn is just about the sex".
This is why porn movies have never moved beyond terrible acting and costumes.

I disagree with this a lot. The build-up, the personalities of the characters, the world all are the most important things.
While we see this in many games too, I am so tired of "normal" porn, because it is all the same with some little difference in body preference and mostly general fetishes. Often so stupid and done a million times before.
Combine this with having some niche fetishes that are hard to make happen on screen, let alone in real life (some absolutely should never happen IRL) and the uniqueness of places like this becomes clear.

Unfortunately, what makes it unique also makes it less likely to attract a general mainstream audience.
A lot of people seems to think that there is no difference between fantasy and real life and that people are unable to distinguish (ridiculous). Then there is the time investment with possibly hours spent, only to find out that it might not even be to ones taste.
Finally there is the problem that has plagued people with any sort of hobby that relates to fantasy for decades: That one is somehow a looser for playing games/watching animated content/reading comics.
Only lately has it actually become acceptable for general stuff like this, but it is a LONG way away from being accepted with a subject like sex in mind.
Today it is pretty okay to have a fantasy where one is a wizard... but if there is sex involved in a fantasy, some of the same people who have finally been granted this societal acceptance, will see us as weird.

 

[Mystic]

I have heard more times than I can count (in the general sphere): "Why would you ever need a story? Porn is just about the sex".
This is why porn movies have never moved beyond terrible acting and costumes.

I disagree with this a lot. The build-up, the personalities of the characters, the world all are the most important things.
While we see this in many games too, I am so tired of "normal" porn, because it is all the same with some little difference in body preference and mostly general fetishes. Often so stupid and done a million times before.
Combine this with having some niche fetishes that are hard to make happen on screen, let alone in real life (some absolutely should never happen IRL) and the uniqueness of places like this becomes clear.

Unfortunately, what makes it unique also makes it less likely to attract a general mainstream audience.
A lot of people seems to think that there is no difference between fantasy and real life and that people are unable to distinguish (ridiculous). Then there is the time investment with possibly hours spent, only to find out that it might not even be to ones taste.
Finally there is the problem that has plagued people with any sort of hobby that relates to fantasy for decades: That one is somehow a looser for playing games/watching animated content/reading comics.
Only lately has it actually become acceptable for general stuff like this, but it is a LONG way away from being accepted with a subject like sex in mind.
Today it is pretty okay to have a fantasy where one is a wizard... but if there is sex involved in a fantasy, some of the same people who have finally been granted this societal acceptance, will see us as weird.

Yep. No story = garbage.

 

[pharal]

Yep. No story = garbage.

It is obvious that it is a relatively minor opinion... Look at the top 10 porn sites (possibly even top 50) and they will be places where 95-99.9% of content has no actual story.
IMO you developers are doing a massive favor to all of us. I am not just talking about giving us porn, but also how my tastes have expanded and how open I have become. I have learned much about myself through these stories. Sometimes it is just a game that looks too good, except it has a single thing you would normally skip... sometimes it is taking a chance.

 

[desmosome]

I have heard more times than I can count (in the general sphere): "Why would you ever need a story? Porn is just about the sex".
This is why porn movies have never moved beyond terrible acting and costumes.

I disagree with this a lot. The build-up, the personalities of the characters, the world all are the most important things.
While we see this in many games too, I am so tired of "normal" porn, because it is all the same with some little difference in body preference and mostly general fetishes. Often so stupid and done a million times before.
Combine this with having some niche fetishes that are hard to make happen on screen, let alone in real life (some absolutely should never happen IRL) and the uniqueness of places like this becomes clear.

Unfortunately, what makes it unique also makes it less likely to attract a general mainstream audience.
A lot of people seems to think that there is no difference between fantasy and real life and that people are unable to distinguish (ridiculous). Then there is the time investment with possibly hours spent, only to find out that it might not even be to ones taste.
Finally there is the problem that has plagued people with any sort of hobby that relates to fantasy for decades: That one is somehow a looser for playing games/watching animated content/reading comics.
Only lately has it actually become acceptable for general stuff like this, but it is a LONG way away from being accepted with a subject like sex in mind.
Today it is pretty okay to have a fantasy where one is a wizard... but if there is sex involved in a fantasy, some of the same people who have finally been granted this societal acceptance, will see us as weird.

That's why I watch JAVs for the juicy plots.

 

[Mystic]

It is obvious that it is a relatively minor opinion... Look at the top 10 porn sites (possibly even top 50) and they will be places where 95-99.9% of content has no actual story.
IMO you developers are doing a massive favor to all of us. I am not just talking about giving us porn, but also how my tastes have expanded and how open I have become. I have learned much about myself through these stories. Sometimes it is just a game that looks too good, except it has a single thing you would normally skip... sometimes it is taking a chance.

Absolutely agreed. I personally am simply not fucking capable of playing a porn game without any context to it, random sex scenes etc, etc. May as well go to fucking porn hub. Can't even call that a game. That's just my two cents on it.

 

[Grayrabbit]

Despite the all the talk.... isn't some people would get punish by police for involving too much on hentai?
Specially any country outside of Japan and US?

 

[Meaning Less]

Despite the all the talk.... isn't some people would get punish by police for involving too much on hentai?
Specially any country outside of Japan and US?

most countries allow porn, here is a full list of countries that still

You must be registered to see the links

.

 

[3DReaver]

they are actually popular. its just not something that people discuss unless they are on a site like this

 

[yihman1]

There are a number of reasons why adult erotic / pornographic games are not more popular. I will give my opinions on the matter.

1) No barrier to entry: Any guy can spend a week working on a game and slap whatever they want together and call it a demo then just abandon it. If a game like this is someones "First Taste" of adult games they may not want more.

2) Hardcore Pornography: It is easily available. A lot of guys can get off to that. Men tend to be visual based creatures when it comes to sex. If they are happy fapping to their favorite porn they may not indulge in adult games.

3) You must download most adult games to play them. Some folks fear a risk of malware.

4) Censorship: Big payment platforms like Patreon ban Loli, Rape, Incest, and Bestiality

5) Lack of Media Coverage: CNN is not writing a story about the latest release of Being a Dik. Sorry... No...

6) "No Fap": No nut November and other such things takes people away from adult games.

7) Onlyfans: Sites like that are to some degree competing with adult games for people's fap money.

8) Sexism: Simps prefer to throw money at a girl because "SHE HAS A VAGINA OMG TAKE MY MONEY!" instead of paying a hard working developer because he got a dick.

9) Heavy pirating... How much adult games get pirated make them less profitable and scares away some devs.

10) "Perverted Community": We get a lot of incels and such around here that may chase normies away.

11) Bad Actors: Such as milkers and lying devs

12) Low Budget: No adult game gets anywhere near the budget and resources as any AAA game.

13) Lack of good marketing: It's hard to market adult games well.

14) Erotic Stories: Some folks rather just read erotica on sites such as literotica.

15) Taboo content: Things like incest are popular in the community. It chases off the normies

16) Over saturation: Too many games to keep track of.

17) High Rate of Abandonment: Many games are abandoned

18) Low Rate of Pay: Most devs don't make shit

19) Other Opportunities: Highly talented people may find a more stable job instead.

20) Not much word of mouth: Most folks don't talk to their RL friends about what sort of adult games they play.

Here are just some of the reasons I'm sure there are more.

 

[Alea iacta est]

Most of these games are so vanilla that would not excite even an inmate with a life sentence.
Games with "romance" "dating simulation".. that is not an adult game, is a pre-teen fantasy exploitation...

Porn has always been transgression and never design to allow a pre-teen to dream to "seduce" a pixeled woman.
Porn has always been designed by adults for adults!!!!!

Plus what I can see some of these games are designed by devs that have zero passion/understanding about porn/sex.
Sex scenes are purely a checkbox exercise.

If you like porn, real one, watch French, Spanish, German and Italian porn '80 '90 '00 movies, that is where you can find great plots, great characters and a lot fetishes without nowadays censorship.

 

[Stalker Seducer]

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.

For me i play very few porn games, i play dating sims with porn in them but i like dating sims so i would still play them without the porn, and past that i play only a few really good ones like Nekopara or i play ones very specific to my unique interests like Crimson gray or Teaching feeling, again anything with Yandere i would play without the porn anyway.

as to why i don't play them much, it comes down to convenience i can flip through a hentai manga or skip through porn videos to find content i can cum to fairly easily, but i might have to get deep into a game before any porn content comes up much less anything i like. a lot of hentai games fall into the same trap of making a really shitty story nobody cares about and then making you read/skip it all to get into any hentai content. if the story is good or it gives you the option to easily skip it then that is fine but most aren't/don't let you.