This is fifth of ten essays contained within the second issue of the Adult Analysis Anthology, a collection of longform writing that seeks to expand the breadth of critical discourse around adult games and adult game culture. We will be posting a new essay every Friday from now until September, but if you would like to read all the essays early and support the creation of more high-quality writing about adult games the full anthology is available for purchase on Itch! Anthology logo by @pillowkisser!
by MadCreativity
As the developer of a erotic visual novel, I’ve had my fair share of difficulties when it comes to properly marketing and publishing. Initially deciding to sell it on Steam, Itch.io, and DLsite, I later reached out to Fakku and Kagura Games for the possibility of publishing it there. Throughout my research and interactions, I couldn’t help but notice some incredibly glaring issues that seemed to me to be somewhat discouraging for the sale of games such as my own.
Even just after the release of the demo, we received a few complaints from players who had been expecting a female-on-female game or who wanted an option to make the protagonist male. More surprising, though, was that Fakku, Kagura Games, and DLsite required various states of censorship, with one not even permitting NSFW screenshots on the game page.
The way things currently stand, NSFW games (and porn games, hentai games, etc.) are at a unique disadvantage in the games market. For instance, many platforms and systems, such as Nintendo consoles, downright forbid NSFW games. The same applies to many mobile app stores, resulting in a significant decrease in potential customers. For PC games, there are several different storefronts to choose from. The most popular option is likely Steam, as it
has a user-base so large that it borders on a monopoly, with recommendation methods and guaranteed refunds that put it at the top of the industry. For many indie developers, another popular option is Itch.io, for its easy, free uploads. If you make indie games, you’ll probably want your games on at least one of these platforms, if not both.
Unfortunately, platforms like Steam and Itch.io are not designed with NSFW games in mind. True, both platforms allow NSFW games, and even have some categories within the field, but both platforms are technically intended to be for all ages. Thus, developers are unable to include actual NSFW content in their thumbnails, which prevents those games from using the primary feature of their game in on-site marketing. In addition to this rather severe limitation, there’s the matter of finding content that appeals to you. You can describe roughly the kind of mature content that’s in your game in the description on both Itch and Steam, but that system is generally designed as a warning, and players cannot search for it. Instead, developers have to rely on vague keywords or blatant naming in the hope that they can predict what the user will search for. Frankly, the easiest way to market an NSFW game on Steam is to give it a borderline clickbait name like “Furry Pussy (18+).”
Now, let’s take a step back from Steam and Itch.io to look at NSFW alternatives. DLsite, Fakku, and Nutaku may have come to your mind as being NSFW-friendly, but they have their own pitfalls. Fakku and Nutaku do not have proper publishing forms like Steam and Itch do. Instead, you have to contact them directly and convince them to take your game, which simply won’t do for a lot of developers. There are other issues, but most of them are the same as Steam or Itch, like the inability to use full nudity in thumbnails. DLsite is slightly more NSFW-friendly in this case, but they have censorship requirements, prices are in yen (even on the English developer pages), and their game submission forms look like they were made in 2001. DLsite has plenty of other issues, but I won’t cover them here. The point that I am attempting to get across is that, despite these sites appearing to be NSFW-friendly, there is still a long way to go.
NSFW games stand out from “normal” games in several different ways, but there is one thing that really makes them different; Namely the fetishes, and kinks that many people are used to being able to search for on NSFW boorus, such as rule34 or e621. In essence, an NSFW tagging system. Naturally, sites like Steam and Itch.io have nothing akin to this, as they are not truly intended for NSFW games. Of the remaining storefronts, DLSite’s tag search is perhaps the closest in this regard, though it is still highly limiting.
Assuming that I’ve now managed to convince you that the existing storefronts are unfortunately insufficient in regards to selling western NSFW games, let’s consider how such a platform might look and function.
Firstly, what is our starting point? Are there any particular features which we should ensure are carried over from existing platforms? Well, I suggest that we begin by having our platform be a copy of Steam, effectively. It is not perfect, but it is the closest we have to an ideal reference point. For instance, it has actually just implemented the ability to privately purchase games, which is great, and a step in the right direction towards making it more NSFW-friendly. Another useful privacy feature from Steam is the ability to hide games from your local games list.
Keeping the submission fee is also a good way to keep quality stable, though lowering it slightly may be helpful. One thing to note about Steam is its lack of support for mobile games. Mobile games are highly popular in the modern day, and letting users bring their porn with them is generally advisable. Thus, taking a page out of Itch.io’s book, the platform should also support mobile devices to the extent possible.
Now, how about new features? We can’t just make a Steam copy, after all. The first aspect of an NSFW-friendly storefront should be obvious; developers need to be able to have pornographic content in any and all promotional material. Whether for thumbnails, banners, or achievements, developers should be permitted to include full, uncensored intercourse, should they wish to do so.
Secondly, users should be able to find the games that appeal to their niche fetishes as easily as they would on a booru. This means a fully functioning tagging system, much like the one you’d find on rule34. Due to the nature of games having multiple characters, it may also be wise to implement a grouping system of sorts. That is, a way to clarify that a game must not just contain a futanari and a centaur, but that the centaur should be the futanari. The tagging system might be broadened to encompass game conditions, as well. For example, users should be able to search for a game where they play as a futanari character.
Other booru-like features would likely also have their place on an NSFW- focused storefront, such as a blacklist, which would let users hide the types of content that make them uncomfortable. Whether this is scat, rape or something else doesn’t really matter; Users should have the freedom to hide all content within any and all tags. If a game supports a built-in censorship method for content with a particular tag, being able to note this would also help make for a better user experience.
Certain payment platforms have been restricting payments for NSFW products, which makes the NSFW games industry feel somewhat precarious due to the concern of suddenly having your income blocked. This is prevalent with Patreon, in particular. Supporting as many payment platforms and methods as possible could help mitigate this fear, if only somewhat. Of course, it also provides some convenience to players from countries where one or more payment methods may be unavailable.
Another important feature is privacy. This is already quite controversial in the modern day, but when it comes to NSFW products, it is arguably even more important, due to the inherent awkwardness of such things. In truth, privacy encompasses multiple features. One of these features is the ability to clear your search history, and any other such information. There are other good privacy features, such as the ones described from Steam previously, but these are ones which I find to be particularly important for our theoretical platform.
Finally, as with any NSFW creation, the storefront must be easy to close at a moment’s notice, without popups or intrusions. If it has an icon and title, it should not be distinctly NSFW, so as to keep the customer comfortable with having it on their device.
I hope that my musings on this matter have been informative and evocative, and have provided some new perspective on the matters of game storefronts for NSFW titles. I suspect that it would do us great good to have such a platform as I have described. Not just for developers, but for consumers, as well.
For the time being, though, we can only do our best with the resources we have available to us.
MadCreativity is the developer of an upcoming NSFW visual novel, Benefitship, and a professional programmer. EDITOR'S NOTE: Benefitship has launched since the original version of this essay way published! Go check it out!
