Do adult rated games even sell well?

[Kane99]

Adult rated games doesn't mean there is sexual content or anything like that. It could refer to games that have some nudity, but also extreme violence and imagery. I think that Hatred was rated Adult only, and that was just about excessive violence. But otherwise, do most adult games even sell? I know Hatred was moderately popular, but I can't think of any other A rated games unless you count San Andreas when they found the hot coffee exploit. Other than that, I don't think adult rated games sell all too well. 

[Justin11]

I believe GTAs is an adult kind of game, because it portrays everything you said about adult game features. As you already know, it sold very high. 

[Kane99]

Well, GTA is for the most part, still rated M for mature, so anyone 17+ can buy it. But Adult rated games are the ones with excessive violence, and possibly even excessive nudity. 

GTA V for example, is rated M for mature. It has nudity, but it doesn't go too far with that nudity. An adult game on the other hand, can do a lot more. But usually getting an adult rating, is a death sentence for a game, because most stores won't sell it physically in their stores. It was bad enough that GTA San Andreas was removed from store shelves because of the hot coffee mod. I know big box stores like Wal-mart don't sell Adult rated games, and most other stores don't either. So you lose a lot of sales potential making an A rated game unfortunately. 

[The Blackangel]

I play Hatred a lot. The violence wasn't an issue because it was too violent. It was an issue because of why he was committing the violence. The Antagonist was violent for the sake of violence. He was tired of the people of the world, and decided to take as many of them down with him as he could. I play it because I know exactly how he feels. I play it because in the game, I can kill as many innocent people as I want when the urge hits me to actually do it IRL. Instead I boot up Hatred, and the urge is sated.

Excessive violence was never the issue, as there are dozens, possibly hundreds of other games out there that are just as violent. It's the reason behind the violence.

1 hour ago, Kane99 said:

hot coffee mod

I'm not well versed on the GTA franchise. What is the Hot Coffee Mod?

[Shagger]

On 12/5/2021 at 1:27 AM, The Blackangel said:

I'm not well versed on the GTA franchise. What is the Hot Coffee Mod?

 

The "Hot Coffee Mod" was a sex mini game in GTA San Andreas, but was never actually released to players to avoid the game getting an "Adults Only" rating that Rockstar and Take Two believed would hurt sales. The mini game couldn't be removed from the game, so code referencing the explicit sexual content was inevitably was found by data miners when the game launched on the PS2 in 2004. The game was released on PC a year later and people immediately confirmed the the exitance of the sex mini game and after just two days a modder by the name of Patrick Wildenborg released a patch to unlock the mini game online.

 

Players, as you can imagine, found Hot Coffee amusing, but Rockstar and Take Two weren't laughing at all. Despite the fact the release of Hot Coffee wasn't actually thier fault, the game was re-rated by the ESRB and OFLC (Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification) to an adults only rating causing the game to be pulled from store shelves and even banned completely in Australia. Rockstar recalled retail copies of the game and released a new version that blocked access to Hot Coffee and also blocked Hot Coffee on PC through patching, but the damage was already done. Take Two, already under investigation over insider trading, face further investigations by the Federal Trade Commission, a number of civil lawsuits, lost over $160 million over the scandal and even cost thier CEO Ryan Brant his job.

Edited December 6, 2021 by Shagger

[The Blackangel]

That's a hell of a scandal. I know someone who has a copy of San Andreas that they picked up on the day it was released, as he is a fan of the series. He doesn't play the older titles anymore, so I could probably buy it off him for a good price. Not that I have any secret desire to play anything racy, but just to have the original copy that has everything in it before everyone freaked out and recalled the game.

[Oblivion Knight]

I suppose you could consider Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy to be an adult game, though it's still only rated M and it wasn't hugely popular - I'd say that it has more of a cult following than anything.. it's sex scene is "interesting", but I won't spoil it even though the game is some 15+ years old.

Otherwise the more obvious entries would be Manhunt (which got banned in a few countries, and almost got banned in the UK) and God of War (lots of boobs).

[skyfire]

I think there is a big market for adult. And with VR that market would amplify beyond the control. I am sure there are many companies who are already into that. 

[StormyFire]

I'm sure that there are plenty of people in the market for adult type games. There seem to be a lot of games like that on Steam and elsewhere. I'm sure they wouldn't make them if they didn't sell well. ^^

[The Blackangel]

Adult video games have been around since 1982. Custer's Revenge is an old Atari game that featured a naked cowboy with a visible erection making his way over to a tied up Native American woman and raping her when he got to her. The "adult" games nowadays can't compare to something that is on the obscene factor that Custer's Revenge reached. Granted, I have no problem with adult games. Hell I play a couple myself. But Custer's Revenge goes too damn far for me.

[Kane99]

On 12/5/2021 at 12:26 PM, The Blackangel said:

That's a hell of a scandal. I know someone who has a copy of San Andreas that they picked up on the day it was released, as he is a fan of the series. He doesn't play the older titles anymore, so I could probably buy it off him for a good price. Not that I have any secret desire to play anything racy, but just to have the original copy that has everything in it before everyone freaked out and recalled the game.

Yeah it was bad. I believe some stores even put Adult only labels on the games, until Rockstar released a new the new copy without the mod. It was a pretty big story. Looking back at it today, it's more laughable than anything. I still have an original copy of the game, as I got it when it came out, so it has the mod. I wonder if there is any worth to the original copies. I doubt mine would be worth anything, as it's in rough shape, but who knows. 

On 12/6/2021 at 1:48 AM, Oblivion Knight said:

I suppose you could consider Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy to be an adult game, though it's still only rated M and it wasn't hugely popular - I'd say that it has more of a cult following than anything.. it's sex scene is "interesting", but I won't spoil it even though the game is some 15+ years old.

Otherwise the more obvious entries would be Manhunt (which got banned in a few countries, and almost got banned in the UK) and God of War (lots of boobs).

The sex scene in Indigo Prophecy wasn't that racy though. I don't recall if there was any nudity, but I could be wrong. Even so, it was one of the most weird and awkward scenes I've ever seen in a game. Just felt so out of place. And it made absolutely no sense for those two . Also it hasn't aged well lol, it is kinda funny if anything. 

And yeah, you'd think Manhunt would be rated Adult, but they had to cut out a lot of stuff to make it an M rated game. I believe they refused the game originally, until changes were made to pass an M rating. These days, nudity alone doesn't cause an adult rating. I think it depends on the amount of nudity, and sex involved, and whether or not you can partake in it. Because games like GTA V, The Witcher 3, Cyberpunk 2077 all show nudity, with the latter showing male & female genitals. 

I think it's when it's excessive that causes adult ratings for the most part. That's why Hatred got an A rating for the excessive violence in it, so I imagine adult rated would be excessive sex and nudity. 

[skyfire]

Never knew god of war would be getting ban or censored.  I mean artist freedom is attacked by many nations and cultures it seems. 

[Withywarlock]

If we're referring to the ESRB's "Adults Only" rating, it's not so much a matter of them selling, but stores deciding whether to stock them. Given Valve's lack of quality control and care to enforce it, lots of AO games sell on Steam. By how much, I can't say, but it must be enough for developers to justify updating their sordid titles. That appears to be one of the perks of digital distribution - if one platform won't have it, many other sites will and take that cut of the profits. With retail, if GAME won't stock it, ASDA, Tesco, and other supermarkets or specific game stores won't do so either.

Given the ESRB is as worth as much as tits on a turtle these days, I reckon developers should call retailers' bluffs. Times have long changed since 'AO' was any different to R, or whatever the US rating system is. Plenty of games rated 18 by PEGI and the BBFC are (knowingly, blatantly, evidently) sold to parents for their children under that age. Not to rag on something because it's the popular thing to hate on, but can anyone tell me Fortnite's age restriction without looking, and see how much merch is sold to people under those ages? Furthermore, can anyone then tell me that ratings matter at that point?

[The Blackangel]

7 hours ago, Withywarlock said:

If we're referring to the ESRB's "Adults Only" rating, it's not so much a matter of them selling, but stores deciding whether to stock them. Given Valve's lack of quality control and care to enforce it, lots of AO games sell on Steam. By how much, I can't say, but it must be enough for developers to justify updating their sordid titles. That appears to be one of the perks of digital distribution - if one platform won't have it, many other sites will and take that cut of the profits. With retail, if GAME won't stock it, ASDA, Tesco, and other supermarkets or specific game stores won't do so either.

Given the ESRB is as worth as much as tits on a turtle these days, I reckon developers should call retailers' bluffs. Times have long changed since 'AO' was any different to R, or whatever the US rating system is. Plenty of games rated 18 by PEGI and the BBFC are (knowingly, blatantly, evidently) sold to parents for their children under that age. Not to rag on something because it's the popular thing to hate on, but can anyone tell me Fortnite's age restriction without looking, and see how much merch is sold to people under those ages? Furthermore, can anyone then tell me that ratings matter at that point?

One of my favorite games, that is internationally banned in many countries is Hatred, and it sells on Steam for $5.99 USD (€5.30 - £4.53). So it's easy enough for a kid with a $5 per week allowance to get. Anyone can scoop up an extra dollar easily. Sure you need a card of some kind, but in reality how many kids do you know who don't have a debit card these days. Yeah their parents tell them it's only for food and/or emergencies. But do you really think a kid is going to abide by that? I remember when I was a kid, time outs weren't a thing. Did anyone else have to cut their own switch? Personally, I had to fetch my own 2x4, but that's another discussion.

Kids will find a way to these games when they're released on digital services like Steam. That's a hard place to keep under lockdown. Especially boys. At a young age boys are already obsessed with boobs. So any game advertising sexual content has them drawn in before they know what the game is. Even if it's one scene in an open world game. If it has over the top violence, a lot of young boys are gung-ho for that one as well. Boys have some odd interests at young ages. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But then again, what girls are interested in probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to guys either.

 

LMAO

[Shagger]

15 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

One of my favorite games, that is internationally banned in many countries is Hatred, and it sells on Steam for $5.99 USD (€5.30 - £4.53). So it's easy enough for a kid with a $5 per week allowance to get. Anyone can scoop up an extra dollar easily. Sure you need a card of some kind, but in reality how many kids do you know who don't have a debit card these days. Yeah their parents tell them it's only for food and/or emergencies. But do you really think a kid is going to abide by that? I remember when I was a kid, time outs weren't a thing. Did anyone else have to cut their own switch? Personally, I had to fetch my own 2x4, but that's another discussion.

Kids will find a way to these games when they're released on digital services like Steam. That's a hard place to keep under lockdown. Especially boys. At a young age boys are already obsessed with boobs. So any game advertising sexual content has them drawn in before they know what the game is. Even if it's one scene in an open world game. If it has over the top violence, a lot of young boys are gung-ho for that one as well. Boys have some odd interests at young ages. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But then again, what girls are interested in probably doesn't make a whole lot of sense to guys either.

 

LMAO

 

I am going to challenge you a little bit on that. Yes, boys in their early to mid teens are strange and hormonally insane, but most most women spend thier whole lives with a sexual desire tilted towards penis's. That is a thing that looks like a badly carved chicken that's been hanging in a butcher's shop window a little too long.