Steam is now selling hardcore uncensored porn games. This has profound implications for eroge fans, developers, publishers, and distributors.
Steam announced in June that they would be opening their store to a wider range of content. On Sept 5 they rolled out content filters to allow them to provide controversial and objectionable content to those who opt in on their account preference page, while hiding the content for everyone else. On Sept 6, Dharker Studios announced that they had submitted a fully 18+ uncensored version of Negligee: Love Stories to Steam for review, which was approved on Sept 11. But the bombshell came when the Steam release of a game with highly explicit sexual content, Meltys Quest, was updated on Sept 11 to be fully uncensored (announcement). Denpasoft subsequently announced that Shining Song Starnova, which features explicit sex in the adult version, would have a free 18+ DLC available on Steam.
When Negligee was announced, I was skeptical that Valve's policy around adult content had changed. Yes, the game had sex, but developer screenshots showed non-explicit scenes that you already see in many Western titles like the Witcher series.
With Meltys Quest and Shining Song Starnova, Valve truly appears to have entered into the porn business (if you're still not convinced, see the explicit screenshots on the JP DLsite page). I'm told that Meltys Quest was carefully reviewed by Valve, so we shouldn't see any surprises (Edit: The developer suggests this content may not have been reviewed by Valve). What's truly astonishing is that Meltys Quest contains content that even Nutaku wouldn't host, including tentacles and rape. Steam appears to be flouting the payment processor rules that have bound the large international porn distributors until now. It's not clear why Steam can do this and big porn could not, but it could be linked to Steam's focus on fictional content without real actors. That begs the question of what happens when games come along that cross this threshold: e.g., VR games that are essentially porn movies with real porn actresses.
The eroge market is on the precipice of a paradigm shift. Just as Kickstarter opened the doors to big titles from new developers, Steam opening to porn blasts a giant hole. I fully expect a rush of JP eroge devs (especially doujin devs) hoping to strike gold on Steam in the coming year, with TL quality ranging from professional to machine translation, and prices from $80 to $2. The bad will inevitably come first, as it's quicker and easier to release games with very low quality standards.
I'm very curious how EOCS, the Japanese professional eroge industry organization, will respond to this; current policy is to limit developers' ability to release adult games overseas without going through an established publisher ("For sale in Japan only": A Japanese developer's perspective on the eroge embargo). Yet now these developers will want to release directly on Steam, and since Steam allows it, they may take this as a greenlight. The chains wrapped around the industry after the Rapelay scandal in 2009 may finally snap.
Steam getting into the eroge business also changes the game for distributors. Steam's download service is far superior to those previously available for eroge. I see one main avenue for dedicated eroge shops to add value and distinguish themselves: looser content restrictions. Valve will inevitably draw the line somewhere; eroge shops need to duck under it to remain relevant. If Valve doesn't allow loli, bestiality, or psychopathic rapist protagonists, then that's a niche for eroge shops to exploit. To compete, eroge shops will also have to consolidate; individual publishers won't be able to draw the necessary critical mass of users, and they'll start to bleed traffic to Steam. Putting it together, I forsee consolidation around a shop (like FAKKU's) that aims to offer the full range of content seen in Japanese eroge, and will fight to do so. The alternative is sobering: eroge with content that doesn't meet Steam's content guidelines simply being passed over for localization. In short, consolidation needs to happen.
It may take years for the effects of Valve's decision to fully manifest as various companies brave this new frontier and test boundaries, and as the winners set new standards while the losers drop out. Regardless, these are exciting times, both for eroge fans and the industry.
Eroge with a censored official English release, a comprehensive list
A list of censored eroge, uncensor patches, and workarounds or alternative versions
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