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Sexual content has been found invideo games since the early days of theindustry, and games featuring sexual content can be found on mostplatforms and can be of anyvideo game genre.[1]
The inclusion of sex in games has been subject to varying levels of controversy over the decades, sometimes resulting in calls for increasedregulation and legislation dealing directly with adult content.[2]
In Western gaming, the promise of sexual content in games is commonly used as a marketing tool, but many highly sexualized games do not feature any explicitly adult content.[3] Though some games do usesex acts ornudity as anarrative device, in-game reward, or a gameplay element, purely pornographic games are uncommon.[1]
However, theJapanese pornographiceroge subgenre is popular worldwide. First appearing in the 1980s, these games vary significantly in narrative complexity as well as the level ofinteractivity, taking forms ranging from thevisual novel tovirtual reality experiences.[4][5][6]
One of the earliest video games to feature sexual themes was the 1981text-basedSoftporn Adventure, published byOn-Line Systems for theApple II. Despite heavy piracy, the game still sold 25,000 copies, roughly equivalent to 25% of the number of Apple II computers sold at the time. In a 1981 article inTime, On-Line reported that they were making a version of the game for straight women, though this never materialized.[7]
Several pornographic games, such asX-Man, were created for theAtari 2600 in the early 1980s. The video game company,American Multiple Industries, released three unlicensed games for the Atari 2600;Beat 'Em & Eat 'Em,Custer's Revenge, andBachelor Party.[1] The games were poorly received (particularlyCuster's Revenge, which is considered to be one of theworst games ever made), and AMIwent out of business in 1983.[8] CompanyPlayAround purchased the rights to these games and began distributing them under new titles in 2-in-1 cartridges.[9]
In 1983, Entertainment Enterprises, Ltd. released an arcade game calledSwinging Singles, which was mostly meant forbars,adult stores, andsex clubs. The game requires the player to drive through the city maze, gathering dots likePac-Man before reaching abrothel where the player is required to fight offvenereal disease and collect keys to unlock sex scenes.[10][11]
Also released in 1983 wasStrip Poker: A Sizzling Game of Chance for theCommodore 64 and other8-bit platforms, whichArtworx Software created.[12]
In 1986,Martech released astrip poker game featuring digitized pictures ofSamantha Fox on the C64,ZX Spectrum, andAmstrad. The same company would later release the controversialVixen, featuring another page 3 modelCorinne Russell.[13]
Also, in 1986 On-line Systems (now calledSierra On-Line) askedgame designerAl Lowe to create an adult game in thegraphical adventure style made popular by theirKing's Quest series. Lowe took the basic elements ofSoftporn Adventure, greatly expanded it, and released it as the 1987 gameLeisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. Sierra did not advertise the game, and retailers were loath to carry it, so initial sales were low. However,word-of-mouth spread, and soon theLeisure Suit Larry series was a success, spawning two sequels before the end of the decade, 1988'sLeisure Suit Larry Goes Looking for Love (in Several Wrong Places), and 1989'sLeisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals.[14][15]
WithCD-ROM and multimedia-based games in the 1990s, most adult games featured video clips with limited interactivity. Both pre-rendered and real-time3D graphics were also used. While most games could be considered nothing more thanpornography, some attempted to include actual stories and plots. This can be seen in some games with less explicit content, equal to anR-rated orPG-13-rated movie.
1990 saw the release of the first game in theGals Panic series. The game derived gameplay elements from an older title calledQix, which did not have sexual images. The object of the games is to slowly remove pieces of the playing field while avoiding an enemy or groups of enemies. Removing the playing field slowly reveals pictures ofmodels in escalating states of undress. The game had nine sequels throughout the 1990s (with a final game in 2002).
Voyeur by Philips came out in 1993 for theirCD-i console. While the game does not show any explicit nudity, it allows the player to spy on several characters inlingerie, andforeplay and explores taboos such asBDSM andincest.
In the 1990s,NEC (on thePC Engine series andPC-FX) andSega (onSega Saturn) were the only companies who officially allowed sexual content on their consoles in Japan[citation needed], but eroge was more prevalent on the NECPC-98 andFM Towns computer platforms.[citation needed]
 | This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2017) |
Modern console publishers often have policies against depictions of nudity and explicit sexuality, particularlySony Computer Entertainment with itsPlayStation brand of consoles.BMX XXX for thePlayStation 2 was censored in the American release, while versions on theXbox andGameCube were not and featured nudity.[16] However, Sony allowed nudity in the titleGod of War (2005), and also developed by Sony, a game based onGreek mythology set inAncient Greece, where nudity was perceived differently. Nudity was subsequently featured in the game's sequels,God of War II (2007),God of War: Chains of Olympus (2008),God of War III (2010),God of War: Ghost of Sparta (2010), andGod of War: Ascension (2013), which were also based on Greek mythology. Thefull-motion video quiz gameThe Guy Game (2004) gained notoriety for its use of an underage model. The scenes in question led to a lawsuit by a woman who explained that she was only seventeen years old when the footage was taken, thus classifying it aschild pornography, which is illegal to own or sell in some countries.[17][18]
Sex scenes and nudity have also appeared inQuantic Dream'sFahrenheit andHeavy Rain, released for the PlayStation 2 andPlayStation 3 respectively.[19]
Sexuality and sexual frustration is also a theme prevalent in theSilent Hill series of survival-horror games.
A new generation of adult social games has emerged that bring multiple users together in sexual environments. Examples includeRed Light Center,Singles: Flirt Up Your Life andPlayboy: The Mansion. While it is not explicitly intended for purely adult-oriented entertainment, the virtual world ofSecond Life, which is made up almost entirely of player-made content, has an array of very exotic adult entertainment including nudity and full-on sexual activities.[citation needed]
Adult games may take the form ofbootlegs, circumventing mainstream publishers who may have policies against such games.Patches orhacks to mainstream non-adult games may add sexual and pornographic themes, mostly forhumor, especially when sexuality was never intended in the original game. Examples include theTomb Raider video games, theGrand Theft Auto: San AndreasHot Coffee mod,The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and theHalf-Life 2 FakeFactory Cinematicmod andROM hacks for consoleemulators.
The Internet has allowed adult games to receive wider availability and recognition, including amateur games inAdobe Flash or Java. It has also allowed amateurs to create and distribute adult text adventure games, known as "Adult Interactive Fiction" or AIF.[20]
Modern consumervirtual reality headsets, such as theOculus Rift andHTC Vive, allow users to engage invirtual sex through simulated environments. An example isVR Kanojo.
Blizzard Entertainment's 2016 gameOverwatch has inspired a notable amount offan-made porn. Short porn videos featuring official characters have been animated viaSource Filmmaker and are popular on porn sites such asPornhub. Despite its popularity, Blizzard has issuedcease-and-desist orders to some of the creators.
The Witcher 3 is a prominent mainstream game featuring several sex scenes and nudity from both romantic encounters and visits to brothels, some of which is important to the plot of the story.
Indie games have expanded the reach of adult games, andSteam now allows adult games onto its storefront.[21]Patreon provides direct funding to adult developers, allowing games likeSummertime Saga andHardcoded to appeal to niche markets that previously would not have been created.[22][23]
The continuing rise ofopen-source software development practices has also influenced adult video games, allowing communities of amateurs to collaboratively create and distribute adult games via the Internet.[citation needed]
| This section needs to beupdated. The reason given is: Missing highly impactful mainstream games likeCyberpunk 2077 andBaldur's Gate 3 with highly explicit sexual content. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(February 2025) |
Sexual encounters are prominent features of RPG Baldur's Gate 3, which is potentially the first mainstream game that employed an intimacy coordinator when producing sex scenes with live actors during voice overs and motion capture.[24]
The director for Cyberpunk 2077 commented on the importance of sex to the story of the Cyberpunk 2077 world, stating it is a world where everything is commodified and it would be incongruent if sex was not commodified.[24]
Eek Games'House Party has scenes of nudity and sexual encounters. The game officially released on digital distribution platforms forMicrosoft Windows with leaving early access on July 15, 2022.[25]
Eroge is a Japanese style adult erotic game. In 1982, Japan'sKoei, founded by husband-and-wife teamYoichi andKeiko Erikawa (and later known forstrategy video games), released the first erotic computer game with sexually explicit graphics,Night Life,[26] an earlygraphic adventure game[27] for theNEC PC-8801. That same year, Koei released another erotic title,Danchi Tsuma no Yuwaku (Seduction of the Condominium Wife),[28] which was an earlyrole-playing[29][30]adventure game with colour graphics, owing to the eight-color palette of theNEC PC-8001 computer. It became a hit, helping Koei become a major software company.[28]
In another opinion,Yuji Horii recalled in 1986 that he saw a demonstration of aYakyūken-like game running on theFM-8 in the end of1981, and he considered Yakyūken was the origin of adult games.[31] Some writers say thatYakyūken (1981) produced forSharp MZ computers byHudson Soft is the first Japanese adult game.[32][33]
Like with Koei, several other now-famous Japanese companies such asEnix,Square andNihon Falcom also released erotic adult games for thePC-8801 computer in the early 1980s before they became mainstream. Early eroge usually had simplistic stories and extreme sexual content, such asrape andlolicon.[citation needed] In some of the early erotic games, the erotic content is meaningfully integrated into a thoughtful and mature storyline, though others often used it as simply an excuse for pornography.[26]
In 1999, Key releasedKanon. It contains about 7 brief erotic scenes in a sentimental story the size of a long novel (an all-ages version was also released afterward).Kanon sold over 300,000 copies.[34]
In response to increasing pressure from Japaneselobby groups, in mid-1996Sega of Japan announced that they would no longer permitSega Saturn games to include nudity.[35]
Manyfanservice video games with sexual content have some brief nudity. The "M" rated seriesSenran Kagura has some nudity in both gameplay and cutscenes but genitals are not displayed. Fanservice games rated "T" such as theHyperdimension Neptunia series offer similar content but less than whatSenran Kagura has. However, since 2018, Sony has now issued new regulations forPlayStation 4 games with both fanservice and sexual content. For the localized release ofSenran Kagura Burst Re:Newal, "Intimacy Mode", a mode where the player can play with the characters' bodies was removed, but by comparison, this mode is still available in the series' previous titlesSenran Kagura: Estival Versus andSenran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash. The PC release ofBurst Re:Newal was not changed.[36] Many other recent PS4 games with sexual content are facing the same problem from Sony, includingNeptunia,Date a Live: Rio Reincarnation,Death end re;Quest and theNekopara series, although Sony did allow nudity and a sex scene inThe Last of Us Part II. This controversy had become a problem for the development ofSenran Kagura 7even, in which publishersMarvelous are now reconsidering the game[37] and series producer Kenichiro Takaki is now leaving Marvelous.[38]
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