Negligee: Love Stories, a sequel to Dharker Studio's yuri nukige, to be released on Steam UNCENSORED this Saturday

[adamstan]

6 minutes ago, Okarin said:

I really want my full IMHHW

Well, there is patch, isn't it? Or do you mean exactly full official release?

As for Pulltop - I think their aversion for localizing +18 versions isn't connected to Steam. After all, they sold IMHHW via JAST or MG too, and still made only all-ages version available. It has to have some deeper roots IMO

Edited September 12, 2018 by adamstan

[Plk_Lesiak]

1 minute ago, Okarin said:

I wanted to make a broader comment, I'd really like for MoeNovel to drop their stance and adapt to this new policy, but it's MoeNovel after all. I really want my full IMHHW.

MoeNovel's policy was more than just about Steam rules - after all, they went above and beyond what Valve even required with IMHHW. They wanted to market their games as highly-accessible, literally all-ages products without any connection to porn. Not sure if a better platform to sell eroge would change their mind.

Plus, really, people shout a lot about censorship, but if you look closely, cases of 18+ content being actually inaccessible are rare. In most cases, it's single scenes/fragments being "permanently" removed, MoeNovel is an unfortunate outlier.

[adamstan]

1 minute ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

MoeNovel is an unfortunate outlier

And only in Konosora's case. With Miagete they got much better, and did the same as everybody (ie. only h-scenes were replaced).

I wonder what will they do with Flight Diary...

Edited September 12, 2018 by adamstan

[Okarin]

25 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Well, there is patch, isn't it? Or do you mean exactly full official release?

As for Pulltop - I think their aversion for localizing +18 versions isn't connected to Steam. After all, they sold IMHHW via JAST or MG too, and still made only all-ages version available. It has to have some deeper roots IMO

AFAIK said patch only works with the Japanese version of the game, which I haven't been able to get. Of course not with the Steam version which I own.

[adamstan]

2 minutes ago, Okarin said:

Of course not with the Steam version which I own.

??? I used it with the Steam version.

There are two versions of patch - one is smaller, just the translation for JP version, and the other, bigger is retranslation for existing EN versions.

They say that Steam version isn't officially supported, but it worked for me.

Edited September 12, 2018 by adamstan

[Hetzer123]

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Edited October 2, 2019 by Hetzer123

[sanahtlig]

I wrote up a full article in response to the latest stunning developments.

Sanahtlig's Corner: Valve opens Steam to uncensored eroge and hentai games

Steam is now selling hardcore uncensored porn games. This has profound implications for eroge fans, developers, publishers, and distributors.

[Dreamysyu]

So, apparently Mangagamer is also being cautious.

[Plk_Lesiak]

44 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

So, apparently Mangagamer is also being cautious.

Everyone should be. What Melty Quest's devs did is a bit of a Russian roulette, but at least it's a very obvious hRPG - something no one bought for anything else than porn, so they're only risking backlash from Valve if they find their content too drastic or partially back down from opening to porn. In the meantime, they have the first uncensored eroge in Steam and tons of publicity.

For MangaGamer, they have much more varied catalogue and much more to lose. They can't risk just blankly updating their games to eroge versions and are in no way in a hurry. I'm glad that they're taking it slow, trusting in Valve to act consistently and in the best interest of publishers is like signing your own death sentence. 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Plk_Lesiak

[bakauchuujin]

I guess the smaller publishers will be the ones to take the risk in hopes of getting publicity while the larger ones will end up playing it safe like Mangagamer and wait.

[ChaosRaven]

53 minutes ago, Dreamysyu said:

So, apparently Mangagamer is also being cautious.

Yeah, I'd also appreciate it if they wouldn't start straight up by trying the limits and throw a bomb like Maggot Baits on Steam. It's probably a more wise approach to start with something more light-hearted like an uncut moege. Or... they could go full scandal news and throw the most outrages stuff on Steam just to get into the news headlines. 

I'd really like to see the Kara on Shoujo series on Steam now, but I'm not sure if it would be a good start due to its gory parts.

Denpasoft also announced that Shining Song Starnova will get its adult content as optional DLC, and I'm really wondering what that means for its visibility on Steam. Will the Steam filter hide it or not if there's optional adult content? If the title will then be treated as 'all ages' then, I wouldn't be surprised if many developers will try to hide their adult content in DLC just to to increase its visibility on Steam. And technically that would mean cheating the system again.

[Antera]

5 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

Yeah, I'd also appreciate it if they wouldn't start straight up by trying the limits and throw a bomb like Maggot Baits on Steam. It's probably a more wise approach to start with something more light-hearted like an uncut moege. Or... they could go full scandal news and throw the most outrages stuff on Steam just to get into the news headlines. 

I'd really like to see the Kara on Shoujo series on Steam now, but I'm not sure if it would be a good start due to its gory parts.

Denpasoft also announced that Shining Song Starnova will get its adult content as optional DLC, and I'm really wondering what that means for its visibility on Steam. Will the Steam filter hide it or not if there's optional adult content? If the title will then be treated as 'all ages' then, I wouldn't be surprised if many developers will try to hide their adult content in DLC just to to increase its visibility on Steam. And technically that would mean cheating the system again.

I believe Kara on Shoujo will do great on steam. specially with people who like mystery & adventure games 

[Plk_Lesiak]

17 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

Denpasoft also announced that Shining Song Starnova will get its adult content as optional DLC, and I'm really wondering what that means for its visibility on Steam. Will the Steam filter hide it or not if there's optional adult content? If the title will then be treated as 'all ages' then, I wouldn't be surprised if many developers will try to hide their adult content in DLC just to to increase its visibility on Steam. And technically that would mean cheating the system again.

1

I think this is the road most publishers will take, at least with the titles that were already released or prepared for release. With the straight-up ero games, like nukige or games with very drastic themes, they'll start making their way to Steam more often and go straight to the adult-only category. But with titles that might actually earn additional sales by offering all-ages option and having extra visibility to non-porn-oriented players, like most moege, I don't see a reason for publishers not to make the 18+ content optional. As long as they don't abuse the system (ex. Sekai holding 18+ for a large ransom), there's really no downsides to having more options.

Edited September 13, 2018 by Plk_Lesiak

[Formlose Gestalt]

The real question is what happens when a group opposes Steam new release policies. Worried parents that steam now sells their children pornography and others along those lines. Steam gives eroge more exposure but that exposure can also backfire. I don't think Valve will uphold these new release policies when they come under public fire once someone goes and publish a uncensored Maitetsu on Steam and the news read "Steam sells child pornography".

It really hopes there are no problems, but I can see this go wrong. And you may never know when this happens. New Steam could run for month or years without any problem before something happens.

Also I guess there are players that don't want friends to see them play full on eroge on Steam so they could hold back buying them there. There is still stigmatization against erotic content in the public opinion, that won't go away that easy.

[adamstan]

16 minutes ago, Formlose Gestalt said:

publish a uncensored Maitetsu on Steam

Damn, I'd better disable auto-updates for my Maitetsu then I deliberately chose all-ages version, being interested by train theme, but not by lolis

[Okarin]

Well, you know. Back in the wild 90s this also happened. Pretty easy to grab a copy of an eroge RPG like Knights of Xentar, if you managed to pay the outrageous price. A "hard" way to grow up.

[ChaosRaven]

32 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

I think this is the road most publishers will take, at least with the titles that were already released or prepared for release. With the straight-up ero games, like nukige or games with very drastic themes, they'll start making their way to Steam more often and go straight to the adult-only category. But with titles that might actually earn additional sales by offering all-ages option and having extra visibility to non-porn-oriented players, like most moege, I don't see a reason for publishers not to make the 18+ content optional. As long as they don't abuse the system (ex. Sekai holding 18+ for a large ransom), there's really no downsides to having more options.

I think it's fine as long as the ero content isn't an essential part of the VN like in nukiges. So I guess it's probably okay for your typical slice of life and story VN's, but not so much for ero heavy VN's. While I didn't play it myself, I heard that the adult patch is pretty much essential for SubaHibi on Steam. Such cases should stay adult-only in future then.

Still, I see a lot of abuse potential here just to increase visibility on Steam. Guess time will tell if it's really an issue or not.

Edited September 13, 2018 by ChaosRaven

[Plk_Lesiak]

1 hour ago, ChaosRaven said:

I think it's fine as long as the ero content isn't an essential part of the VN like in nukiges. So I guess it's probably okay for your typical slice of life and story VN's, but not so much for ero heavy VN's. While I didn't play it myself, I heard that the adult patch is pretty much essential for SubaHibi on Steam. Such cases should stay adult-only in future then.

Still, I see a lot of abuse potential here just to increase visibility on Steam. Guess time will tell if it's really an issue or not.

SubaHibi was a very peculiar case, as the "all ages" version was basically an extended demo (first 2 chapters) while the whole rest of the game was hidden behind a patch. Quite an absurd workaround on Frontwings part, but indeed, it's the kind of aberration that shouldn't happen under the new rules.

TBH, I hope that we can keep both the reasonable all-ages releases and get games such as Saya no Uta or Kara no Shoujo on Steam, but it might quite likely be 2-3 years berore the situation stabilizes into some kind of clear pattern. 

[Wildbreed]

Love in Space and Sekai Project just added 18+ content as a free DLC  on Shining song starnova's Steam store page..off course you need to follow the necessary norms in order to view and download it..

I think This is how most of the VN Devs/Pubs out there should go about releasing their VNs.. as Everyone gets satisfied.

[Ranzo]

Man, that would be nice to see Kara No Shoujo on steam. It would probably do pretty well with it's distinguishing art style and all. Well I am actually glad at something steam has done for once unless they completely reverse course again like they have done constantly like some kind of bipolar asshole. The unfortunate thing is that steam will really start seeming like another dlsite and a lot of the quality vns will get buried under porn garbage.

[sanahtlig]

The lack of curation is less of a problem if you view Steam as a digital bazaar, like stalls at a convention.  They're just offering you a place to set up shop; it's up to you to draw traffic to your stall and convince people to buy your products.  However, developers who expect good games on a popular storefront to sell themselves may come away disappointed and discouraged.  Many JP devs will likely fall into this trap.

Edited September 14, 2018 by sanahtlig

[ChaosRaven]

The title isn't exactly available everywhere - PCGamer reports that it's restricted in 28 countries. I wasn't exactly surprised that it's restricted in countries like Arabia and Lebanon, but it's also not allowed in Japan and Germany. I guess the former is because of the H-scenes are censored, but I've no idea what problem Germany has with it - usually they're quite liberal about that kind of stuff. Not that I'd have a big interest in the title, but it's a bit unexpected that I couldn't get it on Steam even if I wanted to. 

Edited September 17, 2018 by ChaosRaven

[Plk_Lesiak]

1 hour ago, ChaosRaven said:

The title isn't exactly available everywhere - PCGamer reports that it's restricted in 28 countries. I wasn't exactly surprised that it's restricted in countries like Arabia and Lebanon, but it's also not allowed in Japan and Germany. I guess the former is because of the H-scenes are censored, but I've no idea what problem Germany has with it - usually they're quite liberal about that kind of stuff. Not that I'd have a big interest in the title, but it's a bit unexpected that I couldn't get it on Steam even if I wanted to. 

Issue with Germany is about lack of proper age verification on Steam - from what I read you need a third party, reliable system to legally sell porn in Germany, to make sure it can't be purchased by minors - not the kind of law that many companies would care about, knowing how internet works, but I imagine both Valve and publishers would rather play it safe at this point. 

Edited September 17, 2018 by Plk_Lesiak

[Antera]

57 minutes ago, ChaosRaven said:

The title isn't exactly available everywhere - PCGamer reports that it's restricted in 28 countries. I wasn't exactly surprised that it's restricted in countries like Arabia and Lebanon, but it's also not allowed in Japan and Germany. I guess the former is because of the H-scenes are censored, but I've no idea what problem Germany has with it - usually they're quite liberal about that kind of stuff. Not that I'd have a big interest in the title, but it's a bit unexpected that I couldn't get it on Steam even if I wanted to. 

I read it somewhere that it was because of German age verification not implemented on steam 

[Hetzer123]

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Edited October 2, 2019 by Hetzer123