How does the industry feel about sex in games?

I ask this question as yesterday I attended a panel for software and other media companies that was intended to show how the commissioning of games that feature the content of other media can make money. Attending the Panel was Dr. Jo Twist CEO of The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment, who at one point suggested that if Fifty Shades of Grey, could sell as well as it has then a good sex game should be able to do the same. She then cried out "Where's my Sex Game!"

If this is opinion of a women in a position such as hers I wonder how the software makers, the publishers and other industry members feel about the lack of a good sex game?

Any ideas?

Please feel free to check out my blog where I have written about the event in slightly more detail. www.playingwithresearch.blogspot.com

Well I suppose if it's appropriate to the game, such as something akin to Mass Effect. But I don't like games that rely on over sexuality (such as Bayonetta) it just makes the industry look like it's trying to cater to sex obsessed, immature 14 year old boys.

@ShadowMoses900 said:

Well I suppose if it's appropriate to the game, such as something akin to Mass Effect. But I don't like games that rely on over sexuality (such as Bayonetta) it just makes the industry look like it's trying to cater to sex obsessed, immature 14 year old boys.

Bayonetta is just the female extreme of Kratos insofar as they are both incredibly oversexualized. The only difference is that Bayonetta is more self-aware. That game would be a significantly lesser product if that self-aware sexuality wasn't there.

I think the real problem is that the industry doesn't cater to anyone outside of the 15 to 25 young male demographic. Which, oddly enough, would seem to be the most interested in sex, I'd say.

And I almost misread it as "Jo Brand".

I can't believe how much shit Bayonetta received (and still today) for it's "oversexualized" character. She and the entire game was one big tap on the nose, practically shouting to the user "Hey, you do get what's going on here, right?". It was all self-aware good fun, with good gameplay to boot.

Anyways, I thought there were Japanese adventure games that were like an erotic novel. This maybe be a cultural difference, but I don't think there is a female audience here who would want a sex game catered to them. It would be like going to a Walmart to pick up a dildo.

It's because people became extremely touchy when it comes to sexism/discrimination in video games to the point of complete blindness. Reacting instead of creating muddied the discourse. To a lot of people it doesn't matter that Bayonetta is oversexualized to fuel the exploitation/parody angle the game is shooting for - the game uses sex as a narrative device, so it's automatically sexist and childish. We had to deal with this shit recently, when some people where up in arms about the Cyberpunk 2077 trailer. It didn't matter that a) the underwear was simply a quick visual cue to set-up the premise of the character being suddenly manipulated by her own implants, b) was to show the disconnect the character has with her humanity and c) that the image of a naked/semi-naked cyborg is basically a cyberpunk trope since Ghost in the Shell. Fucking Motoko spends a half of the original anime completely naked, but because it came out more than a decade ago people don't overlook the deeper meaning.

@Ghost_Cat: Yet they go to Wal-Mart to buy smut books to read while they use them dildos.

And are we talking like Second Life quality game or a Sengoku Rance game? EIther way it's not proftiable for a company in the West to make. They'd try to go all out and go bankrupt doing stupid shit. Market for that stuff really only exists in Japan because of how amazing the Japanese are at keeping things cheap as hell yet having a decent product compared to us.

Thank you for the responses, keep it up.

How do feel about those such as Dr Twist who are a powerful influence within the UK games industry (at least) requesting such games?

@Ghost_Cat: @Ghostiet: @ShadowMoses900: @OfficeGamer: I retract my previous statement. The real problem is that gamers can't sit through a video of more than 10 minutes or read through an article with more than 500 words, but can still, to this very day, remember every slight, failure or missed opportunity of at least the last five years and don't hesitate to bring it back up every time something tangentially related is discussed.

Developer: "We've got some fresh ideas here for-"

Gamers: "Why aren't you working on title X?! It's been 4 years since we last saw something!"

Developer: "But... That was 4 years ago, games have changed, people change, those mechanics don't work nowa-"

Gamers: "CHANGE BAD! SELF-CONGRATULARY INSULARY MENTAL MASTURBATION GOOD!"

Developer: "Ok..."

Gamers: "You didn't change enough! This is the same game you've been peddling for 4 years! Where's the innovation!?"

Developer: "..."

There's plenty of sex games out there but they're rated AO. No large retail stores sell AO rated games. You have to look at indie sites and sex shops to find them.

Fifty Shades of Grey is incredibly tacky. If people want it, sure, start producing it if there's a market.

To me, sex in media has always seemed either exploitative or voyeuristic. We're either groping around childishly (GOW) or we're intruding on something private (Braveheart).

I think Looper handled it well. The prostitution scene was appropriately saddening and the other exited gracefully. Even Mass Effect, which approaches it rather well, lingers a bit too long.

EDIT: Oh, and completely unrelated, but I was just reading about this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_Star

Why no sex game ? Ok let me put it simple:

Sex games do exist, why no "quality" sex games exist would be the question and the answer comes in 4 forms:

1. You are very limited in genre since it essentially has to be mouse only

2. It wouldn't sell on console because of obvious "my tv is in the living and i have a family" reason

3. You aren't in the same mindset when playing a game as you are when beating it hence "quality" might mean something completely different and to make a sex game that people would really fell "is good" would likely require a team of fucking psychologists and quite frankly COD map packs and WoW expansions are easier and cheaper to make

4. If you want to make it a paid experience than it's likely going to be a women-only one because i can think of very few guys that actually need 'high quality" junk grabbing content so much that they would pay for it... not only that but you are catering to a 12 to 20 year old demographic, with a game that in some countries will be theoretically illegal until you are 21/18 years old, and consider that they likely need their parents credit card to pay for shit and that be kinda awkward

5. And i just found a 5, that being that if the game has a good enough story people might want to find out the ending and will just burn out and than never "use" it again unless they'r the kind that like to jack off at the same porn twice.

So to TL;DR Non knows what a "good" mean for sex games, the market that would pay for it is actually more limited than you think and most of the companies that have enough big piles of money to risk doing this already have more "secure" shit to make profits off.

Sexy Beach Zero. Yep.

Our industry already has too much bad media attention as it is. I don't want uninformed media/ politicians starting to accuse us of being violent sex maniacs that are corrupting the children.

On a side note, I believe a company called Bad Robot recently announced they're making an erotic adventure game for the occulous rift. That should be interesting.

I think it's a cultural thing. Sex (and nudity) is still kinda a "taboo" in the USA right? Of course not in a "don't talk about it" kinda way but I remember the "nipplegate" thing and how amused I was that that was a big scandal. Cause as far as I remember nobody in europe cared about this one bit. So I don't think we will see these games (appart from the weird ones that exist right now). And I couldn't care less about it.