Have you noticed that there are a lot more horny games lately? Despite what some people may think, there’s no shortage of sexiness in modern gaming, with salacious titles readily available on Steam and even the Nintendo eShop. And it turns out that there’s an explanation for this, and it’s relatively simple, according to a YouTuber who recently broke down the phenomena.
On April 30, YouTuber Jesse Cox posted a video chronicling the rise of adult games on Steam. Cox, who’s also a game producer of the 2018 queer dating-sim sex game Monster Prom and the 2024 Metroidvania Gestalt: Steam & Cinder, took a look at how and why games featuring “mature themes”—we’re talking about sex—are so prevalent. And the reason shouldn’t surprise you: sex sells. While that’s an obvious answer, Cox goes over the mainstream-ification of adult games, starting in the ‘80s. Check it out here, or read on for a breakdown.
As Cox reminds us, video games are still a relatively new medium, having been born in the late ‘50s before really exploding in the ‘80s and ‘90s. It was around this time that some of the earliest horny games started popping up, including 1986's quiz ‘em up Dr. Ruth’s Computer Game of Good Sex and 1988's puzzler Centerfold Squares. But it really wasn’t until 1987's point-and-click adventure game Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards (and its subsequent sequels and spinoffs), and the interactive movie Night Trap, that the sex game genre blew up—primarily because they showed much more explicit scenes than the games that came before them. This prompted a moral panic, with gaming execs swearing in court that games like Night Trap would never appear on consoles. So while the sex game genre was gaining worldwide attention, these kinds of titles were largely relegated to PC because most big publishers at the time—Atari, Nintendo, Sega, etcetera—wanted to avoid the controversy.
Fast-forward to the 2010s and, with the help of Java scripting and hosting websites like Newgrounds throughout the aughts, adult games began finding new audiences. And mainstream titles like Mass Effect 3 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt featured mature themes about drugs, violence, and lots of sex.
According to Cox, the popularity of games like Mass Effect and The Witcher 3 inspired Steam to allow developers to publish just about whatever they wanted, which, of course, meant the nudity floodgates opened. Steam would eventually crack down on horny games in 2018, sending takedown notices to devs who violated rules after Congress, once again, lobbied against them. However, three years later, Steam backed off, allowing for horny games to become as ubiquitous as they are today. Why? Well, again, as Cox said in his video, sex sells.
Consider Baldur’s Gate 3, Larian Studios’ superb RPG based around Dungeons & Dragons. Heralded as one of 2023's best games ever, it features a fantastic narrative with fantastic characters that embark on a fantastic journey. It also features fantastic sex scenes, one of which was used as one of the game’s major marketing materials. Or take a look at the game de jour, and the one mired in discourse right now, Stellar Blade. This PS5-exclusive character action game from developer Shift Up is dope. It’s not perfect, but the combat is good and the story is fine enough. However, there’s no denying that sex—that is, protagonist Eve and her racy outfits—is a main driver behind its controversy and popularity.
Kotaku reached out to Cox for comment.
Cox’s video is fascinating. The explanation, the history, the research—it all makes for an interesting watch on a genre of games that’s grown in popularity in the last decade or so. Check it out, because he goes over way more examples of the types of games you’re seeing on Steam and other digital distributors.