It’s great to have adult content on Switch – but we all need to be wary
Earlier this week, publisher Gamuzumi reported that “Nintendo do not allow uncensored boobs on their consoles now” on the grounds that “obscene content could damage the brand and infringe its policies”. According to Gamuzumi, this was a recent change to submission rules for the Switch’s eShop, and was revealed to them when they attempted to submit their upcoming games Hot Tentacles Shoot and Elves Christmas Hentai Puzzle, both of which feature adult content.
As you can probably tell from those game titles, Gamuzumi is a publisher who has made a point of deliberately pushing the boundaries on the eShop with its lewd titles; in the past they have attempted to position themselves as a publisher who will release the games that no-one else dares to try and put on the eShop. To date, their back catalogue includes numerous entries in Winged Cloud’s “Sakura” series of visual novels, the enjoyably silly Fingun and Elves Fantasy Hentai Puzzle.
Gamuzumi’s releases are, it’s fair to say, of wildly varying quality, with several titles from their catalogue seemingly picked more to be provocative than out of any real belief that they’re especially good games. Elves Fantasy Hentai Puzzle and its rejected follow-up Elves Christmas Hentai Puzzle are prime examples — they’re nothing more than sliding-block puzzles using artwork of unclear origin.
Stuff like this is quite rightly criticised on Steam for cluttering up the store (and, in many cases, for using uncredited stolen artwork — though we can’t say one way or the other if the Elves games fall into this particular category, to be clear) so it’s kind of baffling to see a publisher making an effort to push it onto other platforms.
Gamuzumi isn’t the only one doing this sort of thing, either. Eastasiasoft, for all the excellent work they have done, have also been pushing the boundaries a little bit with some of the titles they’ve released — most notably Plunderer and Sofiya and the Ancient Clan. The difference in those cases is that while those games originated as explicit adult content on Steam, they were heavily edited (and renamed) for their Switch release. They’re also both kind of rubbish, as is Neko Secret Room, which is probably the most “low effort” of these games — and the only one to feature uncensored nipples.
Eastasiasoft is, of course, also behind the console releases of Zoo Corporation’s Pretty Girls series, and these remain some of the company’s most popular titles. Not without reason, mind; the Pretty Girls titles are solid casual games that are well put together, and their digital download releases feature mildly provocative outfits at most, with no explicit nudity. Where things get a little hazy is with the physical releases of these games; due to a supposed loophole with PEGI classifications, eastasiasoft has been able to partner with UK-based publisher Fun Box Media to produce physical-exclusive versions of numerous Pretty Girls games featuring uncensored nudity.
One thing that all the adult content we’ve discussed so far has in common is that the nudity is just… sort of there. It doesn’t really add anything of note to the games themselves; it’s not like we’re getting 18+ visual novels with uncensored sex scenes on Switch, and I suspect that’s something that is never going to happen. I mean, sure, it’s kind of cool to be able to put in a Switch game and see full nudity — but on the other hand, you sometimes have to ask yourself if 1) the game the nudity is in is actually worth playing in the first place, and 2) if the nudity is really adding anything to the experience.
Gamuzumi’s announcement that Nintendo has supposedly changed their policies on adult content has a number of other developers, publishers and localisers concerned. It’s important to note that this supposed policy change is something which we only have Gamuzumi’s word for right now, since they didn’t post any hard evidence, no other publishers have mentioned running into this issue, and, of course, Nintendo are never going to say anything publicly about this. But if it is true, other publishers are right to be concerned.
For some time now, the Nintendo Switch has been acting as a spiritual successor to Sony’s PlayStation Vita so far as anime-style Japanese titles are concerned. With Sony’s notorious about-face on even mildly ecchi adult content partway through the PlayStation 4 era, the Switch was becoming a haven for those console exclusives that featured mildly provocative adult content alongside their gameplay. The key word here is gameplay, though — titles like the games in Compile Heart’s excellent Genkai Tokki series (Seven Pirates H being a prime example) back up their lewd side with solid gameplay to truly get invested and involved in; they’re worlds apart from low-effort sliding block puzzles.
When discussing this story on social media, a couple of developers, publishers and localisers reached out to me to discuss their concerns; we’ve omitted their names and companies for now just to ensure they have at least a chance of a quiet life.
One noted that publishers like Gamuzumi releasing deliberately provocative adult content to push the boundaries of what is acceptable on the eShop was a genuine concern for them, because it is “not helping to change the mentality that anime-esque games are just porn. Pushing the envelope like that helps no-one. It’s not like Nintendo is just going to turn around and say R18 is okay! Such a reality does not exist.”
Another said that they “knew it was only a matter of time before the tidal wave of ‘hentai puzzle’ games making it onto the Switch were going to ruin it for the rest of us releasing proper games.”
Part of the trouble is that the most vocal “anti-censorship” types online see blindly and unquestioningly supporting adult content such as Gamuzumi’s titles as important for sending some sort of message. And in some regards, they have a point — adult gaming absolutely should be destigmatised, with those who wish to engage with it being free to do so, while those who wish to keep it at a distance should also be able to do so.
Unfortunately, by supporting low-effort adult content like the Elves Hentai Puzzle games, you’re also inadvertently sending a message that people want more low-effort hentai puzzle sliding block games, rather than adult games with substance and meaning to them. That, in turn, leads to the market getting flooded with copycat titles looking to make a quick buck by putting “Hentai” in the title, an anime girl in her bra and pants on the thumbnail and a bunch of questionably sourced artwork in the game.
When that sort of thing starts taking up a significant chunk of space on the eShop — as it has done on Steam already, to widespread criticism — that’s when Nintendo are going to start taking notice, and perhaps thinking “hmm, maybe we need to be a little bit stricter”. And the people who really get hurt at that point then are those who have been making more ambitious, large-scale projects that just happen to include ecchi or adult content.
I’m sure after this much time of the Switch being a wonderful haven for quality otaku games — many of which have physical releases for the collectors among us — none of us want to see developers, publishers and localisers having to either step back from Switch publishing altogether, or neuter their releases in the same way they often have to in order to release on PlayStation today. Yes, we still have PC as the most open, permissive platform out there — and there are even companies starting to come to terms with otaku gamers’ desire for physical releases of adult content on PC — but it’s nice to have the choice to play on a console platform.
So if you’re reading this as a player, I encourage you to think carefully about the games you support on the eShop and the message that sends. As a developer, I encourage you to think about the kind of image you want to create for yourself with the material that you produce. And as localisers and publishers, I encourage you to take a little more time over the curation process; while anime tiddies and adult content without context may lead to a short-term spike in sales, it’s the games with substance that are going to keep people coming back, and, more to the point, will get people actively promoting your work to friends and family.
I’m skeptical as to whether there’s any cause for alarm with regard to the eShop’s policies for now, given that Gamuzumi is the only publisher that has encountered issues with releasing adult content on the platform, but it’s something that we all need to be very wary of right now. Let’s not allow a bit of cheap, low-effort porny shovelware spoil the market for quality games that just happen to include ecchi content.
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