Yeah i saw that, the anime was expected to get around 1700 sales or something and they were hoping for at least 3000. Some fans started a campaign to try and boost sales, haha. The games fairing much better though.
I do believe it’ll affect some parts of the industry. Going back to a west example, Mangagamer is owned by OVERDRIVE, so arguably if they go bust it could be bad for OVERDRIVE too.
But in general i think its like throwing a pebble against a house. Its there, it happened, it left a mark but is it big enough to notice? I believe some companies will notice it (Bamboo mentioned in his last Livestream that the industry in Japan is shrinking and so expanding to the west is one way to keep these companies afloat).
Yeah thus far on Aarinfantasy no one has seen the sales numbers pop up anywhere, hopefully someone will find them.
Yeah Hadaka Shitsuji was infact made by a guy, he runs his own brand (Mada Koubou) and does everything himself. The only thing he doesn’t do is voice acting. I haven’t seen Hadaka Shitsuji’s sales numbers either (being doujin it’ll probably be harder to find) but I’ll ask on Aarinfantasy. Considering the brand has 2 games coming out this year I’d assume it did well but yeah, I’ll ask around for numbers. If anywhere, I’d assume it’d be in one of the creators many 2chan threads: http://kohada.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/gboy/1330649057/270
They’ve all been backed up.
If they’re intended for the male audience they’re still BL games, they’re just a niche within a niche.
Theirs a term known as Bara (Rose), it literally refers to BL games that are aimed at men rather then woman.
They’re all ages ports of Togainu No Chi. Similar to how they port straight titles to consoles, they took out the sex and put another scene in its place. Then gave the fan favorite (Shiki) a new ending along with an entirely new character (Yukihito). Some scenes that didn’t have CGs in the original also got CGs. The PSP version is the same game but made to tie in to the horrible anime adaption they gave the game (Literally its horrible. They couldn’t decide which route they wanted to go down and began to have conflicting plot elements. Finally just ending with a unique ending they made themselves that made literally no sense.)
Yeah I’ve been a supporter of JAST getting into the otome market but not in the way they’re currently going (StarrySky). As I’ve mentioned in StarrySky thread, I believe JAST should find an all ages title with game-play so they can get it on Steam and other services. In theory, more exposure and options to buy = more sales. A similar thing I believe they should do with BL. License something like Angel’s Feather, the game has game-play and no 18+ elements which means its Steam eligible. Instead the 18+ elements are in the append disc (literally if you want 18+ content, u install the disc), its not a big loss and you don’t hear about the game for its H-scenes anyway.
Yeah I’ve made a post over on Aarinfantasy, though Hadaka is doujin so i dunno if sales for that will come up (I’ve found a bunch of ratings/reviews thus far). I’ll keep looking around with names of some of the titles I know and see if i can dig up anything.
edit:
dangit DLsite, why you no list sales numbers on the Japanese otome/BL website. You do it on the english side
The 2 titles I looked at have both apparently won some sales award though (Silver crown above ‘Shingakkou -Noli me tangere-’ and ‘Gakuen Handsome’)
Didn’t Steam turn down Aselia despite it being more what you’d expect to match their standard audience? They turned down Loren The Amazon Princess too. It’s not that easy to guess what will and won’t get in.
I still have to explain to people that I have no idea if I’ll be able to sell my other games there any time or not, it’s not actually up to me.
Man, i can’t thank you enough, this boosted my knowledge about the industry a little (Or actually, alot).
But man, this regress in the visual novels industry is really depressing, i mean from 500k to 20-100k top sellers is really sad, if they don’t do something about this, in the next few years, Top visual novels will be selling 10K at the most…
Although the Otome game industry still remains unaffected, the female otakus are a loyal fanbase and will buy their games regardless of what console they’re on. But still, for the VN industry to know such regression, i’m really really sad.
Yeah, i was expecting to sell more than that. truth be told, the sales can really be unpredictable sometimes, i’ve watched alot of masterpiece animes, but when i go to check their sales, i find most of them stuck at 4k at best
“I do believe it’ll affect some parts of the industry. Going back to a west example, Mangagamer is owned by OVERDRIVE, so arguably if they go bust it could be bad for OVERDRIVE too.
But in general i think its like throwing a pebble against a house. Its there, it happened, it left a mark but is it big enough to notice? I believe some companies will notice it (Bamboo mentioned in his last Livestream that the industry in Japan is shrinking and so expanding to the west is one way to keep these companies afloat).”
Yeah i know, but what i meant to say is that Piracy in the west is higher than the piracy in japan, therefor foreigners will just pirate the game and play it instead of buying it.
Well, it sure damn is shrinking, and i believe its their own fault for that <_<
they must be doing something wrong.
“Yeah thus far on Aarinfantasy no one has seen the sales numbers pop up anywhere, hopefully someone will find them”
Alright, just make sure to send me the numbers via PM or just post here, you know, this curiousity of mine is killing me lol
“Yeah Hadaka Shitsuji was infact made by a guy, he runs his own brand (Mada Koubou) and does everything himself. The only thing he doesn’t do is voice acting. I haven’t seen Hadaka Shitsuji’s sales numbers either (being doujin it’ll probably be harder to find) but I’ll ask on Aarinfantasy. Considering the brand has 2 games coming out this year I’d assume it did well but yeah, I’ll ask around for numbers. If anywhere, I’d assume it’d be in one of the creators many 2chan threads: http://kohada.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/gboy/1330649057/270
They’ve all been backed up.”
Yep, i was pretty darn sure the content in that BL game can’t be possibly made by females or even inteded for them, i’ve seen alot of BL fangirls complain. You could check the CG set, but i don’t guarantee the safety of your eyes lol
Oh so it’s a Doujin? No wonder, i mean, there is no voice acting too, and voice acting plays a big role in the sales of BL games, so i’d safely assume it didn’t sell that good, my guess would be 2k at the max (i guess i’m being a little generous with it, eh? lol).
I’ve heard of a game planned from him, when i looked into it i found out its a Tentacle game…tentacle in BL (Tentacles are actually the main theme), I think this guy needs to look into the BL industry first, and learn what the fans like.
Because last time i checked, Tentacle in BL is not a good idea (It’s called Boys love, not Tentacle bishie love) lol. oh well whatever, its his circle, he can do whatever he wants.
“If they’re intended for the male audience they’re still BL games, they’re just a niche within a niche.
Theirs a term known as Bara (Rose), it literally refers to BL games that are aimed at men rather then woman”
Nono you misunderstood, I wasn’t talking about Bara, i was talking about Trap Hentai, extremely feminine crossdressing Shotas (you could say its a loli with a dongdong), Those are intended for the male audience, Bara is usually refered to as gei comi or just men’s love, and BL…well you know, is intended for the fujoshi. the most hardcore out of the three is probably Trap hentai, i’m sure you’ve heard of the infamous boku no pico lol
Anyway, here are the trap hentais i was referring to.
“They’re all ages ports of Togainu No Chi. Similar to how they port straight titles to consoles, they took out the sex and put another scene in its place. Then gave the fan favorite (Shiki) a new ending along with an entirely new character (Yukihito). Some scenes that didn’t have CGs in the original also got CGs. The PSP version is the same game but made to tie in to the horrible anime adaption they gave the game (Literally its horrible. They couldn’t decide which route they wanted to go down and began to have conflicting plot elements. Finally just ending with a unique ending they made themselves that made literally no sense.)”
Yeah, that explains the high sales, like i said, All ages, especially console titles sell alot higher, (as i mentioned before, many people prefer non-adult content, and since Togainu no chi had that little Shiki bonus, i’d say its a no brainer for it to have sold that much).
Dude, i still don’t get why they adapt some deep and long shit in a 12 episode, that goes for mangas, light novels, and Visual novels too.
“Yeah I’ve been a supporter of JAST getting into the otome market but not in the way they’re currently going (StarrySky). As I’ve mentioned in StarrySky thread, I believe JAST should find an all ages title with game-play so they can get it on Steam and other services. In theory, more exposure and options to buy = more sales. A similar thing I believe they should do with BL. License something like Angel’s Feather, the game has game-play and no 18+ elements which means its Steam eligible. Instead the 18+ elements are in the append disc (literally if you want 18+ content, u install the disc), its not a big loss and you don’t hear about the game for its H-scenes anyway.”
Yeah, that’s a good way to make profit and everyone’ll be happy.
that’s exactly what i’ve been trying to say, Non-h game = Open to a wider audience = definitely more sales.
and including a disc to install the 18+ elements isn’t a bad idea either, so those people who want 18+ stuff could just install the disc and play, no one’s gonna complain lol.
"Yeah I’ve made a post over on Aarinfantasy, though Hadaka is doujin so i dunno if sales for that will come up (I’ve found a bunch of ratings/reviews thus far). I’ll keep looking around with names of some of the titles I know and see if i can dig up anything.
edit:
dangit DLsite, why you no list sales numbers on the Japanese otome/BL website. You do it on the english side
The 2 titles I looked at have both apparently won some sales award though (Silver crown above ‘Shingakkou -Noli me tangere-’ and ‘Gakuen Handsome’)
I’m thankfull man, and sorry for the trouble, i’m quite a curious person and anything related to the industry piques my interest ;p
Well, DLsite games sell alot less than the mainstream market (Not sure if i put that there correctly lol, but yeah that’s as far as my knowledge goes, i could be wrong though).
Lol, Togainu no chi is probably the top selling BL game of all time up untill now i guess, since it’s one of the first BL games to come out, and it was made by known Visual novel company, Nitro+ lol, their games sell pretty good.
Anyway, i’m counting on you man, i really need to get those sales numbers asap lol
JAST hasn’t ever told us what happened to getting Aselia onto steam, if they have then i haven’t heard of it.
I know Mangagamer tried to get Higurashi and Go!Go!Nippon! onto steam but steam classified them as text novels and not as games so they were told no.
If they have made a statement about Aselia and steam, then please let me know. But last i heard was at AX a few years back where they said Aselia onto steam was something they’d like to see one day.
Yeah I’ve seen Hadaka Shitsuji (can’t wait for that translation patch to finish, haha). And Hadaka has voice acting, its just that the creator didn’t voice anyone (he did everything else but the voice acting). And I’d probably assume it sold more then 2k, it’s started becoming a fairly big merchandising campaign lately. It also must have been/seemed profitable enough to make a sequel so yeah.
And yeah the tentacle game…i think that’s kind of his thing though. He’s so…WTF that its like the BL version of Hatoful Boyfriend in a way. You don’t play it cause the game is ‘hot’ you play it because its ‘WTF?! I gotta see this…’. At least for me, that’s why i wanna try it :x
As far as I know, in Japan DLsite as actually a big thing and they’ve made their own offshoot just for professional games (‘DLsite maniax’ or something)
But yeah in English, its…eh. Most don’t really sell, but those that do, reach around the 2k mark which are sales Mangagamer wishes it could have.
And yeah Togainu is arguable the best selling and most well known BL game.
"Yeah I’ve seen Hadaka Shitsuji (can’t wait for that translation patch to finish, haha). And Hadaka has voice acting, its just that the creator didn’t voice anyone (he did everything else but the voice acting). And I’d probably assume it sold more then 2k, it’s started becoming a fairly big merchandising campaign lately. It also must have been/seemed profitable enough to make a sequel so yeah.
And yeah the tentacle game…i think that’s kind of his thing though. He’s so…WTF that its like the BL version of Hatoful Boyfriend in a way. You don’t play it cause the game is ‘hot’ you play it because its ‘WTF?! I gotta see this…’. At least for me, that’s why i wanna try it "
Oh so it has VA? Lol that’s quite surprising.
Well since you did mention the soundtrack was ranked 6 somewhere, i’d assume it did sell slightly more than 2K, might go up to 4k even.
Well, for a Doujin game, 2-4k IS profit, it’s actually profitable even for an official game, and along with the sountrack sales, the creator must have been happy lol
But still, he should tone down the extreme content a bit if he wants to boost the sales a little.
Yeah i figured, must be quite “unique” in a way though, i mean Tentacle in BL…it indeed DOES sound WTF, and i’m seriously planning to try it just for the WTF and the curiousity lol
“As far as I know, in Japan DLsite as actually a big thing and they’ve made their own offshoot just for professional games (‘DLsite maniax’ or something)
But yeah in English, its…eh. Most don’t really sell, but those that do, reach around the 2k mark which are sales Mangagamer wishes it could have.”
Yeah, they don’t have only games though, i’ve seen mangas, Doujin books, Doujin H-anime and alot more.
Although my point was, for example, an average DLsite game might sell alot less than an average “mainstream” game, if you know what i mean.
“And yeah Togainu is arguable the best selling and most well known BL game.”
most likely yeah, especially the PS2 version, with the whole bonus content and stuff.
Seriously speaking though, i’m not sure if those do sell, but if i had to guess,i think hunks workshop probably sold?
Not really knowledgable about that genre.
In the west, ‘Hunks Workshop!’ is probably the best known in that genre (even has a translation project that’s around 35% complete).
In Japan though, again I don’t know how sales did. On Erogamescape it only got 2 reviews though. http://erogamescape.dyndns.org/~ap2/ero … me=4258#ad
Also just thinking about it now, rather then Togainu No Chi being top selling BL game I think Gakuen Heaven (http://vndb.org/v850) might have that title. It got an anime series, fandisks, sequels, ports and other stuff way before Togainu started to get all that. The anime was licensed and released in English by Media Blasters if i recall, while before it closed Tokyopop licensed both the Manga series under their BLU label. They finished one of the series and did 3/5 volumes for the other.
The company that made it (Spray) is owned by Visual Arts too (Key, ect): http://spray.product.co.jp/index.html
Now that you mention it, Gakuen Heaven was rather popular at that time, it’s actually getting a sequel on both the PC and the PSP, All ages too, not sure about 18+ though, there have been no info about an R-18 version, but i personally think it’s understandable, You know, being all ages is always a win-win situation, the fans are satisfied and the company gets profit from a wider audience.
Also, Spray doesn’t make extreme content, the R-18 stuff is always light and perfect for the female fans, the romance is decent and the character designs are quite unique aswell, i’ve been hearing good things about “Steal!” one of their other BL games, so it doesn’t come as a surprise to me ;p
They’ve confirmed that the PSP version is gonna be all ages (it can’t be 18+ anyway), but haven’t confirmed the PC version. Rumor says they’re holding back the big announcement but its just a rumor so XD
Over on Aarinfantasy I had it pointed out to me too, Hobibox now has a BL branch called ‘easy-peasy’: http://www.easy-peasy.jp
Title for the first game is still tentative but its currently titled ??-???
Its split into 2 separate games apparently (not 2 installation discs, 2 separate games).
Part 1 is ‘???’
Part 2 is ‘???’
Both parts are 18+
Mada Kobo has apparently redone some re-branding too.
His entire company/group (whatever u wanna call em) is now called Madalabo: http://madalabo.com/
Works he does on his own are under his own brand, named after himself (Mada Kobo): http://madalabo.com/products.htm
Works he does with help from others are under his new brand ‘Claw/Mark’ which had its debut title announced: http://madalabo.com/claw_mark/tenrin/index.htm
The tentacle game (Syokusyu Densetsu) hasn’t been branded yet, the art-book released for it just refers to Madalabo apparently.
He’s got 3 games planned currently (Hadaka fandisk, Tenrin no Guneval, Syokusyu Densetsu)
Hadaka Shitsuji Fandisk website has gone live: http://madalabo.com/hsfd/index.htm
6 alternate stories apparently.
The first 5 continue after the main butlers ‘Love’ ending
The 6th continues after the True/Harem ending
Courtesy to Aarinfantasy for pointing it out and translating the details
http://boyslove.fr/index.php?option=com … -xXJfVCoTc
Princess Note (a magazine that covers BL and Otome games) released a list in their November issue covering the top 10 selling PC Otome and BL games overall.
The list:
1 - Hadaka Shitsuji (18+ BL)
2 - Kichiku Megane (18+ BL)
3 - Dare ni demo Ura ga aru - Happy Gifty (All Ages Otome)
4 - Tokyo Yamanote Boys: Dark Cherry (All Ages? Otome)
5 - Starry ? Sky - After Summer (All Ages Otome)
6 - Kichiku Megane R (18+ BL)
7 - Starry ? Sky - After Autumn (All Ages Otome)
8 - Shingakko - Noli me tangere (18+ BL)
9 - Gakuen Tokkyuu Hotokenser (All Ages? Otome)
10 - Tokyo Yamanote Boys: Honey Milk (All Ages Otome)
According to the translation, ‘Shingakko’ has been in the top 10 list for 3 months.
Just a note, I mentioned ‘overall’ above but I’m not 100% sure if its monthly sales or overall sales. What leads me to believe its overall is the fact that Kichiku Megane is in the list which was released in 2007. It hasn’t been re-released so I don’t see people buying it new now (5 years later) so yeah.
Hmm… reading this stuff on sales makes me wonder… Where does Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side rank on sales within the otome/BL market? According to Konami, Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 3rd Story is the best selling entry in the franchise. It sold over 150,000 copies on the Nintendo DS. That success was so big, they recycled the Tokimeki Memorial 4 engine and ported an improved version to PSP. I believe that version sold 50,000 copies.
But I never saw Konami ever make a publicity statement, to claim Tokimeki Memorial Girl’s Side 3rd Story was the best selling otome title on the market (a respective claim they always make with the normal TokiMemo series). What otome (or BL) has sold more than 200,000 copies?
There’s probably less than 20 galge in the history of gaming, that have ever broken the 200K mark. I would think otome/BL have even fewer. Either Konami is being very modest about their success, or something out there had all the Japanese girl gamers swooning for their digital love, and I’ve sadly never heard of it.
I don’t think you can fairly predict how a “soft” romance focused BL game would do by comparing it to Enzai, a hardcore fetish shota prison rape game. The BL games that have been released in the USA aren’t remotely what the “Average” BL fan wants.
For what it’s worth I did think Enzai had an interesting story, even if the bleak atmosphere and non stop rape and shota abuse was depressing.
I’m pretty sure that list is by no means valid, not even close, it’s worse than those lists on Sankaku lol, and Where is Tokimeki memorial girl’s side? Where is Uta no prince sama, where is Hakuoki? These are all-time best sellers, yet they didn’t include them in that list, and 18+ games generally sell much less than all-ages, especially if it’s a doujin, like Hadaka shitsuji, for example.
You don’t really need that much knowledge to realize list like these are utter crap lol, even more so when it’s on a foreign site that has no source link or anything of the sort to back that list up.
The list only only covers PC games, not overall (Tokimeki Memorial Girls side being DS/PSP and Hakuoki being PS2/PSP iirc)
And yeah that’s the website for it, its a monthly magazine published by Toranoana.
The website also says something about the monthly ranking (TORANOANA???) (TORANOANA Monthly Ranking follower for woman). So the magazine does contain the ranking.
But yeah I’m not sure how valid that magazine is, but its one I had pointed out to me since scans of B’s Log haven’t turned up online (and yet the sample discs that always come with it have XD)
Even if it’s PC games, there is no way that list is valid, unless it’s monthly/weekly ranking, then that’s another story.
Those games listed aren’t even in getchu’s ranking list for female-oriented stuff. they’re not in amazon’s top 100 selling PC games either (Although i’m not really sure about how valid amazon is), but yeah, there’s none of that in Getchu.
anyways, even a not so experienced otaku can clearly see how invalid that list is lol, it’s like they just grabbed whatever was on their mind and randomly put them there, that makes even more sense since it’s Toranoana lol
… is there anywhere I can actually order a copy of Togainu no Chi for the PC to use with that patch? (considering the size of my backlog I should probably be grateful if the answer is no)
