The Rise of Adult Video Games on Steam

[@jessecox]

This video is definitely pushing the limits of what youtube's algorithm can handle so if you feel like sharing with friends or giving it a like that would help A LOT. Thank you in advance. Also a huge thank you to Emily Rose for helping write this script based off a conversation I had with the amazing Ryan Wiemeyer of "The Men Who Wear Many Hats" - creator of Max Gentlemen Sexy Business. Much love - Jesse

[@Bepositive77]

Keep it up Cox. This was Excellence.

[@patyos2]

Awesome! 😎 New Gentlemen’s Hentai Club season when 😮?

[@m1n1m00se]

I've got a feeling this one will blow up more than usual. lol

[@SexPositiveGaming]

I am amazed this is monetized!

[@Makaiton]

Adding a comment for that engagement. Go algorithm, go!

[@muncherofbiscuits]

The algorithm got nothing on the ACTUALLY important educational videos like this

[@m1n1m00se]

Don't lie Jesse, this was your excuse to play 100 hours of Orc Massage.

[@jessecox]

ITS CALLED RESEARCH

[@Bogglemanify]

@@jessecox I can hear this comment

[@patyos2]

@@jessecox quality research ! We need more of it.

[@RedRocksies]

@@jessecox all that research and managed to get Flash and Java mixed up (you showed Flash games and called it Java)

[@looneytoon76]

@@jessecox I think some of that 'research' is dripping on the floor

[@sael91]

My god. Jesse has finally found the perfect way to combine his training as a teacher, a video game enthusiast, and a connoisseur of the spicy. Incredible.

[@User5770]

He was born for this, and we are lucky to have him

[@BlinkyDrakkin]

This is what you get when you combine Jesse's video gamer, pervert, and history teacher backgrounds. A delightful, saucy, and educational video!

[@viktormon]

The way this is phrased it sounds like he made some kind of broken Pathfinder character combo XD

[@JamesBurdon-gu5yu]

*pedo*

[@hikokimari]

C O X I N B I O

[@CrazyShortCanuck]

Here from the podcast, gotta get those numbers up

[@jessecox]

This guy gets it

[@Misstajay]

Yup!

[@Bepositive77]

This is the level of games journalism TB would be proud of and, the content he would be ashamed of.

[@Leo0718]

He would've plugged the video on the podcast anyways.

[@Silith13]

Jesse. Your steam account turned 18 years old.

[@Utrilus]

It can consent now!

[@MrJJandJim]

​@@Utrilus I nearly spat out my sandwich you glorious bastard! XD

[@NauyaIsOnline]

It's always a good time when Jesse covers lewd content *analytically.*

[@getsomebud]

i c what u did ther

[@JamesBurdon-gu5yu]

*shows he is a pedo

[@CommanderZx2]

I think you've missed some history there jumping straight to The Witcher 2. The first Witcher game on PC had in game collectable nude character cards of the female characters Geralt slept with. Also Mafia 2 had collectable Playboy magazines with actual nude photos, that was before Witcher 2 as well. The first AO game on Steam was Hatred. It was on sale on Steam for a while and then its age rating was bumped to AO due to the subject matter, but after the users complained of it being removed it was returned to sale on Steam despite the AO rating. This opened the flood games to other AO rated titles.

[@Utrilus]

Hatred is funny in that regard, it got weirdly political in america.

[@CommanderZx2]

@@Utrilus I never understood the outrage or the reason for the rating of Hatred. It really was no different from dozens of other similar games that had come before, it was essentially just a remake of Postal 1 but with better graphics.

[@dkirby9052]

I don't know about Mafia, never played it, but the Witcher games were at least tasteful in how it handled adult content. You never saw anything too graphic.

[@TemporallyAnarchaic]

He also definitely forgot all the times Kratos fucked someone in the first level of a God of War title while nipples flapped about. OR Dante's Inferno where the first boss was a giant woman with mouthnipples that vomited aborted babies with scythe arms at you. Witcher was FAR from the first mainstream nudity in video games. Hell, released on the same DAY as Witcher 2 was LA Noire, which had full on bush during the murder investigations.

[@Arrakiz666]

@@CommanderZx2 The developer of Hatred, much like the developer of Postal before it, reeeaaally wanted it to get political, and they have some pretty terrible views, so the outrage isn't just about the game itself, or about the slippery slope of what the game represents, but just what the dev represents and whether what they represent should be encouraged by financial success. It's a case where it's really not possible to remove the "artist" from the "art", because the "art" in question is really just a medium by which the "artist" is trying to peddle their agenda (that agenda is getting rich off of outrage generated by them just being a bad person). There are much better examples of games that generated outrage where the developer really didn't intend to, they just wanted to create a good, mature game. The Coffin of Andy and Leyley started that way. Gone Home is a perfect example of a game that generated massive backlash. Hatred is definitely not an example of that. Like, no, it's not just one of dime-a-dozen games like that, the developer explicitly wanted it to become a focal point of outrage, and succeeded. So to answer your confusion: Hatred generated outrage because it wanted to generate outrage, and people get outraged over assholes being assholes and benefitting from being assholes.

[@znie-1380]

I'm glad Gabe finally began catering to refined gentlemen such as yourself Jesse. I'm only sad it wasn't in time for TB to see you launch Orc Massage on the regular. His reaction would have likely made an entire animation worth of gold.

[@Christopher-gp9iv]

Dude, is Jesse Cox doing video essays now? I remember watching your let's plays back in the 2010's and absolutely adoring you, it's such a treat to see you in my recommended. Good to see you're still making great content!

[@Invalidationcoded]

he still does those on his Cox Clips channel

[@patyos2]

Is this a return of the Gentlemen’s Hentai Club ?

[@Hoztyle619]

Right? I really enjoyed those videos. Santell discussing porn is hillarious.

[@swiftlymurmurs]

I think they probably stopped with that because it was just insanely hard to publish and get people to watch. I know they had problems keeping season 1 uploaded and viewable on PH for nebulous reasons, and the publishing deal they made for season 2 landed it behind a paywall which I think maybe a few dozen people were willing to go past

[@RAFMnBgaming]

I like the steps taken to pixellate any questionable content in those atari games. Without those important edits general audiences might have been exposed to lewd pixels, as opposed to lewd pixels...

[@Adremelek]

Awesome how you could jam this history into 15 minutes. Great editing and had a brisk pace that touched on a lot of areas. Good work Cox Crew, I hope the algorithm doesn't punish this too hard!

[@voxkine9385]

I personally love it… It’s led to my own personal favourite game: “is it an H game?!” I cover up part of my screen and try to guess from the “top games”, “upcoming” or “best sellers” and, using ONLY the thumbnail for clues… play “is it an H game?!”… I’m wrong so many times… anything with an anime style art is like a 50/50 chance…

[@patyos2]

A lot of anime ones you never know especially when steam releases are censored and you need an adult patch from the publisher for the spicy content.

[@analoren4745]

the production quality on this is absolutely superb. Well-done, sir.

[@Ben-fk9ey]

I am all for Jesse Cox long form video essay content.

[@Goobzor]

well the fact is all these adult games existed before steam allowed them on the store. people got them on dlsite or from the makers themselves on patreon and so on. and this goes back for like ever. from the point people made games. people made adult games.

[@amalegardevoir]

And now DLSite has practically been rendered useless to international customers by US payment processors

[@patyos2]

Those were mainly all Japanese games, it took Steam to allow adult games for it to really grow everywhere in English in the West. Before that mostly all we had in the west were like browser flash games on Newgrounds and people who imported them from Japan like you mentioned. Before Steam In the West Adult games had always been a much smaller niche then the huge adult games industry they had in Japan.

[@Goobzor]

@@patyos2 not really. Dlsite is mainly Japanese but people have been making adult games on patreon for 15, 20 years. First ones i played were for java. With windows moving away from it, they started using rpg maker and later renply. House party started dev well before steam allowed adult games mainy people downloading it from forums or the devs patreon.

[@Goobzor]

Also before patreon was a thing people made their own sites like sharks lagoon, and lesson of passion

[@Beredaman08]

Yep, and even now it's not uncommon to find projects start on Patreon with the intent that that if development gets far enough, they'll go for a Steam release. I'm pretty sure that's what House Party did, and I know that's what Leap of Faith did.

[@scpWyatt]

I think the real lewd games are the friends we make along the way

[@darkhawkgames]

Side note for anyone about a game that Jesse mentioned: The Guy Game is illegal to own in the US, as it features an underage woman (17) as one of the characters. There was a lawsuit over it (Topheavy Studios v Doe) where these details came out, which is part of why the game ceased production.

[@PhoenicopterusR]

It's important to note that they didn't know she was underage at the time. Probably karma or something.

[@virtualremedy8682]

sneaking in glover at 1:16 has me cracking up. 10/10

[@Atariese]

Im just glad im not the only one who caught that

[@luketfer]

I appreciate the fact you stated "videogame market *in the US* crashed", all too often the videogame crash is treated as this world wide thing. When in places like the UK the homegrown videogame scene was absolutely thriving for things like the Sinclair Spectrum and the Commadore 16

[@AOTF.]

S tier content by an S tier creator. Good stuff!

[@MinecraftJunky4566]

Jesse you have a gift for this style of content. I would love more "documentary" style video essays like this.

[@MidoriTheAwesome]

Was just listening to Cox and Crendor where you mentioned this, lol! Always fun seeing something different

[@Krane2000]

KZbin hasn't recommended my a video by Jesse for years now, and yet it recommended me this one. The algorithm doesn't make any sense but I'm damn glad it's brought me back!

[@jacobputnam8429]

the algorithm stands no chance with a thumbnail with such big personality

[@arcadus]

the "how did we get here" with david byrne and the new wave mention👌

[@ValkyrieTiara]

I wish I could reliably filter adult games on Steam. Not because I don't want to see them, but because they're ALL I want to see.

[@Maradrafts]

Bold take, I like the cut of your jib! ... But seriously, agreed on the need for a better, or at least a more intuitive, filtering system for adult games (and niche categories in general). I play and wishlist the occasional eighteen-plus game, mainly female-gazey, comedic and/or narrative-heavy games , which Steam has somehow taken to mean I wanna see EVERY game with a pun on the word lust in the title and assets in the thumbnail right there on my front page. Some days a gal just wants to chill and look for farm sims without getting jumpscared by 3D-modelled butts, ya know? Conversely, comparatively tamer RPGs like Persona 4 appear blurred on the community pages at the slightest raunchy allusion and I'm _still_ hearing about games getting barred from a Steam relase due to adult content. The way they're doing things at present just doesn't make sense to me and I wish we had better curation options altogether. (also, off-topic but I love your profile pic! I finished Ultimax not so long ago and her story warmed my heart. ^^)

[@ValkyrieTiara]

@@Maradrafts My suspicion is that it has to do with rating. 18+ games are rated 18+ and you have to opt in to see them, so they're allowed to basically do whatever they want. Persona is not 18+ so anyone can see it at any time, so the regulations about the content they can display on their product page are stricter. That's just a guess, though. And, yeah, Labrys is great lol

[@Altaranalt]

2:23 I appreciate that you pixelated those pixels.

[@dedbatt8869]

Excellent video! I hope we can expect more of this kind of content. Spectacular production value, snappy writing and great hosting as always.

[@MrBlondieTV2]

this was unironically a really fucking interesting and hilarious watch. The editing and jokes really put the cherry on top. Good fucking job Jesse, haven't watched you in many years but this was a banger.

[@M0torsagmannen]

now this is peak Cox

[@mogullll]

I haven't watched anything by you since like early cox n crendor days and the old amnesia lets plays, great to see you with a modern editing style and a surprisingly comprehensive story on a part of the games industry (shoutout to the xiao xiao stick figure and dusk b roll footage too)

[@jackielinde7568]

Jessie, I blame one Mr. and Mrs. TotalBiscuit for this. Yes, both of them did a certain video where a certain Total Biscuit played a certain Match Three game called Hunny Pop. This happened way before you started producing a certain adult only title.

[@Leo0718]

The level of research and genuinely good historical information is astounding. Love it when Jesse goes 100% into a video.

[@seanaugust]

An adults-only game with good gameplay is like a holy grail.

[@aionis562]

Dunno if you can find that... Can find a adult game with a good story tho. Those are possible at least. Gameplay...doubtful least for now. 😂😂😂

[@patyos2]

Demons Roots and Subverse is a masterpiece 🧐

[@aionis562]

@@patyos2 subverse I own. Haven't played due yet due to early access. Figured things will change laterm dunno what the other is but I'll check it out. Good story? Porn games I only like if the story is good.

[@patyos2]

@@aionis562 amazing really good story! If you getting on steam you need a patch from the publisher for the spicy content. Prepare tissues but not for what you think. 🧐

[@j.m.mitchell6226]

The game Jesse produced Maximum gentleman sexy business I think or something like that is actually great.

[@miersdelika5016]

Look at that. Jesse being responsible and doing grown up educational content. Keep it up!

[@YonadavTzveker]

I really like this format. Hope you'll do more of these

[@ZeKyra]

Oh, I could watch hours of analytic content like this! I remember playing my first adult game on Newgrounds, a dating sim of sorts, and to this day I recall one of the answers to the girl's question on a date being 'Blurry Eyes'. Ah, good times! Also, belated congrats on the 1 million!

[@blackrocknrolla]

This is super well done jesse! Great educational content and super well produced

[@theseesh9163]

Coming back months later bc we need more vids like this Jesse, they work he algorithm and they're a pleasure to watch

[@JoshRudis]

Love how Glover is in your "Erotic Games" selection.

[@patyos2]

Handholding 🤩

[@PCEngineLives]

How could it not be? How can you look at that character and not think "pure sex appeal"?? It's a surprise it even released on N64, considering how graphic the 18+ ball-rolling gameplay is.

[@merabledawnspark5827]

*sighs* Alright. Enlightenment then XD You are a literal hand that's wearing a glove... grabbing... **balls**! Glover squeezes and interacts with that ball CONSTANTLY through the entire game. Heck, the ball, itself, transforms to what Glover needs XD

[@mokajones74]

What an absolutely disgusting indulgence of debauchery

[@Rycel2001]

Glover? I barely know her!

[@stonybridge6]

that brief clip of Jack playing hunie pop was a blast from the past, i remember when those videos came out

[@ilikevideojunk]

We need more AAA-quality adult games with actual gameplay. I recently discovered "Adult VR Game Room", "Orc Massage" and "Project H" on Steam and had a blast playing those. Giggity!

[@ioldanach7]

Dang the beginning made me feel old, I was there with Pong in the beginning when a voice said "Let there be black and white!" and oh my a trip down memory lane this was including activision (pitfall was my favorite) and LLL (think had that on the amiga 500.)

[@RikuNamako]

that last line that Jesse dropped at the very end is 120% correct. Now someone needs to tell Sony.

[@me2olive]

Sony knows, they know Senran Kagura sales better than anyone. But unlike Valve, they folded to pressure and clearly don't care if their customers disagree.

[@massdefection]

Out of this entire video, the one thing that revved my engine the most was the short bit where "Da People" by Hideki Naganuma played at the end.

[@firockfinion3326]

And as a typical, perverted, early-mid thirties male, I for one welcome this new era whole heartedly.

[@Nightmare18JAKX]

same brother.

[@MumboJumboZXC]

It’s created a lot of weird teens who don’t know how to talk to women though. But that’s an entirely different issue.

[@Sharkofspace]

@@MumboJumboZXC No it absolutely did not. You can't possibly believe that in good faith.

[@PeTTs0n88]

@@MumboJumboZXC Correlation =/= causation.

[@ferring.2154]

This is a SUPER interesting topic! Ty for talking about this part of video game history without being all “pearl clutching” or puritanical. Most of the time people only talk abt horny game shit with a heavy layer of judgment and negativity to the art form as a whole, so your take on its general history is super refreshing!

[@adultvrgameroom]

Thanks, Jesse! ♥

[@lorenzorangel6120]

listening to the cox n crendor made me so hype for this video jesse needs more video essay videos like this

[@Serehful]

Odd way to remind everyone that Glover was a game, but I suppose it is technically a game about slapping balls around.

[@RabidDogma]

I SWEAR TO GOD I'm disappointed that I didn't see a Glover comment higher up in the comments.

[@QvartzEDM]

1:15 - I love that you slipped Glover in there

[@JRSiebz]

8:40 Dude, those are Macromedia/Adobe Flash games, not Java (Applets) Back in the early 2000s, I remember Jake's Booty Call had like 30 episodes of Flash point and clicks where you tried to get a bro named Jake laid.

[@Mirality]

To be fair, the Flash player was itself a Java applet, so it's not wrong... but not really right either.

[@JRSiebz]

@@Mirality flash was its own thing, on it was an activex control for internet explorer. java was a sun microsystems thing. not to mention flv (flash video), which was one the the ways og youtube delivered videos. it worked until 2017!

[@Scarabswarm]

Great work, JC, and thanks for including a clip of Subverse at the end. I was worried it would be overlooked, and I thought the story around it was fascinating in this theme. Thanks for the great content.

[@stuartthomson4563]

It's crazy to see just how accepted adults games are these days compared to 5 years ago. Looking at steam, which conveniently has an adults only category, shows 4666 games (English only). Bonkers. Steam also allows users to purchase games and mark the purchase as private so they don't show on your profile or show up in the friends windows as a game you are currently playing. Steam really knows their market.

[@1KamaronConClase]

Man I really love Jesse's "more serious" videos. Don't get me wrong, I love all of the content, but he has a way to convey info that is so cool to watch. And the editing was ON POINT ❤

[@MetalmcBiff]

As a European, this video is painfully American. Obviously I can’t fault Jesse for it, but MAN does it highlight the influence that American values in particular have had on video games as a medium throughout the decades. Both necessary and tragic.

[@miguelnewmexico8641]

grow up.

[@235eimaselha]

Therapist: slug Egoraptor isn't real he cant hurt you slug Egoraptor:

[@Rakka5]

And yet some terminally online people still call you "incel, creep, typical gamer" etc. when you support or play a game with a sexy protag.

[@madmanwithaplan1826]

Youre a great video essayist jesse and i need you to know that. This and gentlemans gaming club are some of my favorite things you put out

[@freakoffer]

Love the video essay jesse, you dont post often but when you do... you post bangers... giggity

[@SinistralWolf]

These video essays are always delightful. You research the topic and pour love, sweat, tears, and other bodily fluids into bringing us great content. Thanks Jesse!

[@thatgamingfreak]

I wouldn't have put together the influence of the Witcher games without this. Thanks for the insight Jesse!

[@ryanmartori2589]

the attempt to censor the atari game was hilarious.

[@rebeccasmith8430]

The editing was well done, cookies for whoever put in all that time! 🍪🍪🍪

[@joshkupka]

The talking heads reference and edit was 100% appreciated, chefs kiss, 10/10 video!

[@annachancy7429]

I've been waiting for this video since hearing about it on Cox n' Crendor!

[@RedSinder]

Definitely worth the time watching, and this isn't even considering the fact that I already knew your content is high quality before I clicked. Well done Jesse

[@adultgamereviews]

Thanks for covering the topic! Welcome to our little (or not so little) corner of the internet.

[@Eladonir1]

I'm here for it. Including the scene with the bear and Astarion was cracking me up hard.

[@Ranakel]

Shoutouts to the blurring of Custer's Revenge, with mosaics smaller than the actual game's pixels

[@thekingwhocared9107]

Been waiting for this one since you and Crendor talked about it on the podcast. Now we just wait for it to become your biggest video ever

[@8bittrix]

this is such a good summary of what is a true area of academic interest for me! there's so much nuance that gets buried under the idea that video games are juvenile and that sex in media is 'cheap' or without merit. there's so much interesting stuff to talk about.

[@Gongibongi]

Even now in the AO Games communities there's an almost arms race for making the best stories and achieving the best graphics. Some of those games have far better writing, voice acting and animation than one would expect. In general, anything that helps destigmatize something as natural to humanity as sex is always a win in my books

[@theseesh9163]

Been waiting for this to drop since I heard about it on Cox n Crendor, love to see your passion project videos

[@ctg4818]

Been a sub for many many years and this video/thumbnail is the very first one from Jesse to ever appear on my homepage.

[@jhbonarius]

Hi Jesse, "back in the days" everybody I knew owned lsl 1. The thing was: it was easy to pirate back then, so everybody just copied it from each other. So the "owned copies" number is actually much higher.

[@concrete_dog]

actually a good documentary of video game history, not just the adult side of it, but the general trends as well

[@andrearene]

I remember my dad was VERY into Leisure Suit Larry. Was it because his name is also Larry? WHO COULD SAY?

[@RedSntDK]

Leisure Suit Larry quite literally helped me learn English. I wish more games used text prompts, it really sped up the progress of learning new words.

[@alexladon9757]

Oh please please pretty please make more informative short video essay content like this! I love video essays and miss your analytical voice and the joining of the two for a topic I know is near and dear to you is amazing to experience

[@connorgriff2911]

The documentary/crash course vibes to this video is awesome.

[@CoiledDracca]

Love listening to Cox n Crendor. I was waiting for this to unfold after few mentions in a few episodes. I love that you actually did it! - The two of you do have some good ideas. Now what about that 'reviewing' random obscure stuff/places that no one would ever know about?

[@EYEOFMADARA]

Amazing video Jessie! More please!

[@kory_misun]

I absolutely loved the pacing of this video, your writing and delivery of your script, and how this topic was on my mind these past few days. My first exposure to Adult Gaming with horrifying or brain chemistry-altering themes was Dante's Inferno. I can't recommend it enough, to people who are over eighteen, of course.

[@yugitom]

13:17 Wait a second... Last Hope? Is that what you were making in Game Dev Tycoon the whole time? No wonder it was one of your bestsellers!

[@ValkyrieTiara]

It's worth noting that even in Japan, adult games have always been more or less exclusive to the PC platform. The closest consoles generally get is ports of adult VNs with all the adult content stripped out.

[@ericsimonson8002]

Gaming has always been here. In the early 90's I played a game where you flew through space in a phallic shaped ship aptly named Big Thruster and rescued scantily clad damsels from intergalactic conflict with the intention to separate the words scantily and clad from each other to create the string of words InThe Buff. I'm not into it but I say make games for any audience who will buy them within reason.

[@yourluckynumber7]

House Party has a special place in my heart because of "how's it goin dude"

[@CaliHime]

I have no regrets that I had the Leisure Suit Larry collection (Including LSL2 the case of the missing floppies) as a kid :D I think I didn't even understood what it was all about.

[@caiocesar1504]

What i expected: Sauce What i got: A history Lesson And somehow i'm not feeling bad about it

[@TheGreyone44]

Love seeing you making a video you seem to have had fun with! Honestly I've been wondering about how this happened on steam too so a very interesting watch!

[@aJazzyFeel]

Always love your essay videos, this one was awesome! Please continue to teach us, Mr. Cox.

[@canatsey]

Fantastic video! More insight into these genre's of video games please!

[@AleksandrSpiritwolf]

Love that Glover was listed under “adult games that came out this year”.

[@Ingip95]

If I could harness the power of all of my upvotes since I started watching in 2010 and somehow mass-like this one I would do so. I think this is a really great video and you deserve it to do well Jesse.