Sex Sells

As an artist I like (or should I say, I need) to keep an eye on how society change. I don't want to be "that guy" making gay jokes in 2020 and be confused about why kids those days don't get my humor.

For a while games been getting more conservative. I am not saying Overwatch's Widowmaker doesn't exist but stuff like that is sprinkled around, not the whole package.

So, as classic characters like Lara Craft turning modest and newer characters have multiple layers of clothing I started to ponder maybe this is the future and the newer generations will want deep, complex characters that come in all shapes and forms. Maybe.

Or maybe not? This weekend I dabbled in the world of mobile gacha gaming and oh wow, it's like all lewd of the industry took refuge in a single segment.

Now, the fact gacha is the place where fanservice runs free tells a lot about fanservice in particular. They would put pictures of dead kittens in the game if this was legal and what people wanted to see so I know they are going for whatever trick open people's wallets, morality be dammed.

Still, I can't deny they are giving what people want, not what some activist on social media says is good and brave, probably because based on data and experience they know what sells and what doesn't. It's not to say it's just tits and ass... you have knights, dragons and mechas, but whatever it is, it looks good.

Which moves us back to non-mobile gacha games where everything is more clean, proper and often of divisive aesthetic value? Don't those AAA game companies want sales too? They do but the big league is different from mobile. Mobile I feel has less prestige and less tradition. Mobile games are cheap (or even free) and seen like cash-grabs. You go there, you make the game and you push it down the throat of the whales as hard as you can. People aren't aiming for the Game Awards or a nice article on some Game Blog.  Basically, I believe AAA companies feel they don't need to do something oh-my-so appealing, especially in a connected age where everybody will share your work online. Mobile gacha games studios, however, have no reputation to lose and therefore don't give a FUCK and give what people want.

So do I! So if you want to appreciate some gacha-like art you can do so in my Patreon.