[1] The inclusion of sex in games has been subject to varying levels of controversy over the decades, sometimes resulting in calls for increased regulation and legislation dealing directly with adult content.
First appearing in the 1980s, these games vary significantly in narrative complexity as well as the level of interactivity, taking forms ranging from the visual novel to virtual reality experiences.
[4][5][6] One of the earliest video games to feature sexual themes was the 1981 text-based Softporn Adventure, published by On-Line Systems for the Apple II.
[9] In 1983, Entertainment Enterprises, Ltd. released an arcade game called Swinging Singles, which was mostly meant for bars, adult stores, and sex clubs.
[10][11] Also released in 1983 was Strip Poker: A Sizzling Game of Chance for the Commodore 64 and other 8-bit platforms, which Artworx Software created.
[12] In 1986, Martech released a strip poker game featuring digitized pictures of Samantha Fox on the C64, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad.
Lowe took the basic elements of Softporn Adventure, greatly expanded it, and released it as the 1987 game Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards.
While the game does not show any explicit nudity, it allows the player to spy on several characters in lingerie, and foreplay and explores taboos such as BDSM and incest.
BMX XXX for the PlayStation 2 was censored in the American release, while versions on the Xbox and GameCube were not and featured nudity.
The scenes in question led to a lawsuit by a woman who explained that she was only seventeen years old when the footage was taken, thus classifying it as child pornography, which is illegal to own or sell in some countries.
Examples include the Tomb Raider video games, the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Hot Coffee mod, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and the Half-Life 2 FakeFactory Cinematic mod and ROM hacks for console emulators.
[21] Patreon provides direct funding to adult developers, allowing games like Summertime Saga and Hardcoded to appeal to niche markets that previously would not have been created.
The game officially released on digital distribution platforms for Microsoft Windows with leaving early access on July 15, 2022.
That same year, Koei released another erotic title, Danchi Tsuma no Yuwaku (Seduction of the Condominium Wife),[27] which was an early role-playing[28][29] adventure game with colour graphics, owing to the eight-color palette of the NEC PC-8001 computer.
[30] Some writers say that Yakyūken (1981) produced for Sharp MZ computers by Hudson Soft is the first Japanese adult game.
[31][32] Like with Koei, several other now-famous Japanese companies such as Enix, Square and Nihon Falcom also released erotic adult games for the PC-8801 computer in the early 1980s before they became mainstream.