"The current adult gaming market (especially its free-to-play sector) is similar to mobile gaming in 2009," says Andrey Postnikov from Nutaku about the situation in the adult gaming market

For the second time this month, we're delving into the topic of adult games. This time, it's in the form of an interview. We're discussing the niche of "adult" projects with Andrey Postnikov, Senior Business Developer at Nutaku.

Fap CEO

Andrey Postnikov — Senior Business Developer — Nutaku

Alexander Semenov, App2Top: Andrey, hello! A couple of weeks ago, with your participation, we released a roundtable on adult games. Judging by the views, the topic intrigued our readers. So, we've decided to continue exploring this niche and talk with you separately about "adult" games.

Andrey Postnikov, Nutaku: Hi Sasha! Great idea. Let's talk. But I should note right away that I can't publicly disclose all the figures. The information I'm able to share publicly doesn't reveal the current picture of the market and products as a whole.

What prevents you?

Andrey: I associate the restrictions with four factors:

• growing competition;
• the fact that all adult game distributors are private;
• the small number of projects relative to the mainstream industry;
• analytical services we rely on to assess the gaming industry (Sensor Tower, AppMagic, VG Insight) don't yet work in the niche.

Good that you mentioned the growing competition. We touched on this topic a little during the roundtable, but let's talk about it more specifically now. What's happening with it?

Andrey: It's there. Conducting a quick market study is fairly easy. Just look at the number of NSFW releases since 2015 on Steam. Ten years ago, there were about 8-13 releases a year; now, in just the first half of 2024, more than half a thousand such titles have been released.

SteamDB NSFW, Sexual Content

SteamDB NSFW, Sexual Content, Free to Play

As for Nutaku, as of now, we have about a thousand games on the platform. Most of them are premium titles. If we talk about free-to-play games, there are around a hundred.

On Erolabs, which only distributes free-to-play games, there are about 50 titles. Regarding regional platforms like dlsite.com and dmm.games, their active catalogs include about 500 titles, with no more than 30 projects considered quality free-to-play titles.

I believe the modern adult games market (especially its free-to-play part) is similar to the mobile market of 2009.

If we rely on the SteamDB charts you've shown, it seems that most of these games historically belong to the premium format.

Andrey: Indeed, there are significantly more premium NSFW games in the niche than free-to-play ones.

But the situation is changing, at least at Nutaku — for sure. I believe this year will be a record year in the platform’s history for the number of free-to-play releases.

This could be related to revenue growth. How much do the top free-to-play titles earn here?

Andrey: In 2023, projects in Nutaku's top-2 grossing could earn a million dollars a month (Gross Revenue). Now, I say this without the word "could" — they do earn that much.

And what about the average projects in the niche? Not everyone can be a top performer.

Andrey: Of course, as with any store, the lion's share of revenue comes from top projects. We are no exception. However, on our platform, the difference in revenue depending on the rank in the top grows much more smoothly than in the mainstream industry.

When it comes to premium, what average circulation can one expect?

Andrey: Honestly, Nutaku is currently fully focused on free-to-play.

Despite having 800 premium games in your library.

Andrey: Yes, we currently have a large number of premium games, but, for example, I work specifically with free-to-play projects.

And you haven't stopped publishing premium.

Andrey: Launching a premium game on Nutaku is still straightforward, but don't expect impressive earnings.

What about premium outside of your platform?

You can use the common approach of "guessing" revenue based on the number of reviews on Steam. But it should be noted that the multiplier for NSFW projects differs from the average.

Steam’s recent feature "Hide a specific game for everyone" also doesn't add transparency, although it lowers the "entry threshold".

How is traffic acquisition in the adult games market?

Andrey: It’s complicated, just like everywhere else.

I don't think anyone would have major issues finding out CPM, CPA, and CPI for popular adult networks like Exoclick and Traffic Junky.

Honestly, I’m not deeply involved in this topic because Nutaku has a lot of organic traffic. And its volume is growing. The average amount of organic traffic each project receives at launch allows not only for performance analysis but also for developers to earn well without investing heavily in UA.

How high, on average, is the conversion to paying users?

Andrey: All questions about metrics for adult projects are complex.

Adult is a different audience, living by its own "rules".

The only thing I can say is we have a lot of "whales".

Alright, let's not talk about marketing, but about development. Why is creating adult games cheaper, and how come?

Andrey: There are two approaches to developing an adult project:

• "Adultifying" an existing mainstream project (creating an adult reskin);
• Creating a project from scratch.

In both cases, development budgets are generally lower than in classic game development. There are two reasons for this:

• No restrictions on the use of AI, which, importantly, the audience is quite loyal to (this doesn't mean you can create low-quality content using public libraries);
• It’s fairly clear what the audience is willing to pay for, and the project's composition is understood. Even a not very experienced game designer, after studying the current top 20 projects, will understand how everything works here.

You mentioned AI. Are you talking about generating images in something like Stable Diffusion?

Andrey: It's more complex.

First, studios develop their AI tools aimed at 18+ independently.

Second, there are companies offering their AI tools as white label solutions. They have specific adult forks. Several studios, which release on our platform, work with such companies.

Third, when we talk about AI, we mean much more than just art. Games with real-time content generation are emerging. For instance, this has already been implemented in recent games like Temptations AI and Horny Legends. The initial results are very promising.

What about specific development costs?

Andrey: It all depends on the project. I’ll just say that a developer can "adultify" a not very successful mainstream game with poor conversion and end up earning several times (sometimes dozens or hundreds of times) more. Though, sometimes it’s the opposite.

Speaking of service games, is there a difference in the required content volume for a free-to-play adult game compared to a regular free-to-play game?

Andrey: Oh yes! The audience of adult platforms is very demanding regarding content volume. The content consumption speed is much higher than that of the mainstream audience.

This is why most projects on Nutaku launch not only with a detailed LiveOps plan but also with at least 3 months of ready LiveOps content from the launch date. This is critically important!

I’ve heard that due to the mobile crisis, some developers are considering or even entering the adult game market. Is this true?

Andrey: Of course, I won’t name anyone, but I can confirm this. It's a fact.

Remember, I mentioned that this year we expect a record number of releases? 70% of these projects are developed by studios known for mainstream games.

Are these teams creating new products from scratch or just changing content?

Andrey: There are both reskins and projects from scratch. Occasionally, there are hybrids. This is when a project is created from scratch based on their developments.

In adult development, I often hear phrases like "we won't name names." Companies involved in creating such games avoid publicity. Why is that?

Andrey: Companies with large mainstream projects don’t announce NSFW production to avoid drawing attention from app stores. By now, most know what moderation on these platforms entails. Unnecessary problems are not desired.

Also, let’s not forget about the legal aspects. The distribution of NSFW content is prohibited in certain regions. Therefore, companies are not eager to publicize their involvement in this field.

I’ve also heard that finding personnel for creating adult games is hard. Many specialists avoid this niche for psychological reasons; you can’t work on such games in an open space, and there’s a risk your family won't understand. What do you think about this?

Andrey: Regarding open space — I’m not sure. I’ve been working in an open coworking space for a year now — everyone around seems to like it.

As for personnel. The people I usually converse with are either already interested in delving into NSFW or have experience creating such content.

Honestly, I haven’t encountered rigid moral barriers. Perhaps it’s because Nutaku has a strict policy regarding acceptable content.

However, to be fair, finding an Art Lead who can professionally work with adult material is a significant challenge.

And the last question: what titles would you recommend to those looking to enter the adult games market?

Andrey: It's simple. Look at Nutaku's top games in a "calm state" (when there’s no platform event/sale going on). The top is ranked by revenue.

From specifics:

• Aeons Echo — an example of Asian development;
• Lust Goddess — an alternative take on battlers by a European team;
• Horny Villa — an example of using merge mechanics in the adult sphere;
• Fap CEO — a classic clicker adapted to the NSFW niche (note the release date);
• Sluts Inc. — a successful game developed very cheaply;
• King of Wasteland — a full-fledged 4X strategy game;
• Hot Zone Survival — a great example of adultification;
• Temptation AI — a dating simulator;
• Horny Legends — a card-based project with real-time AI content generation.

Thank you for the interview!