Subverse, a porn game being developed by FOW Interactive, managed to make gaming history by becoming one of the most successful video game Kickstarters ever. The game, which is a heavily Mass Effect-inspired porn title that will combine light tactical RPG/SHMUP gameplay with a way bigger focus on engaging in various sexual escapades with the game's wide array of characters.
The developer has made it very clear in the Kickstarter campaign that Subverse will be about hardcore sex scenes first, with the various other sci-fi trappings like character dialogue and tactical decision-making serving mostly to set up those scenes and create investment in what's occurring in them. Subverse is the first porn game that is attempting to blend bid budget game design with highly-produced CG sex scenes, and will launch on Steam, likely thanks to Valve's increasingly controversial Steam curation policies that allow for nearly anything to appear on its digital distribution service.
Of the nearly 13,000 video game Kickstarter campaigns that have run since 2012, only 18 more have managed to generate more money than Subverse, making the Mass Effect-inspired porn game one of the most successful video game crowdfunding campaigns of all-time. In 2019, with free sexual content more readily available on the internet than it has ever been, FOW Interactive managed to successfully get over 50,000 people to generate $2 million so that the studio can make a big-budget porn game about sleeping with aliens. For what it's worth, comments on the game's Kickstarter page are a unique blend of people genuinely interested in what gameplay will look like and those wondering about specific character's sexual preferences, which shows Subverse has somehow managed to tap into a demographic much larger than perhaps anyone imagined.
The developers have also indicated that the game will meet all of Steam's Community Guidelines, which means there will be no dark content like rape, a stance that was clarified when a fan asked if players could take a "more assertive approach." Thankfully, it appears FOW Interactive isn't looking to produce any explicitly problematic content like other games have on Steam in the past, and will instead focus on the pitch behind the game, which asks:
"Are we alone in this universe? What is out there? More importantly...can we bone it?"
Yes, that's a very real pitch, and it's one that for better or worse was able to convince people to sink over $2 million into it. It's also interesting to note that Subverse has managed to raise this money during a time that has seen many gaming Kickstarters fail as critics suggest that a general crowdfunding fatigue has made it harder to get games backed. There's clearly a gigantic market for Mass Effect-inspired porn games, and if FOW Interactive's project is as successful at launch as its crowdfunding campaign has been, there will likely be an influx of these sorts of lewd titles in the near future. For now, Subverse is still the first of its kind, ready to explore the most hidden areas of both space and its crew members when early access begins in June of this year.
Source: Subverse Kickstarter (via PC Gamer)