Do people even like Yuri/Yaoi when Otome and BxG are around?

[aeri]

It's kinda funny because I have been a fan of BL/yaoi for probably 15 years now...and there were pretty much no games that I could access back then! So I'm really happy that there are people who are making them.

I'm happy for the yuri fandom as well because I know there are people who appreciate game makers for considering their interests.

I'm always on the hunt for new BL/yaoi games, but at the same time because I'm picky with the graphics and art style (and it's really unfortunate because I want to support the market but I'm selfish in the way that I want to be able to fully enjoy the game at the same time), I am pretty limited.

I agree that doing yuri and yaoi only in a game would be difficult because the target audience is very limited...unless you are able to persuade audience who are mainly interested in yuri or those in yaoi that it is worth playing even half of the game for their main interest...and maybe that audience will consider their non-primary interest ^ ^ Sorry if that wasn't what the topic was about but wanted to add that!

[HeavyDevy-kun]

To me, a good story is a good story. I don't judge whether if it's Yuri, Yaoi, Bishoujo or Otome. If I see a description with good art, a good unique idea, and good music, I'm going to try it out. I think, when it comes to visual novels, there's different communities for different types. People have different preferences. My preferences would be rich stories, including slice of life with good stories. If it looks like a straight dating sim, or the comedy and ridiculousness is greatly emphasized above all else, I'm going to look the other way. That's just me.

I am someone who wants to make Yuri/Yaoi games along with otome games, but honestly I think it may be a bad decision since people don't seem to really want any.

If you want my opinion, I did some quick research on Winter Wolves. This is the conclusion I came too. I'll start out with the steam link: http://store.steampowered.com/search/?d ... r%20Wolves

Heirs and Graces is their most recent release and if you look at their past...whoo! Their games suck with only very few successes. Just look at their reviews. Heirs and Graces art style is not appealing. Read their description, its semi okay and gets you thinking, but when it comes down to it, its a dude who who's trying to become the new heir in what looks like to be some type of Victorian or Dark Ages era. Although I could be wrong about the game, the idea isn't all that appealing. Add all of the evidence up, what do you get? A bad reputation and something that doesn't look like it's worth 20 greens. I don't even think a gay male visual novel fanatic would play that . That's why Heirs and Graces I think is a bad example.

There is an audience for Yaoi and Yuri...just don't look on steam. It might not be big, but what it needs is a good idea with some type of decent quality. I think people will appreciate that more. Heck, Yaoi has gained South Park's attention, and that was a hilarious episode! It's out there in the world, you just got to search harder.

[littanana]

As long as there are lesbians there will be plenty of audience for yuri games... It's not the genre that's the issue, maybe the game is just portraying female-female relationships wrong and the girls don't want to read it or something similar.

[aliciarune]

Woah, sorry for the delay DX. I didn't think I'd get so many responses. I've been reading all the answers and I'm grateful for them. They help me out and give me a boost in confidence when writing my stories. Thank you =). I know Yuri/Yaoi aren't as popular as BxG or Otome, but it's good people enjoy them =).

[jack_norton]

I think Heirs sold "badly" (but not too much honestly) mostly for the art. The story and the writing is REALLY good. And I'm not saying it because it's my game, others game I made have worse writing for sure.
I made a mistake not asking first people into yaoi if the art style was something they like. For some new games in the works I am using a different artist (the same of my Heileen series) and the kind of muscular boys and coloring seems to be a much better fit. Like this:


Lastly, using the Steam reviews to claim that "most of my games suck" it's not entirely accurate: the review system doesn't encourage people who enjoyed the game to post anything. The ones posting are mostly those who are angry/pissed/don't like the game. Also I made the big mistake of doing many bundles in past years, and bundle buyers are especially "hostile". They get a VN, have no clue what is it, and post negative reviews. I have many negative ones thanks to that. Reviews like "It's a VN, avoid." with 0,1h playing. Thos reviews are worthless

And anyway the review score doesn't measure a game success for sure

Speaking for myself, future games will have at least two romance combos. Like otome+yuri, etc.

[CarlyJane]

I enjoy those kinds of games and anime. I really gear towards games and anime where the girl or guy character has to pretend to be the other gender or doesn't say their male or female. They're just them.

I really like those. And if their in HS or College that's even better...I say make one, because I can't get enough of them.

[Aviala]

There are definitely a HUGE amount of people who are into BL (and yuri too). Just look at fanfiction.net! The market is there, but I think the problem is how to actually reach it. Maybe BL and yuri haven't sold because there hasn't been enough marketing, or it has been directed poorly? This is just a guess since I have zero statistics to back up the claim, but it's the only reason I can think of besides the fact that VN's are niche. I don't know how heirs and graces was marketed, but maybe it was aimed wrong, or the art style didn't fit the audience? Personally I look forward to playing it when I have the time! :D It seems like something I'd really enjoy, and I actually like the art style a lot, but I'm maybe not the most typical "fangirl" type of person that ff.net etc is stereotypically thought to consist of --> not sure how many people like me there actually are :'D

I'm mostly speaking about BL because I know more about it than yuri. I think the problem with BL might be that there haven't actually been that many big commercial quality BL projects. I can't think of many quality OELVN's that have gay romance in them. One that I can actually think of id Seiyuu Danshi (in progress vn, https://twitter.com/meyaoigames ), which actually seems to be doing REALLY well, they're hiring voice actors and everything. It's personally not something I'm looking forward to, but it seems to be a good example of a BL VN that's probably doing well (and I'd argue it's at least partly because of their marketing strategy and Kickstarter success).