Courtesy of Hobibox. All Rights Reserved

The ¥25 billion dating simulation market comprises some 200 makers who account for 400 brands. A game that sells 150,000 copies is considered a smash hit, and industry insiders estimate there are between 200,000 and 300,000 players in Japan. Of these, a core of maybe 10,000 users buy at least five to six games a year, each of which can cost between ¥7,000 and ¥10,000. Successful illustrators like Carnelian and companies like Nitro+ are extremely profitable, yet the shrinking youth population and ongoing economic downturn have some distributors worried about long-term domestic sales. At the same time, the market is just starting to open up overseas through the efforts of a few small companies that are porting the games to English.

“We’ve been really happy to see the way fans outside of Japan have learned about this wonky but fun culture of adult dating-sim games and embraced it,” says Peter Payne, 41, founder of online web shop J-List. “At first it was an uphill battle with each customer as we explained what the genre was and why it was important for people to try games about love and sex. Now, many fans come up to us at conventions with some knowledge of the various kinds of visual novels that are published in Japan.”

J-List started in 1996 selling quirky products from Japan via the web, mainly music CDs, which cost around ¥3,000 new but which could be obtained cheaper through used music stores. Payne decided to try his hand selling localized versions of PC dating-sim games—then dominated by DOS-based titles—and partnered with eroge maker Jast in 1998. Since there was no system in place for distributing adult-themed software, J-List had to create a distribution network to sell the games to shops.

The effort has paid off. “We’ve been able to make a profit from every game we’ve licensed,” Payne says. “We’ve been bringing out some really awesome games, which have done extremely well in the Japanese marketplace… Our big news this year was that we’re now the licensor of Nitro+, one of the most famous visual novel publishers in the world.”