Imagine a world where a forbidden affair with a coworker or a sexy thief would have a happy ending nine times out of 10. Welcome to the world of romance gaming apps.
Think gaming apps, and chances are, the first thing that springs to mind are the Tsum Tsums and cooking games of your youth. But now gaming is all grown up – and wildly popular here in Asia. Simulating high-octane love dramas, these games are providing women with the opportunity to date a boyfriend who never falls short of your expectations.
In Japan, romance gaming apps for men – called “bishoujo” – have been popular for decades. But in the late 1990s, developers started making these apps for women. The trend really took offin 2006 when Japanese businesswoman Nanako Higashi and her husband, Yuzi Tsutani, released My Lover is The No.1 Host. It was an instant hit.
“Before that, when we started producing romance apps, we had less entertainment for women in Japan compared to men because women didn’t earn as much money to spend on games,” says Emi Tanaka, spokesperson for Voltage. “But recently, more women work as much as men. And as women work more, they also get more stressed and need to be distracted.” To date, their company Voltage has released 99 titles for women, which have been played by 50 million users around the world. In 2017, Voltage made more than $100 million.
How it works
The games work like choose your-own-adventure manga stories, with floppy-haired men of all sorts (including samurai, nerds and bad boys) appearing at unusually regular intervals with flirtatious propositions that could lead to love. Players decide which invitations to accept over a series of love challenges to “live happily ever after”.
This story is from the July 2018 edition of CLEO Singapore.
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This story is from the July 2018 edition of CLEO Singapore.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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