What led to the big online game stores stocking AO games in their catalogs?

[SpellSword]

In the past you didn't need to flip a coin every time a new game with anime style art appeared on GOG to see if it was an AO rated visual novel or a JRPG. What was the game or event that led to the big online game stores (Steam, GOG, Itch.io, etc) stocking AO games in their catalogs?

I remember games like The Witcher, Mass Effect & Dragon Age: Origins including some sexual content and then something changed and suddenly this stuff was everywhere.

[rusty_shackleford]

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I do not recall VNs with unedited sex scenes making it onto Steam. It was always a release in which the scenes were excised and the game programming so changed in the backend that they couldn't be "restored" by merely copypasting in some textures. Aselia, Utawarerumono, Fate/Stay Night, etc, all on Steam are special edited releases with no sex. A lot of these are PC ports of Playstation ports in which the sex scenes were moved there to be allowed onto the console. You would have to go to buy the game off of some Southeast Asian games store like DLSite or find some VN fan translation website to get a download to a fan translation of the original game that has that stuff in it. For a decade a lot of Japanese VNs were being banned off of Steam/not getting authorized by the Steam moderators just due to the stigma even if they didn't have actual graphic content.

GOG however does indeed have VNs like Fullmetal Daemon Muramasa and Rance. IIRC Fullmetal Daemon Muramasa didn't have the scenes straight up removed from the programming, it was just a censored CG, so someone could send you a texture pack that you could paste over the game to replace the files with the original and you would see everything. My guess is that GOG is more of a niche/specialist store like those Southeast Asian games stores like DLsite and thus flies more under the radar. Most PC gamers use Steam so if people are going off of Steam then they are trying to find something not available on Steam, hence why it is in GOG's interest to provide games that are not available on Steam. Ie, graphic VNs.

[Tweed]

HMMMMM....






...I wonder

[DecadeRiptide]

What is AO?

[J1M]

I think it was caused by the big publishers starting their own stores. It forced Steam to become more of a flea market.

[Manny V]

What is AO?

we'll tell you when you're older, sonny.