we need to talk something is happening in the atoma world which is gigantic and has the potential to change the whole industry some years ago there were voices who were afraid that the atoma genre might die or that mobile gacha games will take over the market those fears were caused by the decline in sales in Japan and lacking English localization until almost 2020 but since 2020 something has changed not only are the sales Rising again in Japan but we also saw a massive increase of English localizations and Chinese localizations a few years ago English fans
were lucky if they get like one utomi game a year and now idea Factory localizes two games a year and AIS four with VH being the first one to sell out in the first week and in the Stream axis admitted that it's been good to toy years that 2023 was their best year so far and they're looking forward to what is to come in 2024 automate as well shared in an interview that they are happy to see the increasing interest in otoma Gams and are eager to promote otoma all over the world so what will
the future hold for OT games I'm also optimistic we're in a huge UT boom right now I don't know how long it will prevail but at least for the next few maybe 5 years I see a bright future for otoma fans I've already talked about the history of aoma games in another video so now I just want to look at the recent years and the future before I'd say 2022 there wasn't a lot going on born in UTA land a few localizations see in there as well as the declining sales in Japan the first localization
seemed to have been more plot driven games like Cafe Shante k x m and Coach realiz to kind of test the water if there is a market for romantic games meanwhile also the mobile market developed and with the ikim series and especially Mystic messenger introduced a lot of new fans into the genre that's what I call the first automa wave then it's 2020 pure f releases and a year later Buster Fellers and judging by the number of views and searches I think Buster fellas did something right in their marketing and brought huge attention to the
genre that's what I call the second automa wave of Dom Mystic messenger 2016 and the genre has been on the rise ever since every year the number of localization Rises with whopping nine localizations waiting for us in 2024 automate in Japan sells more copies than in the previous years and and the users of the automa subreddit doubled within 2 years and this year a new player which might have been overlooked in the west enter the market and this player is China or rather Chinese mobile games also in China there was a massive increase of localizations
of originally Japanese automate games and at the same time the National Market produced immensely stunning high quality mobile automic games as China is one of the countries where mobile games are the most prevalent it was only a matter of time until also ome mobile games take their share of the market and a matter of a bit more time until they reach the West Japan and Korea the most famous examples would be tear of fous Love brush Chronicles or very recently love and deep space those games stand out with their immensely high quality full voice acting
though it is on a free-to-play basis despite them being actually comparable to full price console games especially love and deep space set a new Benchmark when it comes to mobile automa games not only do we get presented an immersive sci-fi story with tragic twist and loads of Secrets told in a fast pace the unique selling point of the game is the immersive first person perspective outside of the main story you can enjoy your time with a three-day characters with fun mini games extra episodes all by touching them in various places in various situations and this
picture of boyfriend isn't even 2D anymore no he made the leap to 3D Graphics blurring the lines between fiction and reality always being there for you whenever you need him and it's exactly that IM massiveness that might be at the turning point for at least the ome mobile market if not for the whole ome Market I feel especially when playing a mobile game when might not care that much about a long and wordy story but rather see aoma games as a way to relax and Rewind have some fun with beautiful fictional men and who can
blame us and love in deep space delivers exactly that well I am immens interested in the immersive sci-fi story many players just love the steam interactions and the fact that you can talk to and cuddle your fictional boyfriend whenever you want to this is also one of the few games that manag to implement gameplay fighting mechanics that not only speak to Lazy visual novel players like me who can only press one button but also players who enjoy action gameplay into little challenge once in a while hands for all the right reasons love and deep space
was downloaded 10 million times in the first week fascinating Veterans of the genre and at the same time being a Gateway games for new fans and thus marking a turning point for the Ator market and all those developments Rising SES in the Japanese Market growing numbers of localizations and the worldwide success of mobile automic games which serve as the perfect entryway into the genre all those developments accelerate the growth of automic games now and where there's growth there will be others there will be competitors there will be new companies entering the market the first of
them was voltage who used to stick to the typical mobile game formula with a bit of blond and simple story telling and only used to Port their mobile games to the switch but after they had developed their first full-fledged fully voice automi game exclusively for the Nintendo switch even of Tempest which was widely successful so much that they even made a part two in the FD they now decided to bring us at least three more high quality fully voiced automa games exclusively to the Nintendo switch there are also new companies founded like liob bits a
corporation of broccoli and Veteran artists and directors from automate or other companies who are trying to publish more atoma games now like red or mint lip mint lip is as far as I know the second company transforming in drama CD series into an automa game like diabolic lovers they are now making an automa game for H Amo and Bloom and we're also starting to see more other multimedia projects like the utomi game to the famous anime Hoda or to another villainous isaki light novel and R together with the three this time developed a game desper
drops which is a bit similar to B fellows that the haran is a suspect in a murder case but manages to escape together with six other criminals being hunted for her asper abilities and this totally new game was immediately picked up by access for localization alongside the two ofds for Vish and raid in tail by good old automate but you can clearly see how new players are entering the market and are immediately recognized for localization bringing those games which are not published by automate to the West as well and not to forget the rather surprising
localizations of Hana AAS and hoki by companies that usually don't focus on automa games and my impression maybe this competition even leads to a higher production quality of the recent releases of course localization companies can just cherry pick the bestselling games but also the upcoming releases in Japan seem to have a focus on beautiful art be design of the CGS or voice acting which is initially what makes a game sell and while the technical side of visual novels seemed to have come to a standstill for 20 years always following the same formula of standing Sprites
advancing the text by pressing a button sometimes movements or a blink there also seems to be a new upcoming Trend not only does the new mobile atoma game love and deep space had new standards when it comes to immersive and realistic storytelling but the new company liob bits also tries to make the characters appear more realistic implementing more animations into the conversation so I really hope that other companies also pick up on this trend improving on the animation quality in our visual novels so that we see improvements on the technical side as as well of
design side and of course in the sheer quantity of UTA games again secondly we are witnessing the success of UTA games implementing gameplay elements aoma games with gameplay elements always have been the highest selling games since the beginning of the genre and with the release of toyi Memorial girl side 4 and Jack John that was proven once again well even if Tempest can't be called such a h in comparison players still appreciate the trial gameplay which is like dangan rampa werewolf Style thus I would expect the new voltage games to also Implement some kind of
gameplay and one of the upcoming automate games also includes gameplay but as far as I can tell from the trailer those seem reminiscent of a game like hanayaka zoku where you run around in this Tate and talk to people or do mini quests but those are likely non-compulsory so my guess would be that automate will stick to its pure visual novel formula which I personally appreciate but other developers might Explore More and different gameplay elements and each new gameplay feature has the chance of speaking to a new player base and thus also helping the genre
grow in the long run I also wonder if automa games will become more like interactive movies just like love in deep space as the hardware is obviously capable even on handheld and it probably boils down to a matter of budget and thus length of the story is told I definitely hope to see more variety here as well some interactive movie Atomic games and some standard visual novel Atomic Games both have their unique features and benefits or will some aoma games focus more on the interactive and immersive real relationship with your fictional hasband can there be
automa games that don't focus on telling a pre-written story but that focus on your experience with a guy be it mini games or steamy interactions will that be atoma games without a real story but mainly episodic interactions for the fun of gameplay and for the sake of steamy episodes and quickly enjoying Sweet Moments I think mobile games like love in deep space prove there is a market for that there is a market for a more lateb auto experience and the one that focuses more on steamy gameplay than the actual story so I'm optimistic that especially
the design and animation quality will keep improving from here that developers will be more courageous with implementing gameplay Elements which was so successful with even if Tempest tokim Micki Memorial and Jack Jan and of course in the vastly successful mobile games this also means that the market will become more bus with more companies trying out different styles and not only automate domineering the market with its standard visual novel formula I mean I like it personally but variety is always good and has the potential to speak to a broader audience which makes me wonder what the
future of atoma games will look like I'm sure that all markets be it on Console PC or mobile can coexist and even help each other grow whatever will come I'm so ready for the new TOA games and new ideas developers will come up with to shake up this old genre and Lead it into the future what are your hopes and expectations when it comes to the future of atom games let me know in the comments and as always thanks to my patrons and every one of you for also accompanying me in the future of atoma
games and to get a real feel of what I mean by Future of atoma games watch my review of love and deep space to see what the future of atoma games looks like
