If anything is vaguely different, or would appeal to more niche audience, then off it falls down to the bottomless ocean of unfound mobile games - leading us back to our discoverability problem. It often feels like for a game to make any sort of impact on mobile, it has to appeal to the broadest possible audience. Unfortunately, ad space on mobile seems to be dominated by companies like Voodoo and Ketchapp, leaving very little room for more niche apps. That was only through word of mouth, which is an effective form of advertising, but not exactly the most direct. The game came out in February this year and I hadn't even heard of it until August. Something that plagues all apps on mobile is discoverability and accessibility, but these issues are especially tough for LGBTQ+ centric experiences to counteract.Īctually finding queer games in the first place is a challenge - it's not like the App Store or Google Play have an LGBTQ+ sub-section in the games category (although that would be sweet if they did) and, unless you know a title, manually searching for something quite specific often doesn't offer great results. It's a great programme, but can't massive corporations like Google be doing the same for the LGBTQ+ community? Where are the programmes that helps queer devs make queer games? Google, for example, has set up the awesome Change the Game initiative which supports female game developers. Some efforts are being made make for a more inclusive industry. The games industry is not always so supportive of the LGBTQ+ community and perhaps mobile games are still falling behind because of this. And there's a rather vocal subset of the audience surrounding video games that come with homophobic, misogynistic, and/or racist attitudes.Įven some of the biggest problems in the world right now, such as the political establishment of the alt-right, originally found its roots in video games - GamerGate being a prime example. For decades main playable characters would almost always be the "macho man that always saves the girl" archetype. It's no secret the game's industry hasn't been the most accommodating place to be for anyone other than a straight, white, cis, male. There a growing number of queer games on other platforms - so why are mobile games falling behind? Games are for everyone Other than Gaydorado (and putting ports aside), I can only think of Pridefest, LongStory, and A Normal Lost Phone.
However, since playing the game and that initial conversation I had about it, I can't help but ask myself, "why aren't there more gay games on mobile?". Despite this crazy concoction, it somehow all works and is a delight to play. It's a hilarious game that throws a bunch of genres together, including real-time strategy, dating sim, fashion show segments, and even an actual IRL dating app. I was immediately intrigued, so I downloaded it straight away, and after almost a month I'm still playing it - which is rare for me, especially when it comes to mobile games.