New Pokémon clone is a bestseller on Steam, but in Germany we are only allowed to play half the game

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Yarimono is a new Pokemon clone that has been launched on Steam and is one of the top sellers on Steam. However, not all of the content is available to us in Germany. And for good reason.

Pokémon games and creature collectors continue to enjoy unbroken popularity. Games like Palworld have thousands of players.

On August 30, 2024, a new Pokemon clone called Yarimono was launched. On Steam, it is currently in 3rd place among the top sellers and 11th among the strongest newcomers (via steamdb.info). But some content is missing in Germany. And for good reason, because Steam has a say.

Game approved for ages 6 and up, but without adult content

Why is content missing? If you look at Yarimono’s shop page, you’ll see that one of the tags is “sexual content.” It gets even more specific when you look at the first (English) Steam reviews. Some of them list all of the adult content in the game, and it’s really explicit and could have come straight out of a dirty book. And the bear sex scene from Baldur’s Gate 3 is harmless in comparison.

Behind the cute Pokémon clone, which is approved for ages 6 and up in Germany, there is also a hardcore hentai game.

What does this have to do with Germany? In Germany and China, Steam strictly blocks games that contain sexual content. The sites are no longer accessible. If you try to access them anyway, you get an error message. The developers of such games therefore have three options:

  • Either they leave the games as they are and then forego selling them in Germany. But that also means a financial loss.
  • Or they offer a special version for the German area without content for which the game would otherwise be blocked.
  • The third option is to release the game in a cut version and offer a patch for players to bring back content.

    • For these reasons, some developers are now outsourcing such content to free DLCs or offering an update on their own Discord. The basic version on Steam is neutral and the DLC then gives you the specific content. These DLCs are then also not available in Germany, but the game can still be purchased. But the developers do not have to forego income.

    Do you need something like that? Whether you really need adult content in a Pokémon clone is another question:

  • Some players criticize Steam for trying to patronize them.
  • Other players explain that this is a better way to protect younger players.
  • Others contradict this argument and say that violent shooters like Call of Duty would also have to be banned.

    • More weird games: Cortyn played a particularly strange game for MeinMMO. The MeinMMO demon Cortyn dared to play a game called “Succubus”. A disturbing journey and not for the faint of heart: Succubus is the most disturbing game I have ever played

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