MONTREAL—Nutaku, the largest free-to-play and downloadable game website in the world dedicated to 18+ titles, has launched a $13 million investment fund to fully finance the development of adult versions of existing games, as well as the development of new adult titles. With goals of tapping into an underutilized market within the gaming industry, $10 million of the overall investment is dedicated to empowering game development in Latin America. An additional $3 million is allocated to game developers and studios located in Nutaku’s hometown, Montreal, one of the leading gaming hubs in the world. There are now currently more than 20 projects secured through Nutaku’s investment efforts in the regions.
In a time where less than 1% of apps and 5% of games are financially successful, Nutaku said it is dedicated to funding games that did not get a chance to succeed through the traditional gaming marketplace, with a goal of "democratizing the industry." The new investment portfolio aims to expand the adult gaming industry by working with open-minded developers to produce “not safe for work” (NSFW) versions of their games. Nutaku’s investment fund will target bringing free-to-play titles to market through the company’s expanded content publishing capabilities. Games considered for adaptation will be judged by a number of metrics with preference for free-to-play, high-quality games with strong mechanics already in development. Popular gaming titles in the action, adventure, role-playing, strategy and roguelike genres have been identified by the brand as particularly receptive to the introduction of 18+ content.
“The expansion of our investment portfolio into Latin America is an incredibly exciting time for Nutaku as we have the opportunity to empower an entirely underutilized pool of talent,” says Nutaku President Mark Antoon. “Traditionally, studios and developers within this region face incredible obstacles while trying to bring their gaming titles to market. Nutaku aims to be a catalyst for adult game development as we continue to rapidly grow our presence as the leading adult gaming portal in the western hemisphere. Part of that responsibility is ensuring equal and fair access to the market while bringing new talent, perspectives and diversity that can only benefit our users’ experience.”
Nutaku’s investment for game developers and studios will cover the full cost of introducing nudity and sex scenes into their games. These developers will be given the opportunity to succeed on a platform identified as the solution to oversaturated gaming markets through Nutaku’s global platform of more than 50 million monthly visits. All investment funds allocated to individual studios and developers are risk-free and do not require money-back guarantees or the rights to company shares or ownership. In the oversaturated gaming app market, millions of games compete for exposure and less than 1% of studios produce a financially successful product. By contrast, Nutaku said its rapidly growing user base of monthly users are hungry for new content, resulting in more than 90% of games with adult editions earning back their initial investment within three months. Another key differentiator in the market, according to the company, is the fact that Nutaku guarantees more than 100K players in the games’ first month.
The $13M funding initiative follows on the heels of numerous Nutaku-backed initiatives to democratize the game development industry. In the past year, Nutaku has announced the investments of $10 million to fund developers across the globe to introduce mature scenes into popular titles, as well as a $2 million investment to fund indie projects in progress. Successful titles that have had their development needs financially met by Nutaku and have gone to market include titles such as Armor Blitz, Attack on Moe-H, and Crush Crush, amongst many others.
Nutaku also created Kimochi Red Light, the only platform in the world to exclusively fund 18+ games, while recently announcing the debut of Kimochi Classifieds, a platform for developers to find talent to complete NSFW projects.
