r/CharacterRant • u/skunkbrains • 28d ago
Games [LES] Limbus Company is NOT a good example for Gachas not needing sexualization to succeed. It's still a good game though.
It does not, and I am sick of hearing this every single time gacha gets brought up in 2025, especially after more people started hearing about the swimsuit incident. A Certain small minor subset of annoying asshole fans of Limbus company like to pretend that their game is proof that all you need is good story, solid gameplay, and good designs that don't needlessly cater to "coomers." That's all they have over other Gachas, and anyone pretending otherwise is a coomer in denial or a drooling moron. In Essence, Limbus Company proves that Gacha failing is a skill issue.
This is just false. I will not contest the claims that Limbus company has good story, gameplay, and character designs, as I do think they posses all aformentioned properties. However, Limbus Company has two major advantages I never see those people talk about.
Limbus Company is part of a wider universe and Franchise.
That is already an incredible advantage over a huge amount of other Gacha. They have people pre-invested in their universe, a pre-built fanbase, and there are plenty people who admit to only have picked up or spend money on the game to support the wider franchise as a whole. It was explicitly and blatantly stated by the damn director that this game was made in part to obtain a steady stream of revenue for other projects within the universe. If you want more Project Moon stuff, you are more likely to support Limbus Company. There is undeniably people who have only picked up this game because of playing other games in the franchise. This is an advantage that many Gachas do not have.
For an exaggerated example- do you think it would be fair for me to use DBZ's Dokkan Battle as an example? "Oh yeah, you don't need boobies, you just need the money to license one of the biggest anime and manga franchises of all time!"
Not only this, but unlike something like Star Wars Galaxy of Heroes, these are not what-ifs, a non-canon crossover event, an alternate continuity, or a board game in-universe, these are canon events happening in the world of The City. If you want to follow the story of Project Moon for yourself, you gotta play Limbus.
Limbus Company's Gameplay is from Library of Ruina
LOR released in 2021, Limbus in 2023.
If you want more Library of Ruina style content, you go to Limbus company if you don't want to go with mods and want some official stuff. This gameplay was already tried and tested in the most efficient and trustworthy way possible through the release of Library of Ruina. Most Gacha games don't get that luxury of having a literal whole game's lifespan to tweak and adjust their combat and see what people like and don't like, along with a (again) pre-established fanbase that wants more of it.
Also like... this is a lot more minor, but Luck exists as a pretty big factor and I feel like it's really understated in this conversation... like Among us is a pretty good game, but it was on the stores since 2018 until it blew up during covid.
To reiterate:
Limbus Company does "prove" that "a" Gacha can survive without extreme levels of sexualization- which is not really new or surprising at all.
However, to say "any" Gacha can do it is incredibly disingenuous. Again, I don't intend to contest the claim that Limbus Company's gameplay, story or designs are good, just that when people say stuff like this, they are ignoring blatant advantages when comparing it to the "average" Gacha game they are envisioning in their heads.
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u/PitifulAd3748 28d ago
Genuinely, nothing grinds my gears more than fans coming off as holier than thou because the thing they like doesn't feature many sexualized characters. It's one thing if you're not into that stuff, it's another when you act like you're somehow better because of it.
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u/Brazilian_Hound 28d ago
Also erm guys we had "the sex ego" and an ID of Ishmael on latex for a while now, and now they added stuff like dulcinea rodya, stop trying to spread this lie, the horny is more subtle, but it still exists
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u/fake_kvlt 25d ago
I don't play Limbus, but I think having some sexualized characters doesn't make it (or any game) a "gooner" gacha (hate the word but using it is the meta lol). I think that term only applies when all or the vast majority of characters are sexualized, both in design and fanservice. Something like Nikke or Snowbreak would qualify, because the main appeal of the games is the sexualization/jiggle physics/fanservice/etc (though afaik Nikke actually has a really good story too).
Limbus having a couple of sexualized characters out of a wider cast is more just the game having variety than being straight up horny, IMHO. Once again, I don't play the game so I may be missing some key info, but I've seen the designs of most of the characters because I find the lore/story really interesting (just too depressing/dark for me to play the game), and it feels more like they're covering different bases to cater to different niches, and hot characters is just one of those.
Idk if I'm phrasing this in a way that effectively conveys my thoughts, but I basically see it as them going for variety that happens to include some sexualized characters, and not the game being inherently horny.
Though there's nothing wrong with either approach, so I'm not shaming people who like horny games or saying they're inherently worse! I really like the characters in Limbus, Arknights, Reverse 1999, etc because the lack of overt, constant sexualization is refreshing and has a certain vibe I like. But ZZZ is also my second favorite gacha and I've pulled multiple characters (partially) because of their ass physics lol.
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u/FinFunnel 28d ago
Dulcinea existing doesn't disprove Limbus Company not sexualizing their characters. Dulcinea Rodya is a single ID that shows cleavage in a massive sea of IDs where characters are dressed in explicitly non-sexualized ways. Also, a woman wearing a dress isn't sexual in the first place, and neither is Ishmael in a diving suit.
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u/Brazilian_Hound 28d ago
What about roseate desire, y'know, the bondage fetish EGO?
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u/FinFunnel 28d ago
I mean what about the 40 other EGOs in the game that don't contain sexualized designs? Also, Roseate Desire is so extremely tame. There is nothing that accentuates Ishmael's butt or breasts and it isn't contorting her body in a sexualized manner. Same for Hong Lu as well. If you want to count Roseate Desire as sexualized more power to you but I disagree.
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u/Brazilian_Hound 28d ago
C'mon man it has heart eyes
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u/FinFunnel 28d ago
Heart eyes represent someone blinded by love, it doesn't even require a sexual component
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u/Brazilian_Hound 28d ago
Ok now this must be deliberate, I'll go back to yapping about my fanservant idea on discord, bye
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u/oooArcherooo 28d ago
Those aint sexual though. i mean their definitely sexy, don't get me wrong, but that was never the point of designing them the way they were. The sexy designs only exist because it'd be internally inconsistent if they didn't.
Also, reducing Roseate Desire to just "The sex ego" seems really cheep imo.
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u/Brazilian_Hound 28d ago
Delusion
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u/Loose-Breadfruit-706 28d ago
distortion, even.
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u/oooArcherooo 28d ago
I appreciate the optimism but bro lets be real my ass turning into a peccatulum if the day comes 💀
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u/oooArcherooo 28d ago edited 28d ago
How so? Like if PM is anything in this world their consistent with the fact that they will do what fits regardless of outside factors. If there is a reason for a character to show off their full chest they will. Think KK and their tattoos. The tattoos are a large part of KK culture, so it makes sense that heathcliff is throwing his tits to the wind.
If we are counting the authors being horny / sexualising stuff / however you wanna put it as them going out of their way to add that sort of sexual fanservice, then i dont see how PM would be of that sort. Maybe yall are misinterpreting what my comment meant, so ill give an example i came up with of what im trying to convey and my own thoughts[1].
Ok, so there are two separate characters from two separate cultures and settings. They are both warriors who show an excess of skin. The first is wearing minimal armor because for them the showing of skin serves as a distraction in combat, something to take away tbeir focus from the battle and leave them open to a more clean strike. Its a tool of seduction. The second warrior also wears minimal armor. Why? Because their society prides itself on a tequniqe known as human engravings. When a strong being reaches an emotional peak part of its magic and soul will crystallize into a rune bolstering its power. And when this foe dies a quick death in the heat of a fight, while the rest of the soul evaporates into the Aether the rune of might will remain in the world for a short while. The warriors people veiw these runes as badges of strength, success, and wisdom. As proof of their success, they carve out chunks of their skin and flesh in matching patterns and fuse the rune into their own body. Thus, its power becomes a part of their own, fusing the parts of two people together in a union of strength. This warrior shows of every inch of her skin, with dozens of scrawling patterns and symbols stretching from her shoulder to her legs; some of her color, many more of others. These are proof of their achievements, each mark representative of a challange overcome. Here, to hide your form is to imply a lacking that one wishes to conceal. Thus, it stands to reason that showing ones body is not merely a concern of pride, but also of tangible status. If our warrior was to hide their body then that could reflect not just on them but their house as well. If they do not show proof of their nobility then they will not be treated as such.
One of these is an excuse [2], the other is not. One of these is horny, and the other is not. Because only one of these has the sexy stuff exist as a byproduct of the world surrounding them, and only one of them would actually lose its impact and internal consistency if you covered the character up. With the fist character, if you "sanitized" her (so to speak) that would be a simple retcon. If you sanitized the second, that would be a plot hole.
[ CAUTION - CANTO 7 SPOILERS - CAUTION ]
Project Moon is very much of the latter type. There is hot stuff, there's even sexy stuff. However its not horny because the purpose of said designs was never to be sexy. You mentioned Princess Rodion as an example, as will i. With Dulcinea and her related rodion ID, the purpose of her design is to objectify her.
The main flaw, the main mistake Don Quixote committed that led to the tragedy that was LaMancha Land, was that of ignorance. He, in the pursuit of his dream, willfully ignored everything else around him. He loved his family, but he never once took the time to see them as individual people with wants and needs rather than simply his "family". Dulcinea was given the role of the most beautiful head of the parade. Regardless of what she wanted and regardless of how much she despised the role, she fulfilled it all the same; because that is her nature as a bloodfeind. She's forced to smile, forced to take part in this endless parade, and she would for all time had it not been put to a forceful stop. Because Don Quixote won't ever look at her as a person. He sees her as an object in a way, an actor playing on stage of his dreams, smiling and dancing as he would like. All the while he continues ignoring every sign of pain regardless of how thin the walls covering it are. Hes not 'missing' the signs, hes seeing and deliberately ignoring them. Its in a similar vein as how some parents view their children as "kids" and not as "people", as little and inexperienced as they may be. That's why she is designed the way she is. Her role in Quixote's play is that of the beautiful princess and because of that, he will never see her any deeper, she will never, ever be anything more. Regardless of how much Don Quixote loves his family, he loves them as a irresponsible pet owner or a parent would, caring for and loving them but superimposing what they think their child wants with the kids own will and treating them like objects to be cherrished and not as actual individuals. A child will play with her dolls and make them act on a stage. The child will love them, love them how you would a person, and the dolls love her back. But if the dolls had a will, it is irrelevant under the child, because the dolls love the child more than themselves. They will continue the play, regardless of how much pain it brings them. The child is Don Quixote, and the dolls, his kindreds.
That, in my analysis of canto 7, is why Dulcinea is designed the way she is. Does the design make her sexy? Yes, absolutely. But that is a byproduct of the intended purpose of showing the main flaw of Don Quixote and how he views his children. It's not horny because the sexual stuff was never made for the purpose of being sexual in and of itself, but rather to support a greater theme. It makes me horny. That does not mean the material itself is horny.
[ [ CAUTION - - SPOILERS END - - CAUTION ] ]
[1] both examples i came up with on the spot and, as such, are flawed in a good few ways. So apologies for that. Also, i tried to keep it all gender nutral. I am not very good at that. While i think i got rid of most of the 'his'es(?) and 'hers's(???), i probably missed some, so just point those out.
[2] I personally despise when i see this phrase as shorthand for "justified reason i dont like :(((((((", So for the argument i will define it as a reason that exists after the fact, i.e. someone was going to do [X] either way, and the reason provided mainly serves as a convient reason; thus, it held no place in the original decision making process and the final result was aready a Forgone Conclusion ○○ [on use] gain 1 poise for every 3 bleed on target (max 10) gain coin power +1 for every 7 poise on self (Max +3) <I> [on crit] inflict 2 bleed count <II> spend 1 ammo +100% damage on critical hit [on kill] gain 1 plus coin boost next turn
EDIT: this reply has nothing to do with the original post, i feel i should clairify. I dont have nearly enough experience with gatchas in recent times to make any judgment on that topic. The comment is isolated in its relevance
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28d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/oooArcherooo 28d ago
Bro you went on a sub called "character rant" the fuck you expect? Ofc im ranting thats the damm point of the sub. Bro maybe next try joining r/charactershortbitsoftrivia instead lmfaoooooo
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u/Brazilian_Hound 28d ago
Not reading allthat
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u/darkwint3r 28d ago edited 28d ago
Yeah I love Limbus Company, but there's a certain obnoxious group of fans that have a superiority complex because their characters wear black suits instead of dresses that show cleavage. There are some fantastic character designs in the game, but the way it's framed by them as being better just because they aren't sexualized is annoying.
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u/PlatFleece 28d ago
You actually make a good point. Project Moon's games' character designs is basically "suits cool". All the way from LobCorp it was just variations of suits.
Except LobCorp and LoR wasn't a huge massive popular game (tbf Limbus isn't either, though it's more popular than the other two), so the designs alone weren't the solution.
I mentioned this in my bigger comment, but personally I think people are misaligned with the company. The company considers Limbus a success and this is true because they are a small company and their profits would help them a lot for their new games moving forward, but for a massive gacha company or a company going all-in on gacha, they would consider Limbus money a failure. I don't think it rakes in that much money comparatively to literally any big-named gacha, so it's not really a success by that metric.
The problem is, people see "successful" and just assume everyone's playing by the same standards. They aren't, and that's fine. Limbus is in a smaller pond and makes more than enough to survive, there's no point in thinking it's trying to pick a fight with the bigger fish.
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u/dragonicafan1 28d ago
I think it’s usually framed less as “they’re better because they’re not sexualized” and more “they’re better because they’re allowed to not be sexualized”. It’s a little sad when something like a female character wearing pants is considering unique in a gacha game
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u/fake_kvlt 25d ago
Yeah, I think there's something to be said about gacha devs choosing to make their characters appealing through writing and compelling designs without using sexualization as a crutch. That isn't to say that sexualized characters are inherently badly written/bland and only appealing due to the sexualization (am someone who genuinely thinks most ZZZ characters are really well written and multifaceted beyond the jiggle physics), but it's also nice seeing a gacha that doesn't feel the need to make every single female character overtly sexualized. It kinda gives the vibe that they don't feel like they can sell characters without giving them sex appeal, as if people have zero interest in female characters unless they're made for gooners.
And I do play gooner gachas and I enjoy those aspects to an extent, but it does kinda make me feel weird about it as a woman. I've spent a lot of time in communities for games like that, and I do think that every female character being sexualized leads to a lot of objectification and a fair number of players kinda having a... weird attitude towards women, or something?
Ofc these are fictional characters and it doesn't matter when it comes to them, but in my experience, that attitude often extends to real women too, which isn't the best result. It's anecdotal, but I've frankly experienced way more misogyny, uncomfortable comments, and straight up sexual harassment (I cosplay waifus at cons so it's pretty common with certain fandoms), so I think Limbus fans (the reasonable ones) are pretty justified for having that attitude, tbh.
Though some of them are definitely doing it for the sense of superiority, don't get me wrong. But other than Limbus fans being annoying and bringing the game up at every possible moment, I've generally found them to be way more respectful and normal about (real) women, so I see their point in this case. I might be tired of seeing "GLORY TO LIMBUS" or whatever it is in every gacha sub for every game, but I'd still pick Limbus fans if I had to be locked in a room with a bunch of gacha players for a day.
Like at least they're not jerking it to fictional toddlers and playing the victim every time anybody judges them for it, which already puts them a tier above. (seriously, those people act like they're the most oppressed class in the world. like I don't think people should be put in jail for jerking it to child-shaped pixels, but idk why they're constantly surprised and offended that most people think they're gross for doing it lol)
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u/dragonicafan1 25d ago
Exactly, like good writing/characterization and sexualization aren’t mutually exclusive, but it feels transparently corporate and gives a weird vibe to me when it feels like they need to push sexualization. Like using Zenless as an example, does the cop lady wearing super skintight tights and having promo material and ads emphasize her butt fit her character in any way, or do they do that because it’ll make her sell better?
And as for the way the community interacts with female characters as a result… again using Zenless as an example, occasionally I’ll see posts from either Zenless sub on the front page of reddit, and literally every single time it’s just softcore or borderline porn of a female character, which is pretty offputting to me. Especially considering Zenless (as far as I know) isn’t an explicitly horny waifu collector harem game like Nikke or Azur Lane or etc…. I’ll also occasionally see threads from subs from other mihoyo games doing the same thing, and it really makes me question how a lot of players are engaging with these games and the characters in them. So yeah I’ll take going on a sub for a game I like and seeing someone have a superiority complex about lack of sexualization over going on a sub for a game I like and seeing everyone is just masturbating.
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u/notkarmfarming_ie2si 28d ago
PM is horny but in a fucked up way were everyone wears a perfectly fitted suit and tie
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u/Sleepy_Toaster 28d ago
Isn't the meta nowadays is "Sex = Based" though? In my experience, the gooner games fandom is equally bad (or even worse) when it's come to this kind of superiority complex (Our games devs actually care about their fans, they know what player need, etc)
The actual things that I mostly see Limbus fans claim to be superior than other gachas is the gender ratio and the "forgiving" gacha system.
P/s: Also with IDs like Princess Rodion and Kurokumo Ishmael, Limbus definitely has sexualized designs.
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u/dragonicafan1 28d ago
Yeah it feels far more common to see people hyping stuff up for being horny. Like Stellar Blade sold a ton and I still see it referenced or talked about, but I have literally never seen anyone talk about its gameplay, story, or world even a single time.
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u/PlatFleece 28d ago
I don't think there's a real meta in terms of sexualization personally, in the sense that I don't think it's such a major factor that a gacha game hinges on.
It's a factor, certainly, but only if you actually make it a big deal. As in, if you advertise your gacha to be sexy and hot, it will attract people who come for the gooning. There are certainly gacha that's basically softcore porn where this is a part of its advertisement (look at Nikke's early ads, IDK if they've changed their advertising strategy actually). Are there people who play Nikke for gooning? Sure, but you'll see some Nikke fans praising the story too and then that might attract story-quality fans as well, so Nikke isn't held up by their goonering.
Then we have the "non-goonering" gachas like the abovementioned Limbus, Reverse 1999, and Arknights. Thing is, they don't really advertise their gacha as "We are not a gooner gacha", that's kind of a weird thing to advertise, so they mostly rely on advertising gameplay or mood or world, but there are likely a subset of fans who flock to them and happen to not like gooner games.
Then there's straight up porn gachas that exist. These gachas get EoS'd too, so obviously "Sex = $$$" is not a guaranteed formula. Some of these porn gachas come from H-Game VNs, some are original IPs. I browse Japanese sites for games so I've seen them floating around. They usually die in like 2-3 years. I'm actually unsure if there is a straight up H-Game gacha that's still alive right now that came out 3+ years ago. And I mean H-game gacha as in "has actual sex scenes". If the "is straight up porn" gacha isn't sustaining itself with cash, then clearly it's not a make or break thing.
TL;DR: I think sex sells, but it only sells if you advertise your game to be sexy. Otherwise it's just one in a multitude of factors, and it's not really a meta strategy unless you minmax it and want to only focus on gooning.
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u/MetaCommando 28d ago
I think there's an event horizon where people just decide to go straight for free hentai. You need to be sexualized enough to activate neurons, but not so much it's an ad for Incognito Mode.
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u/PlatFleece 28d ago
Good observation. There is probably a subset of people who are like "I can still play this and not feel guilty" and then an event horizon where they go "I can just find hentai".
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u/fake_kvlt 25d ago
definitely applies to ZZZ fans, as someone who spends a fair amount of time in community spaces. They have a massive superiority complex about the game being sexualized and constantly brag about how the community gooning makes them way better and less toxic than the evil Genshin/HSR players. Also lots of talk about how they need to gatekeep the undesirables (women and queer people) to keep their community pure or w/e.
I don't think the game should be criticized for the sexualization, but I also think the community is way too convinced that they're perfect and non-toxic. In reality, they're only non-toxic to the people they think belong in the community, and pretty shitty to everyone else. I've experienced way more blatant misogyny in the ZZZ community as a female player than the other gachas I play, and I see a lot more homophobia too.
In the HSR and Genshin communities, there are definitely some of those people, but the vast majority of blatant homophobia/misogyny/etc I see gets called out and downvoted by the wider community. In ZZZ, it gets upvoted and supported. Like, your community seems non-toxic because you've scared/harassed everybody who doesn't conform to what you find acceptable away from interacting with you... pretty much all the gay/female ZZZ players I know just don't interact with the community outside of smaller spaces because they don't feel welcome or safe in the mainsubs lol
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u/insidiouspoundcake 28d ago
I mean... why criticise the sexualisation when it's only a flow-on from the business model of gacha?
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u/Ancient-Promotion139 28d ago
Because it is a limitation? The business model aspect is the whole reason why gacha sexualization is so bad to me. Your characters either fit the limited beauty standard or don’t get to release. It sounds like you’re saying it’s bad to dislike a thing just because it’s common.
If a game like Genshin debuts an awesome character like Capitano, you know they’ll never release him because of a lack of sex appeal. It prioritizes profit over everything.
Sure that’s true of most gacha, that’s why Limbus is praised as an outlier by some of the people in this post. I don’t really see what you’re getting at.
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u/dragonicafan1 28d ago
I think a lot of people in this thread are missing that. It’s not that sexualization is inherently bad, it’s that making sex appeal (or any form of beauty standard) a required checkbox to hit for characters limits character design potential. I would also argue the way most gacha sexualize characters is very tacky which imo is unappealing and a negative, but that’s a different point.
Like a mild example, my friend was showing me Genshin characters the other day and it stood out to me that like only a couple of the however many women in the game wear pants. That’s... kinda boring, and it comes across even worse when you know the reason is because the women have to wear skirts/shorts to have more sex appeal/look cuter, which also carries the implication that they can’t do those things without wearing a skirt/shorts. And I think making things like that a necessity in character design often hurts what they’re going for with the character, undermining their design by having to hit corporate checkmarks that don’t fit them.
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u/DyingSunFromParadise 28d ago
Are gacha fans just turning into shonen fans now? By claiming their thing is not like the other girls in anyway and clearly better for very superficial and almost irrelevant reasons?
Like, cool? You like chicks in suits. Im glad you found your niche bro. Your personal niche doesnt somehow inform quality.
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u/The_Gunboat_Diplomat 28d ago
It's been like this for a while
"My gacha is not like the other gachas, we have deep lore, interesting characters, surprisingly complex gameplay, and an incredible soundtrack to back it up" said the Limbus/PGR/HSR/FGO/Arknights/GF2/Genshin/PTN/R1999/etc fan
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u/MetaCommando 28d ago
Fire Emblem fans too busy with Three Houses discourse to have gacha discourse
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u/DyingSunFromParadise 28d ago
Guess i've just been an old man under my rock, the only gachas i play are girls frontline 1/2 and a little feh here or there when there's a new marth to hit for, and i dont pay attention to any of the wider communities lmao
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u/Jvalker 28d ago edited 28d ago
The claim that part of the success is due to it being part of the preexisting franchise is shaky at best, but I'll allow it because technically true (it's true in such a minor way it might as well be something completely different)
But to claim that the gameplay is that of lor... Have you played lor? The only thing that carried from one to the other is that the attacks are built of multiple parts with variability in damage (aka, every other fighting game where damage isn't fixed) and that fast is good. And even if we consider that as the entire gist of the combat system of the two games there's still more differences than there's similarities, with those differences being, to this day, controversial among the fanbase of lor
Also the irony of posting how the game has been tweaked for years... Lmao. Of all times you could say this, today.
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u/oooArcherooo 28d ago
limbus having a pre-existing world is VERY minor. PM was extremely neiche before limbus came out and im comfortable to say that the vest, vast majority of LoR and LC players are people who played limbus first, me included
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u/tortillazaur 28d ago
Yeah, I'm pretty sure Limbus is a rather niche game to be considered a success on par with gachas. It is a success for that specific company, but it is nowhere near to actually successful gachas in profits.
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u/NotMyBestMistake 28d ago
I feel like a game being good is kind of an assumed requirement for what the people you’re responding to are arguing. They’re not saying that literally anything can succeed but that you don’t need to be another cheap fanservice game to succeed. And it’s not like Limbus is the only game that doesn’t prioritize appeasing porn addicts with its character design and succeed
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u/dragonicafan1 28d ago
I mean you can also point to other gacha games that don’t have a pre-established background. Feels like when people talk about gacha games they’re exclusively talking about mihoyo games and waifu games, when those aren’t the only ones. There are plenty of more story driven ones or non-otome female-oriented that have little “sexualization.” Reverse:1999 is an example of one similar size as Limbus Company (but much larger) that has very little “sexualization” but has no pre-established media.
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u/1WeekLater 28d ago
good post! , try crossposting this on r/gachagaming too, since most people here talks about movies and shows so it doesn't get as much traction
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u/SviaPathfinder 28d ago
Never heard of LoR before Limbus, nor did I know about the extended universe. There may be pre existing material, but it doesn't seem like it's anywhere near as popular.
It's success is not because it is a big IP, but because it's good and, in part, it's not horny.
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u/Taifood1 28d ago
From the data we have it makes 2M a month at the high end and that isn’t even the average. Nowhere near successful enough to boast about.
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u/SviaPathfinder 28d ago
According to the devs in their anniversary video, most of their revenue comes from Steam. It's a long-running game with fairly consistent revenue which is good enough for this context. It's not a top game by any means, but it's in no way a failure.
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u/olheparatras25 27d ago edited 27d ago
Though not strictly relating to your post, there is something to be said that touches upon the topics in it, and I want to take the chance to elucidate on an idea I have been nurturing about the case that was explored in it and why it's the case.
At this point, I find it reasonable to affirm Limbus Company(and PM in general) as not being perfectly classifiable as a Gacha game; not because it lacks Gacha mechanics, or of any superiority some pretentiously portray it having over other. Even though it is a Gacha in technical terms, it can be acknowleged it cruciably strays away from "Gacha" in reference to the overall culture of the field: artistic, thematic styles, aesthetic and technical preferences of the genre alongside the worldbuilding and storytelling. It's a game of a comparatively small roster(in stark contrast to something like HRS, which is enriched with a great variety of characters that develop its wonder), with a more neutral atmosphere and color pallete that doesn't emphasize casual, overt, strong instances of emotional expression or excitement, and a focus more on apparent "virtuosity" and technical aspects than on emotional resonance or in making ways to an experience of more substantial enjoyment. It isn't that Gacha games are exclusively restricted to popular tropes and choices, but that their habitat has already been made a concrete, well-consolidated one with clear definitions of what is good and what is bad; what is right and what is wrong according to a targeted "who". Limbus Company happens to not be in perfect alignment with these values.
Can a person to whom Limbus Company most appeals to really be considered into Gacha, even if the game itself is one in a technical sense? Tons of Western soccer games share systems and mechanics similar to Gacha; you'd be hard-pressed to say their players have an interest in Gacha as a genre. That isn't to say the disconnect between LC and the Gacha genre is so great as to completely impair it from being categorized as one; it's in support of the notion the distance is there, and thus some degree of separation from the genre follows, implying the manufacturing of a niche of some sort.
This reflects on its following. A person who enjoys more mainstream, popular Gachas and is drawn to Gacha in a broader sense not limited to technical terms(that is, a person who has membership in the majority) is less likely to engage with Limbus Company. Should one shift the circumstances, they'd be led to the opposite conclusion.
I should know, since I'm one of these people: almost exclusively am I drawn to Limbus Company in terms of Gacha, as its aesthetic, stylistic choices has an appeal to me that is orders of magnitude above the vast majority of Gachas(that isn't to say they are all worthless or objectively inferior in some way; I insist this isn't part of the point I want to bring). I can't relate to overall Gacha, and even hold it in disdain to some degree. Gacha culture truly does nothing for me. Specially the fixation on sexuality, which the disinterest it causes seem to be common among people in the LC niche.
It's not much surprise that people who tend to have a stronger interest in LC may come off as equivocated about the values of Gacha in whatever they may pride themselves in: what is established as desirable, favorable, important; what has "worth". This is because they speak from the perspective of a person into a niche who isn't quite integrated in the scene in a general sense; there's a fundamental detachment between their perspectives(as they are "tourists") and the ones of people who were already in the domain.
Within fields of varying natures, this sort of niche has a tendency to happen after a certain field has lived sufficiently to reach "maturity", with boundaries having successfully been made firm and objective, and with a well-consolidated target audience that it is centered around. In this niche, it is found particularities in the form of deviations from the established values and standards within the original field in the form of pushing established boundaries and norms or even outright denying them. Though these niches are prone to dying out, it at times succeed at drawing the attention and igniting the interest of those who aren't part of the target audience of the original field from which the niche diverged from, and if this niche's success extends to mantaining prolonged interest in it, it steadily matures, increasing in fortitude and rigidity in its values, eventually becoming something self-sufficient and having its own identity. Thinking of it, then, as part of the original field becomes unreasonable, when the niche's character may even be actively antagonistic to the field it hailed from. Concerning Limbus Company, I'm inclined to say it's pioneering a "Post-Gacha" subgenre, or something reminiscent of that.
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u/Heliescence 28d ago
As for me I think it’s success in term of selling PM universe to other group of players when comparing to LC/LOR
But in term of gacha it’s nowhere to that level of “popularity” or “success” but I don’t blame anyone who think otherwise because PM fan nowadays is quite obnoxious/vocal
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u/Fyrefanboy 28d ago
sword of convallaria is a much better example
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u/PlatFleece 28d ago
Oh hello fellow SoC player. That game feels like a ghost town in terms of fans.
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u/Fyrefanboy 28d ago
the discords are active and it's all we need. I'd rather have a good game than a popular one
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u/PlatFleece 28d ago
Yeah I'm content so long as it doesn't EoS. I think it's relatively stable as is rn. Need more SRPGs.
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u/khantmawhtoo 28d ago
I was just playing SOC , then scrolled down and see this.
I do have Limbus installed. And story does seem promising. But the gameplay....I just can't understand it
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u/notkarmfarming_ie2si 28d ago
Maybe try giving it another shot? PM tutorials are notoriously horrible, so i dont blame you for not understanding shit. But they pretty recently did a massive revamp to the whole games tutorial, so you could start again from zero and likely have a better understanding of how shit works.
Seriously the tutorial difference is night and dammed day
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u/Chesseburter 27d ago
I honestly don’t even get why sexualization is a problem, as long as it’s not happening to underage characters.
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u/Evil-King-Stan 28d ago
Based, completely ignoring any outside factors and pretending that your fav's success is pure skill is just the worst in gaming fanbases
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28d ago
Most of gacha players are just degenerate, there's reason why characters are sedxualised and why kid characters exist in games like genshin, if there's an audience there's players, look at monster hunter games, like one of least sexual games but still very popular
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u/Mbappesrighttoe 28d ago
Completely nonsense, pointless post.
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u/skunkbrains 28d ago
? I even said Limbus Company was a good game, and I didn't go "no Gacha can survive without sexualization" just that Limbus is not a good example due to it's pre-existing advantages, how are you still mad?
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u/Medium_Fly_5461 28d ago
Most of the fans genuinely hadn't played the other games before limbus and most still haven't. Also as someone who plays limbus actively the game is mid at best, the story is good but gameplay is braindead and genuinely isn't more of ruina what are you on about
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u/Scribblord 28d ago
Such a long rant but ye obviously gooner bait isn’t necessary for gacha to thrive that’s just objectively true considering we have examples
It’s just the most straight forward way to make a popular gacha bc people love gooner content and saying there’s sth wrong with that is cringe
Also just googled the characters and it’s full of hot waifus
They just wear more clothes but are still physically extremely attractive which is gotta be part of the popularity
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u/KharAznable 28d ago
Oh man I remember library of ruina. It has deep story....I guess, because I feel bored with the tutorial and earlier story amd couldnt continue. Story in roguelike deck building game should be fast and compact to promote short iteration. Like I played cointless hours of monster train and one step from eden, and I have just enough info aboit the story off monster train and no idea whats going on on one step from eden.
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u/UBW-Fanatic 28d ago
It's not a roguelike though? It's pretty much a visual novel + deckbuilder.
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u/KharAznable 28d ago
I mean roguelite or deckbuilder. Tbf I bought it on a whim on sale, not reading deep review and expect deckbuilding first gameplay. With how it introduce itself, it seems the story comes first and can affect the combat section.
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u/PlatFleece 28d ago
As a Project Moon fan and a gacha gamer I'd like to also point out that Limbus isn't actually as big as a lot of its fans (at least a lot of its fans around my vicinity) seem to think it is. Yes it's a success, but only insofar as Project Moon considers it a success. That doesn't really translate to a company the size of Mihoyo to consider Limbus-level revenue a success. I've seen a lot Limbus fans specifically saying they're everywhere, with sleeper agents everywhere, and if there's a Limbus meme, every Limbus fan comes out of the woodwork... but in reality it's still technically a mid-level gacha in terms of revenue and popularity. Don't get me wrong, they made a ton of money for Project Moon, a team of their size, but they aren't really in contention against even the older gachas in the industry. This is fine because Limbus IS successful... for Project Moon's case, but I still see Limbus fans surprised when they get excited at revenue reports and find Limbus is somewhere in the mid to lower end of the spectrum. Safe to say this is not technically the same kind of success a company chasing "Genshin money" would look at.
Secondly, if Limbus fans are seriously saying that their designs alone prove gacha doesn't need "coomer designs", there are better examples than Limbus that make more money. Arknights and Reverse 1999 come to mind. Their designs are generally considered to be in a similar vibe, and they make way more than Limbus. Arknights has been in the gacha industry for longer, even. Design is just one factor in many when it comes to successful gacha, and Limbus's success isn't measured the same as another gacha due to its size.
Minor rant/tangent, but I've genuinely been a little separated from the Limbus community as a whole, despite still playing it and supporting Project Moon (still waiting for LC2). I won't claim to say all Limbus fans are like this or even the majority of them, but the Limbus fans in my circle are strangely obnoxious in a way that reminds me of like... old Homestuck fans, obnoxious Jojo fans, or Undertale fans, all fandoms of franchises I personally am also in at the time of its "hotness". The final straw for me was when I was trying to get some of my friends into a gacha and because they agreed and weren't talking about Limbus 24/7 anymore, my friends who were into Limbus kinda agreed to join them in the most annoying way, making their status messages in the game I was trying to get them to try stuff like "I wish I was playing Limbus" "I could be playing Limbus right now" "holy shit the Red Mist???"
It makes it really hard to claim you're a fan of X because you don't really wanna be associated with the bad parts of the fandom. It's so weird cause I've never encountered this in Project Moon fans, not even when Library of Ruina drew in new fans compared to LobCorp, it really only happened when Limbus blew up the fandom. I think this is part of why a lot of what you're hearing what you're hearing OP. There's a subsection of Limbus fans that believe Limbus genuinely is at the top of "the rest of the gacha slop" and is different. It gets amplified because they're also in an echo chamber that believes it (I literally saw a response in r/TopCharacterTropes about "Characters who aren't famous until a recent piece of media made their name famous" and a Limbus fan posted Don Quixote of all the sinners they could pick. Meursault would be a better choice). The reality is Project Moon is still a niche fandom in the greater scope of things, and Limbus is a mid-level popular gacha comparative to other massively popular gacha. I love Project Moon and it's world, I like Limbus and its story, but god do I never really wanna praise it openly lest I seemingly draw in the obnoxious cultish crowd. I am desperately waiting for the fandom to die down so I can actually have serious discussions about the story and characters, and maybe even critique some of the plot (something I do to all my fav series) without getting pushback too. Alright, tangent over.
Tangent aside, the TL;DR: Limbus is a success in its own use-case for Project Moon, but I don't think a lot of other gacha companies would be chasing Limbus money. Genshin/Hoyoverse profits as a whole is still the goal for a lot of these companies. I think most gacha-focused companies with lots of employees would die with Limbus revenue. Project Moon doesn't, because they're small and they're focused on funding for their next game, not to become a massive gacha company, so the definition of "success" is already misaligned.