5 Reasons Why Visual Novels Struggle as a Medium
I wish visual novels were more popular but there are reasons why they're not.
I love visual novels. Some of my most beloved stories came from this underused medium.
So it saddens me to know that this medium struggles to get a wide audience. In the beginning, I didn’t get why visual novels were not more popular.
But after reading over 100 visual novels, I think I finally understand why visual novels struggle.
Hopefully, in the end, I can offer some solutions. I want these stories to get the recognition & respect they deserve.
But to get better, we need to acknowledge the problem. Here are 5 reasons why visual novels struggle as a medium.
Length
The most obvious reason why visual novels struggle is the ridiculous length.
Not all visual novels are long but the best ones are 50+ hours and longer than the bible.
Who has that much time?
This length also makes it hard to adapt to other mediums without full commitment.
Most of them fail and only 4 went anywhere. Fate took decades to fully adapt, and Stein’s Gate, Clannad along with Higurashi proves the rule. Some fans even say Higurashi wasn’t adapted well anyway.
I don’t know if it’s because of the multiple routes or bloated dialogue but this is a problem for new and old fans.
Price
The problem is the opposite of AAA games. Instead of charging too much, visual novels charge too little.
No one, including me, wants to spend $60+ on what is basically a book. It doesn’t seem worth the money.
This hurts the medium because higher-quality visual novels are not cheap to make. The only way to charge close to $60 is by adding gameplay like Blazblue.
But at that point, does it even count as a visual novel?
To make matters worse, visual novels can’t monetize in any other way. No gacha, loot boxes, free-to-play models, DLC, or cosmetics.
I saw some phone visual novels try but they were more predatory than normal games. They’re also low quality and target the lowest common denominator. The best phone visual novels are ones that were ported to mobile from PC.
Because of this and more, visual novels rarely get high-quality treatment. It hardly seems like a smart investment when compared to other mediums.
So, the quality decreases but the quantity increases.
Maybe when Ai art gets better, the cost of visual novels will go down. All while increasing the quality. But that leads to another problem.
Quantity vs Quality
There are large companies that produce visual novels but most are by small groups or individuals.
Most of them aren’t good or don’t have a big audience. They pop into existence and fade away quickly.
It’s low-quality or weird ones that reach right outside mainstream ears. Doki Doki Literature Club is one of the few that made a mainstream wave. It’s another exception that proves the rule.
Visual Novels are easy to learn but hard to master. For creators, it might seem easier to make a visual novel instead of a traditional game.
But as game dev tools become cheaper and easier to use, the less necessary visual novels will be to young game devs. Still good for fledgling writers, an alternative to Twine.
It’s also still a good method for making eroge.
Sexual Connections
To draw attention or because the story/vision requires it, visual novels tend to have NSFW content.
Even Fate had NSFW content in the beginning. There’s so much of it that mainstream audiences group visual novels with simple hentai games.
Doesn’t help that most visual novels, even the really good ones, fall under the dating sim genre.
Even the small innovation I’ve seen, Support RPG mechanics or 3D models, are almost exclusively seen in eroge. 3D models I understand at least, that’s great for NSFW scenes.
This hurts its chances of getting the large audience it deserves or a good adaptation. It all comes down to it being a risky investment.
Finally, we come to the last reason.
Lack of Unique Strength
The worst thing about visual novels is that they have no unique strength of their own.
Extreme detail in the writing? Books do that. They’re easier to make and adapt too.
Freedom of choice? Games have mastered that by now. Harder to make but they have a bigger return on investment.
Stunning single-page art? Manga and Manwha can do the same. It’s more competitive but manga doesn’t have as many moving parts that could mess it up. I might be wrong, but they’re cheaper too.
Those are the only things that you can consider “unique” about the medium. The other mediums already do music, atmosphere, and more. Sometimes better.
Heck, even webtoons are starting to incorporate music. Add some reader choice and it’s practically a visual novel.
The medium itself has little strength alone. Better as a support system for traditional games.
Conclusion & Solutions
Those are the 5 reasons why I think visual novels struggle as a medium. It’s a shame because I really love visual novels and want to see the medium flourish.
But enough about the problems, what about solutions?
• Length: Encourage and support more HQ short visual novels. They're out there but there’s not a lot. Recommend short visual novels to people new to the medium instead of stuff like Higurashi.
• Price: Support your favorite developers and be more understanding if the price increases by a bit. As long as the product is truly worth the price tag.
• Quantity vs Quality: We need to get the word out on visual novels that would work well as a 12-episode anime. That would encourage developers to make games that have a better chance of getting anime. The majority will always be shovelware but at least the HQ ones would be more noticeable and common.
• Sexual Connections: Nothing we can do. Some people will always group visual novels with simple hentai games. The best bet is to get adapted or developers can adapt stuff into visual novels, instead of the other way around.
Light novels & books specifically. HQ visual novels can be expensive but compared to anime, it might be less. For example, adapting No Game No Life Season 2 into a visual novel. Better than nothing.
• Lack of a Unique Strength: Innovations and using more RPG mechanics in visual novels that have a shot at mainstream popularity. Adapt books or light novels that fail to get a movie or show adaptions.
That’s all the solutions that I can think of, what do you think? Any mistakes?
Tell me below, why do you read visual novels? What keeps you coming back? For me, it’s the stories and characters.
With that, I see you next time.
About the Creator
Blankmarks
I’m Blankmarks and I love magic and fiction. I’ll write about various magic types and concepts not only for fun but to help writers create new magical worlds. I'll also post short stories, writing tips, and more.
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