Japanese developer qureate will launch Bunny Garden 2, the sequel to its risqué bunny girl dating simulator game, on April 16. In anticipation of the release, qureate CEO and producer Yujiro Usuda recently talked to Famitsu about the upcoming title, while also discussing the difficulties of creating commercial “gentlemen’s games” for platforms with increasingly strict publishing requirements.
When asked whether qureate’s creative direction has toned down since the huge backlash the company received for their work a few years ago, Usuda says that, while they have been learning from past mistakes, completely restricting their own content shouldn’t be the way to go about things (though the interview doesn’t explicitly state the incident, they are most likely referring to the controversial Massage Freaks rhythm game from 2022).
“Saying that we’re ‘toning it down’ might be a bit of a stretch. I am aware that there are people who aren’t quite fond of ‘games for gentlemen,’ but I also know that there are many people who actively enjoy playing qureate games. If we were to tone them down, they would lose their appeal as games for gentlemen, and there wouldn’t be a reason for us to exist in the first place,” Usuda comments. He also adds that, going forward, qureate will be aiming to explore different forms of expression that aren’t offensive, while still not compromising on the direction of their works.
When it comes to development itself, the devs at qureate usually go all out during brainstorming meetings, often coming up with ideas crazy enough that they “shouldn’t be written down,” and then polishing them down. The difficult part comes when they have to ‘optimize’ the game for intended platforms, often having to make some compromises. Notably, with Bunny Garden 2, there are some differences between the Steam and Switch versions, due to different platform requirements.
“First and foremost, we have no intention to cause trouble for platform holders or rating agencies on purpose or make something that’s just barely acceptable. While communicating with them in advance and making sure depictions are acceptable, we are also exploring how intense we can go with the stuff we truly want to make,” Usuda comments.
But while mature games sometimes have quite a hard time getting approved by platforms, the devs at qureate are aware that their biggest audience are gamers who enjoy risqué titles and suggestive content. Therefore, censoring the games or going “all or nothing” would also be a difficult decision to make, both from the fans and developer’s perspective, Usuda suggests.
“I know that there are many people who tell us they want to play not just qureate’s games, but games with sexual elements in general. If we prioritized “not making people uncomfortable,” and ended up toning down the game’s expressions or simply not making the game, nobody would be happy. That’s why we want to continue making interesting games going forward while exploring suitable forms of expression for this day and age”
Bunny Garden 2 is set to launch on April 16, 2026, for Nintendo Switch and PC (Steam).
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