{"id":66630,"date":"2026-05-14T19:10:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:10:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=66630"},"modified":"2026-05-14T19:10:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:10:28","slug":"japanese-psychological-horror-bl-visual-novel-about-two-obsessive-game-creators-no-longer-coming-to-steam-due-to-not-meeting-platform-criteria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-psychological-horror-bl-visual-novel-about-two-obsessive-game-creators-no-longer-coming-to-steam-due-to-not-meeting-platform-criteria\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese psychological horror\u00a0BL\u00a0visual novel\u00a0about two obsessive\u00a0game\u00a0creators\u00a0no longer coming to Steam\u00a0due to \u201cnot meeting platform criteria\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese\u00a0illustrator and\u00a0game\u00a0developer\u00a0Viv announced on May 13 that their\u00a0psychological horror visual novel\u00a0<strong>This\u00a0Game\u00a0is Not Real\u00a0<\/strong>will no longer be releasing on Steam.\u00a0The\u00a0title\u2019s\u00a0Steam store page appears to have been delisted, with 24,000 Wishlists going down the drain for the developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally slated for launch in Q2 of 2026 on Steam,<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thisgameisnotreal.studio.site\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">This\u00a0Game\u00a0is Not Real<\/a>\u00a0tells\u00a0a psychedelic meta story depicting the\u00a0obsessive and destructive relationship between two male\u00a0game\u00a0creators.\u00a0In an unconventional twist, the player takes\u00a0on\u00a0the role of\u00a0the\u00a0\u201cgame\u201d\u00a0being\u00a0developed by\u00a0one of the\u00a0slightly delusional\u00a0developers. Through point-and-click exploration sections and\u00a0story sections, you converse with the developer\u00a0and\u00a0help\u00a0him\u00a0debug\u00a0his\u00a0project.\u00a0As you go,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0gradually learn about\u00a0his past\u00a0through memory fragments hidden within the project\u2019s\u00a0data,\u00a0and\u00a0guide him towards completing the\u00a0game.\u00a0Depicting mature themes like violence, self-harm, murder and sexual content,\u00a0This\u00a0Game\u00a0is Not Real\u00a0is\u00a0intended for ages 18 and over.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83d\udce3\u3010\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b\u3011\u30ea\u30ea\u30fc\u30b9\u30d7\u30e9\u30c3\u30c8\u30d5\u30a9\u30fc\u30e0\u5909\u66f4<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ThisGameIsNotReal?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ThisGameIsNotReal<\/a> \u306b\u3064\u304d\u307e\u3057\u3066\u3001<br>Steam\u3067\u306e\u914d\u4fe1\u3092\u4e88\u5b9a\u3057\u3066\u3044\u307e\u3057\u305f\u304c\u3001\u914d\u4fe1\u57fa\u6e96\u3092\u6e80\u305f\u3055\u306a\u3044\u305f\u3081\u3001<br>\u30d7\u30e9\u30c3\u30c8\u30d5\u30a9\u30fc\u30e0\u3092\u5909\u66f4\u3057\u3066DLsite\uff0fBOOTH\u306b\u3066\u914d\u4fe1\u3057\u307e\u3059\u3002<br><br>\u767a\u58f2\u65e5\u7b49\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u306f\u3001\u3042\u3089\u305f\u3081\u3066\u304a\u77e5\u3089\u305b\u3044\u305f\u3057\u307e\u3059\u306e\u3067\u4eca\u3057\u3070\u3089\u304f\u304a\u5f85\u3061\u304f\u3060\u3055\u3044\uff01\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/vXEsYeunWz\">pic.twitter.com\/vXEsYeunWz<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u3073\u3076\ud83d\udc19COMITIA156\uff5c\u306f09a (@ruuya1124) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ruuya1124\/status\/2054490415865463212?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 13, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to&nbsp;the&nbsp;announcement&nbsp;made&nbsp;by Viv on X, due to&nbsp;This&nbsp;Game&nbsp;is Not Real&nbsp;\u201cnot meeting Steam\u2019s release criteria,\u201d&nbsp;they have decided to release the&nbsp;game&nbsp;on domestic platforms&nbsp;DLsite&nbsp;and BOOTH instead.&nbsp;The issue&nbsp;with the Steam version&nbsp;does not seem to be&nbsp;technical, but&nbsp;related to the&nbsp;game\u2019s contents.&nbsp;In&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ruuya1124\/status\/2054710050032418978?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">response to commenters<\/a>,&nbsp;Viv joked&nbsp;that the adult men they depicted in the&nbsp;game&nbsp;were \u201ctoo cute\u201d for the&nbsp;platform, and&nbsp;admitted that they were apprehensive from the start about whether the&nbsp;game\u2019s sexual scenes would cause issue.&nbsp;\u201cI\u2019m a&nbsp;gambler,\u201d&nbsp;they&nbsp;say.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thankfully,&nbsp;This&nbsp;Game&nbsp;is Not Real is still coming to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dlsite.com\/bl\/announce\/=\/product_id\/RJ01495793.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DLsite<\/a>&nbsp;and BOOTH&nbsp;later this month, albeit these versions of the&nbsp;game&nbsp;will be available only in Japanese at launch. Viv has&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ruuya1124\/status\/2054713919235850406?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">commented<\/a>&nbsp;that they plan to add official support for other languages sometime in the future, with&nbsp;fan made&nbsp;translation patches also a welcome&nbsp;option&nbsp;in&nbsp;the&nbsp;meantime.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese game developer Viv has announced that their visual novel This Game is Not Real will not be coming to Steam after all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":66634,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-66630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie-games","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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