Love and Deepspace — How targeting a female audience can be successful.

 

Photo Credit — https://assets.papegames.com/resources/cdn/20250124/3147a17c03762f4a.jpeg

Love and Deepspace is a game that had its global release on 18 January 2024 and was the first mainstream 3D otome game. When its trailers were released, they blew people away with the realistic graphics that narrowly avoided the uncanny valley.

The game combines gacha and otome elements, originally featuring three love interests which later expanded to five when two additional characters were introduced. The initial trio comprised Rafayel, Zayne and Xavier, with the characters Sylus and Caleb being added subsequently.

Set in a sci‑fi future, the game follows the main character (MC) as she hunts monsters known as Wonderers. Having recently completed her training, she encounters male love interests who not only help her hone her skills but also accompany her through Linkon City, encountering numerous twists along the way.

Zayne is portrayed as the MC’s childhood and current doctor, while Xavier is her colleague who partners with her on missions. Rafayel is an artist whom she meets during an investigation and subsequently hires as a “bodyguard”, and Sylus is the leader of the criminal organisation Onychinus, whom the MC encounters when investigating the group.

Each character is endowed with a deep backstory and a distinct personality that appeals to a broad audience. For example, Sylus is the archetypal rich bad-boy type, while Xavier fits into the “soft boy” category; however, the writing ensures that their characters are more nuanced than these simple labels might suggest.

The game has recently teased the addition of a period tracking feature, which appears designed not only to appeal to the predominantly female audience of Infold but also to provide a genuinely useful tool for female players. Coupled with reminder features, this innovation makes the game both more accessible and practical.

Otome games are well known in Japan and typically feature a female protagonist who romances one of several male options. Love and Deepspace has not been the only otome game to break into the international market; titles such as Mystic Messenger, Mr Love, and Tears of Themis have also enjoyed widespread popularity.

As otome games gained traction in Japan, the genre expanded through English and other language localisations, thereby reaching a wider audience. This was further bolstered by fans releasing their own translations, which has helped to bring even more players into the fold. Fan translations gained prominence during the 2010s, with games such as Diabolik Lovers being among the earliest otome titles to benefit from this phenomenon. To this day, games that have not been officially localised — such as the Uta no Prince-sama series — continue to receive fan translations.

The advent of mobile phones and apps has made it easier for companies to venture into the otome game genre. This development has enabled companies outside Japan, ranging from small indie developers to larger firms, to create their own otome games. Today, there is a substantial market for mobile otome games, with companies such as Genius, NTT Solmare Corporation and Voltage Inc. well established within the genre, and some of their titles enjoying a considerable audience.

Another aspect that contributed to the popularity of Love and Deepspace was its use of gacha mechanics. Although Tears of Themis introduced this concept within the otome genre, Love and Deepspace has refined the format and integrated it more thoroughly into its gameplay. Gacha games are essentially an evolution of loot boxes, which were first introduced in a Chinese game called MMO ZT Online in 2006. This trend was later popularised by games such as Overwatch, and, in later years, Genshin Impact further refined gacha elements for obtaining characters, thereby mainstreaming the practice.

Gacha games have traditionally been targeted at men, particularly in terms of character design. However, Love and Deepspace has flipped this paradigm by aiming primarily at a female audience through the provision of attractive male characters that players can choose to romance — an approach that is in keeping with the otome genre.

Infold was able to analyse the success of games such as Mystic Messenger and improve upon them, making interactions with the male characters feel more intimate through features such as period tracking, reminder systems and a “study with” function, all designed to foster a closer connection between the player and the characters.

In conclusion, combining the otome and gacha game genres has proven to be a goldmine for Infold. This was not their first foray into the market — indeed, their earlier gacha game, Infinity Nikki, targeted a younger female audience. Thorough research into the target audience is clearly key.

While gacha games can indeed be addictive, they also represent a major revenue source for many titles. Consequently, using this model can be highly lucrative for Infold, and integrating it with the otome genre was a brilliant design move that has made Love and Deepspace one of the highest-earning gacha games currently.

I have played the game myself, and what makes its gacha system feel less predatory is that Infold provides multiple, accessible methods for earning the in‑game currency, “Diamond”, free of charge. By contrast, games such as Genshin Impact require players to grind for hours to earn even a handful of gems, making Love and Deepspace a far more accommodating option for those who prefer a free‑to‑play model.

For far too long, female gamers have been relegated to a narrow niche — often confined to games like dress‑up titles. Now that the demographic of female gamers is on the rise, companies that pay attention to this market are reaping the benefits. One can only hope that this will encourage more developers to create high‑quality games for the female market and other smaller demographics.