According to a recent tweet by Moa, the creator behind Hatoful Boyfriend, she has expressed her disappointment, mentioning that she has not received any payment from Epic Games since her game was released on their platform following the acquisition of Mediatonic by Epic Games back in 2021.
Hatoful Boyfriend is a “unique” visual novel to say the least, you could probably summarize it as a “joke” game or a gigantic meme given that every single character barring the main heroine are sentient intelligent birds, the entire game is a play on typical Japanese dating sims as the story takes place at “St. Pigeonation” academy.
The game offers a variety of bird characters, each with their own distinct personalities and storylines, from a charismatic dove to a mysterious owl, the game presents a diverse cast of feathered potential love interests.
You date birds, that’s really all there is to it. With its “unique” art style and engaging storytelling, Hatoful Boyfriend has gained a cult following and has become known for its quirky and memorable characters, upon its release Hatoful Boyfriend successfully carved a niche for itself in the visual novel genre, offering a unforgettable experience.
Anyways, the creator of Hatoful Boyfriend, Moa proclaimed that she had not received any royalties from Epic Games since Mediatonic had been bought out by Epic Games back in 2021, despite the fact that the contract was transferred to them.
An Epic Games representative did however reply promising to contact Moa directly, so hopefully there’s a swift resolution to the issue soon.
While any sort of hype or attention for Hatoful Boyfriend has long since died out, I genuinely doubt that the game has managed to achieve absolutely zero sales over the course of two years, as it’s still a game that is brought up and streamed albeit infrequently.
So once again it reiterates that it’s extremely unlikely that Hatoful Boyfriend has managed to accumulate zero sales even on a storefront service as unpopular as the Epic Game store over a two year period.
If you’re particularly interested the game remains available for purchase on Steam.
