Sorry for the wait everyone! Things have been a little busier than usual here at the beginning of the year with our first Kickstarter running right now (among other things ;D). But we’ve heard your voices and without further ado: the 2018 licensing survey results!

Our results honestly have been surprisingly consistent for the last few years. We had over 9,000 responses this time, up a little from last year. Our audience has gotten a little older as well, with over 44% over 25 and only 51% in the 18-24 bracket (55% last year). We got fewer responses from women this year down to 25% from almost 30% last year, likely more of a sampling issue than anything considering the fluctuation over the past few years. One of our new questions this year was about non-English language usage. Perhaps unsurprisingly the most common non-English language used by our respondents was Japanese with 32% of users reporting some degree of fluency with the language. Spanish, German, and Russian were the most used non-English languages respectively.

More people have bought over 6 visual novels in the past year now at 37% of respondents (up from 33%), although the proportion bought directly from us was almost identical to last year (spookie!). Steam on the other hand solidify its popularity as a platform for consuming visual novels.

But enough about statistics, here’s what you’re all really here for, the top 20 licensing requests:

Rance Series A Kiss for the Petals Series ↑5 White Album 2 Fate/Stay Night ↑6 Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm ↑16 Sakura no Uta ↑13 Youkoso! Sukebe Elf no Mori e NEW! Diabolik Lovers Series ↓2 Soukou Akki Muramasa ↑15 Ken ga Kimi ↑14 Kotonoha Amrilato NEW! Mahotsukai no Yoru ↓8 Daiteitoku ↑19 Aiyoku no Eustia ↓4 Yoshiwara Higanbana NEW! Jooubachi no Oubou NEW! Bunny Black Series NEW! Amayui Castle Meister NEW! Shin Koihime Musou ↓17 DRAMAtical Murder

What stands out most this year from the top 20 is that four otome games/series have made it into the top 20. Rance retained the top spot with the A Kiss for the Petals series continuing strong, along with the appearance of another yuri title in the top 20.

If you gave us your email for the Sorcery Jokers drawing, check your email tonight to see if you got lucky! And come visit us at Anime Boston and Sakuracon this weekend if you’re in the area!