Having been pulled from sale almost five months ago to the day, dating simulator Boyfriend Maker has made a return to the App Store albeit with some notable changes.
Now named Boyfriend Plus, the game originally attracted press attention when players encountered both violent and sexually explicit responses while using its chat mode.
PocketGamer.biz witnessed the game's 'boyfriend' discussing everything from carrying out sexual acts designed to hurt the player to references of sexual activity with unconscious children.
The frequent nature of such responses was made all the more alarming by the fact Boyfriend Maker originally came with a 4+ age rating.
A second chance
Now, however, it appears developer 36You has cleaned up its act.
The new app, Boyfriend Plus, sports a more fleshed out form, with activities other than chatting to your boyfriend such as buying him clothes, or "flirting" with him by patting or, indeed, petting now sporting equal billing from the get go.
Old and new: The original game, and the new release
More important changes, however, include the app's 12+ age rating, and the ability to report what the game describes as "evil" responses made by your boyfriend in the game's chat mode.
Before the player is even allowed to enter said chat mode, they have to agree to a disclaimer that deems them responsible for all questions they ask.
A further pop up informs them of the ability to flag any inappropriate responses, which removes them from the game entirely.
Asking questions that the game considers 'adult' drain's the boyfriend's energy.
String too many together and the chat comes to a close, greatly reducing the chance of the player encountering a sexually explicit response.
Keeping it clean
During our brief play test, we came across only one reply that could be described as 'adult', which we flagged using the game's new reporting tools.
More importantly, asking entirely innocent questions which, in the game's former guise, often triggered alarming replies now appears to generate equally clean responses.
Though the game uses the same SimSimi API in its chat mode, its deployment appears to have been altered to filter out the vast majority of its adult responses.
Neither developer 36You nor Apple ever publicly responded to the allegations made about Boyfriend Maker either before or after it was pulled.
Indeed, it's not clear whether the game's Boyfriend Plus rebrand is an attempt by 36You to distance the game from its previous exploits, or whether it merely forms part of an intended shift in the title's structure.
What is certain, however, is that a large portion of players will put Boyfriend Plus' chat mode to the test, with the results likely to be spread across the web across the coming days.
News
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font.
Top Stories
News
6 hours, 4 minutes ago
App Store developers can start nominating their games for featuring later this year
News
7 hours, 19 minutes ago
Apple joins generative AI revolution with Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT support
News
12 hours, 17 minutes ago
Royal Match takes a sweet lead over Candy Crush as Honkai: Star Rail zooms by Genshin Impact
News
Jun 10th, 2024
Devsisters’ Chris O’Kelly talks upselling IP to fans across multiple games without cannibalization
Feature
Jun 10th, 2024
Hot Five: Squad Busters’ supercharged launch, Pokémon’s record revenue, and Star Wars: Hunters finally hits the target
Events
Tribeca Games Festival 2024 | North America | Jun 5th |
Steam Next Fest: June 2024 Edition | Jun 10th | |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
GamesForum Hamburg 2024 | Europe | Jun 11th |
ESI London 2024 | Europe | Jun 13th |
Game Con Canada (GCC) 2024 | North America | Jun 14th |
Indie Dev Play 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |