Genital Jousting

Lore & Background

Genital Jousting was made available through the Steam Early Access program on November 17, 2016. Though described as 'extraordinarily juvenile', the game was designed in part to deliver a sex-positive message to an audience that might not otherwise encounter it. The studio stated in its developer blog that heterosexual men are socialized not to discuss how they feel about anal sex or penises touching each other, and wrote: 'we were highly motivated by the fact that Genital Jousting gave us a vehicle to have those discussions amongst ourselves.' Greenwood told The Sunday Times that 'at heart, the game is a play on masculinity, an attempt to disrupt entrenched notions of male power and authority.' The game would not be allowed on major console platforms such as Xbox or PlayStation. When Genital Jousting was banned from livestreaming service Twitch, Nigel Lowrie of Devolver Digital contacted Steam to see if the game could be livestreamed through the platform's internal broadcasting system, making it the first game broadcast via Steam's live streaming feature.

Reader's Guide

Genital Jousting received 'mixed or average' reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic. The multiplayer was regarded as the core of the game and fun until the joke starts to wear thin. The story mode was deemed surprisingly emotional but too short. CGMagazine described the story's handling of the aftermath of a sexual assault as 'problematic'. Hardcore Gamer said the gameplay in story mode is so different to multiplayer that 'there's a rather huge disconnect between both halves of the game and it just leaves things feeling awkward.' The game's significance lies in its deliberate use of juvenile humor to address themes of masculinity and sexuality, and its role in testing platform policies on explicit content, becoming the first game streamed via Steam's broadcasting system after a Twitch ban.

Did You Know?

• The game was banned from the livestreaming service Twitch.
• It was made available through Steam Early Access on November 17, 2016.
• The story mode follows John, a working man looking for a date for his high school reunion.