History Main / RatedMForMoney

* While not as in-your-face as most examples, a good chunk of visual novels are {{Eroge}} even when sex isn't the main focal point the story. This is done mainly because they tend to sell better among players, and tend to be outsourced if it's not involved with the plot, which it rarely is. Incidentally, this trope becomes inverted if the game sells well enough that an all-ages version is made.

The larger amount of hype M-rated games tend to get than E, E10+ or T rated games can probably be attributed to the ongoing public perception that [[DiscreditedTrope Video Games are for kids]]. Granted, this perception has significantly diminished since [[UsefulNotes/TheFifthGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames the mid to late 90's]], but it's still prevalent enough (mostly among MoralGuardians and [[MediaWatchdog Media Watchdogs]]) to cause quite a stir with the gaming community. Thus, it makes sense that many would perceive M-rated games as the key to breaking video games free of this stereotype and, thus, gaining them more respect as an entertainment medium. However, many of these games still contain vulgar and/or over-the-top humor that brings them down to a "drunk" level of maturity.

# Family-friendly video game series and genres that were once popular in previous decades seeing a resurgence in popularity thanks in large part to online vendors such as Xbox 360's UsefulNotes/XboxLiveArcade, the Wii's UsefulNotes/VirtualConsole, alongside remakes, [[CompilationRerelease Compilation Rereleases]], and [[MilestoneCelebration Milestone Celebrations]].

Compare AvoidTheDreadedGRating and AmericanKirbyIsHardcore. While there are no direct ties between this and RatedMForManly, it's not uncommon to see an "attempt" at both tropes employed at the same time (since manly men will swear, shoot people in the face, and bankroll big sales figures as a result). Note the emphasis on the "attempt" as the fixation on DarkerAndEdgier and "sex and violence" has increasingly been associated with [[ManChild immaturity]]. Also see AnimatedShockComedy and ExploitationFilm, which pile on shock value to increase age ratings. For comics, this frequently happened in UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks.

* ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' was "Rated X by an all-white jury." The X rating in this case was a default judgment by the MPAA since Van Peebles couldn't afford to submit the film for a proper rating. (That the MPAA allowed the "X" to appear on films it never reviewed explains why it became synonymous with pornography, since once the MPAA realized they could not claim it as a trademark they stopped using it as an official rating and now like to pretend that it never was one. [[note]][[TooDumbToLive This is not exactly what they'd intended when they deliberately neglected to trademark the X rating]]. They were hoping for edgy, boundary-pushing content like ''Film/MidnightCowboy'', which would be the only X-rated film in history to win a Best Picture Oscar. Not wanting to waste everyone's time and money in reviewing films that would merit an X anyway, the [=MPAA=] intentionally left it free for filmmakers to self-apply. This decision backfired on them hard, as before the decade of TheSeventies was out, X-rated was synonymous with porn. Hence the NC-17 rating, which has fared little better outside of being trademarked.[[/note]])

# The enormous success of relatively family-friendly gaming consoles like the Platform/NintendoWii, Platform/NintendoDS (it had a total of 11 M-rated games despite having 673 games officially released in North America, which is about 1.6% of the entire DS library in the continent)), Platform/Nintendo3DS and Platform/NintendoSwitch.

* HBO's ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Anyone who has read [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire the source material]] knows what to expect, yet HBO somehow managed to add in ''more'' sex and nudity than what was in the book. (That said, the sexual content of the series actually decreases as it progresses, and in fact the show's most controversial sexual scene--[[spoiler: the rape of Sansa Stark in Season 5]]--takes place completely off screen). Ditto with the SpinOff ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon''.

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# The enormous success of relatively family-friendly gaming consoles like the UsefulNotes/NintendoWii, UsefulNotes/NintendoDS (it had a total of 11 M-rated games despite having 673 games officially released in North America, which is about 1.6% of the entire DS library in the continent)), UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch.

# [[VindicatedByHistory Critical reappraisal]] of games that were once criticized for averting this trope, in particular ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'' and much of the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube library.

# The general consensus that gratuitous sex, violence, profanity, and other taboo in a work are actually signs of immaturity and adolescent mentality. Admittedly, prior to adulthood, it was like ForbiddenFruit, but becomes banal after you've grown up to appreciate more sophistication and substance over style. Hence the common sentiment: [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny "We all thought it was the coolest thing back when we were 13"]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke'' was widely criticized for this. Based on a [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke comic book]] that was infamous for its boundary-pushing violence and sexual content in the 1980s (but is generally regarded as [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny fairly tame by today's standards]]), the creative team behind the film heavily advertised the fact that it would be rated "R", as if to assure adult fans that they wouldn't be toning down the racier aspects of the source material. But upon actually seeing it, many people noted that the filmmakers went out of their way to justify the R rating by ''adding'' racy content that wasn't present in the source material, most of which struck fans and critics as gratuitous (like adding profanity to lines quoted from the comic that didn't have any originally). Most controversially, the film adds in a subplot involving a sexual relationship between Batman and Batgirl, which (considering their age difference and power dynamic) was near-universally viewed as unintentionally creepy.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke'' was widely criticized for this. Based on a [[ComicBook/TheKillingJoke comic book]] that was infamous for its boundary-pushing violence and sexual content in the 1980s (but is generally regarded as [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny fairly tame by today's standards]]), the creative team behind the film heavily advertised the fact that it would be rated "R", as if to assure adult fans that they wouldn't be toning down the racier aspects of the source material. But upon actually seeing it, many people noted that the filmmakers went out of their way to justify the R rating by ''adding'' racy content that wasn't present in the source material, most of which struck fans and critics as gratuitous (like adding profanity to the Joker's dialogue). Most controversially: the film adds an entire subplot involving a sexual relationship between Batman and Batgirl, which (considering their age difference and power dynamic) was near-universally viewed as unintentionally creepy.

* ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' was "Rated X by an all-white jury." The X rating in this case was a default judgment by the MPAA since Van Peebles couldn't afford to submit the film for a proper rating. (That the MPAA allowed the "X" to appear on films it never reviewed explains why it became essentially synonymous with pornography, since once the MPAA realized they could not claim it as a trademark they stopped using it as an official rating and now like to pretend that it never was one. [[note]][[TooDumbToLive This is not exactly what they'd intended when they deliberately neglected to trademark the X rating]]. They were hoping for edgy, boundary-pushing content like ''Film/MidnightCowboy'', which would be the only X-rated film in history to win a Best Picture Oscar. Not wanting to waste everyone's time and money in reviewing films that would merit an X anyway, the [=MPAA=] intentionally left it free for filmmakers to self-apply. This decision backfired on them hard, as before the decade of TheSeventies was out, X-rated was synonymous with porn. Hence the NC-17 rating, which has fared little better outside of being trademarked.[[/note]])

Complicating the issue is the rise of games with sex scenes (sometimes plot-related, often not) and other mature non-violent content such as language that superficially ''appear'' to be put in for "M for Money" reasons, but are actually there because of the game-makers' desire to reflect the current state of popular films and TV shows, many with large teen fanbases, which have become more sexually explicit. Defenders of games such as ''Witcher III'' which contain nudity and love scenes have said that people expect to see such scenes in TV shows and films so they expect to see them in games, too. Defenders also point out the perceived hypocrisy of people having no problem with scenes of extreme violence, yet having issues with sexual content and language.