Sodapop, if you actually
care, then do your homework yourself. The numbers are out there, and they haven't been in dispute for 15 years. Myst is the top selling adventure of all time by a margin of
millions, and one of the top selling PC games of all time, period. You can be sure that its US sales played a huge part in that. And of course it's widely recognized as one of the most influential factors in popularizing the CD-ROM as new technology. If you want two links to start, then there's
Cyan's report of 12 million sold (Myst and Riven combined) or
Wikipedia's best seller list. Those are only a start, though. Plenty more where those came from.
None of this takes into account the sales of Myst 3-5, the recent re-release on PSP (the only adventure for that platform, yes?), or the upcoming Myst Online, either. The fact that this franchise is
still going strong should suggest something in this discussion.
I'm not a Myst fan myself, but arguing its popularity is laughable. Scoville said it perfectly. Myst is a phenomenon that reached far beyond the limited scope of the usual gaming crowd, much like The Sims does now (different genre, obviously).
