[Sughly]

Originally Posted by dekaneas297

So Sughly what you are trying to say is that there is a favorable trend towards AGs?

If that's the case, you can't really tell. Amanita or Jacques l'aliéné may have hundreds or thousands contacts related to Machinarium (or any game), but if we don't have post-contact behavior data, it means nothing. It's like what happens in surveys where they ask you "Are you willing to try our X product?". Such a survey may gather thousands of "Yes" in the above question, but post data may never show it (sales). Also, even if post survey data show it, it may be for a short time. What I am saying is that in order to identify a trend you need two things: post data and large time scale.

Theoretically you may say anything about a trend but technically you can't say much because of lack of data. Personally and theoretically, I don't see a trend from non Adventure gamers in buying an AG or becoming a regular Adventure gamer. There may a trend in curiosity about AGs ("let's take a look what this is about"), but I think it's small, temporary and fluctuating over time.

Yeah that's fair enough, and I am basing a lot of this on presumptions that are based on little factual evidence, such as Machinarium selling out it's first run of retail copies on pre-order in Germany (thanks Fien), and quickly selling out in UK soon after (again, first print, though I don't know what these numbers were). Also, I'm basing it on the increased discussions around titles like Machinarium and Whispered World, and also Telltale games and the Ben & Dan series from people and places I didn't use to see it.

But your point remains true . I think it's true also that independent popularity isn't owned by the adventure genre, but it is also one that I think is benefiting from it more so than a lot of the others. And I'm just excited by this prospect - more adventures, and (seemingly) wider audiences for them, which of course can only be a good thing for the genre.