Hello All,

I have recently been entertaining the idea that the gaming industry has blurred the line between cause and effect over the so-called demise of the adventure genre. The rationale goes like this - that games cost a fortune to produce - so producers go for the ones that will make the most money - so the more esoteric genres like adventure miss out.

So here's the question. Is the adventure market in decline - or has it become so undersupplied that it merely looks as though it's declining?

Part 1: Is the problem simply that there are not enough new adventures on offer?
Part 2: Would you buy more adventures than you do now if more new ones were to appear?

Interested to read your views.

Regards

Noel Bruton
Game Engineering
Arberth Studios
BTW important news about 'Rhiannon' imminent - I'll let you know when it's official

An interesting question. According to the PAGODA game database, there were 37 adventure games released last year, about 3 per month. I played 25 of them (though I didn't finish all 25). I felt that this kept me pretty busy.

If 45 adventure games had released last year, would I have played more? I don't think so. But I know that there are other adventure gamers who play games faster than I do, and lack of supply may affect them more.

I think that, for awhile, adventure gaming has had more trouble finding a chunk of its audience -- older gamers and female gamers. This demographic was a bit slower to experience the joys of hardcore gaming than the young male demographic, which adopted the new hobby of gaming and embraced it. This does appear to be changing now, though, with the increasing "buzz" about casual games and the varied gamers who are starting to buy them.

One tremendous advantage that older gamers and female gamers have at the moment is that as a group they are generally willing to purchase PC games rather than download them illegally, so the developers and publishers can make a living out of creating games for these gamers.

I would .I cant help myself .If there is a game I want I will stay in and save .I dont smoke I only have one or 2 nights out a week and I let hubby pay for that .I rarely spend money on makeup or cloths .My kids although grown up I spend quite a bit .Grand children mainly .I have 3 and only see them once a year .I think I have taught them well .They have an healthy respect for money and some times buy me games .I am in the house a lot as my daughter is dissabled and these games take me away if you know what I mean so yes if they are out there and I like the look of them .Cant have enough games is what I say .

All I can say is, that I would go bankrupt, if more adventure games were available
Only kidding, but I'm sure I would use less on other stuff, so I can buy more games...
What can I say? I'm an avid collector.

Hi, noelbruton

I don't think the Adventure market is in decline..I feel it has gotten bigger these past few years

There is more & more Indie developers also

I am an addicted adventure game player...I Have to Have almost every new game that comes out
I always find a way to get the money...If I can't then I will wait to BaaG it on a trade...

Undersupplied ??? "YES" We need more ,more & more

How many of us have walked into the local multi national store and found NOTHING to spend our hard earned cash on. I agree that the average adventure gamer is older and often female,which quite often is the consumer with more disposible income to spare. The developers are missing out big time!

I want every adventure game I can get my hands on as long as there are no "action" scenes.

I played my first adventure game on an Apple + (too many years ago to count), and have been hooked ever since.

My complaint is I never see most of them in a store and can only find out about them from sites such as GB. Don't know what I did before these forums. Missed so many games out there.

So bring them on, the more the better.

I know I would buy more if I could find the games. It seems to be harder to find the games I want to play anymore. I know that one store in particular, when looking for a certain game, was only getting 2-3 copies of it whenever it came in. Another store, I don't even go to anymore, it is a waste of time. No games that I like there. Another store has a good section of adventure games, but not always there right after the release date. I read here about games that are out or coming out soon, and look for them, only to not find them at all or for a seemingly long time. I have ordered from Interact and it seems to be about the best way to get a certain game anymore.

That said, I just wish that when games come out at the amount that is produced now (or more, that would be GREAT!), it would be on the shelves at the stores that carry games, and in more quanity that just the first 2 or 3 people there get to buy the game.

Koalanut

Hi

Part 1: Is the problem simply that there are not enough new adventures on offer?

My feeling is that the number of adventure games on offer is on the increase - mainly because more independent developers are willing to produce them

Part 2: Would you buy more adventures than you do now if more new ones were to appear?

Yes. Providing they ARE adventures and not some action hybrid

Whilst adventure games may no longer rule the market they do still have a market and to my mind this myth about the "death of adventure games" is getting very stale !!

Cheers.

Mad

All

Let me clarify that I agree totally that Adventure Games are not dead - on the contrary, at least one factor is going to make them increase and that, I submit, is that the more cerebral player may desire a less reflexes-based gaming experience, shall we say, as he or she advances in years? And we're all doing that.

Practically, I had better be right about Adventure Game futures because I'm planning on building a career arm out of it!

One more thing - many of you have mentioned stores - here in the UK, I would never dream of going to a shop to buy an adventure game - got to be mail order as the shops simply don't have the shelf space among all the sims and FPS and tie-ins etc. But is it true that in North America one still tends to buy from stores?

It depends on the stores. You can find a pretty good selection of the latest adventure releases at some of the large electronics stores like Best Buy.

Smaller, boutique game shops are more hit and miss, but some do still carry a few adventure titles. I have several local Gamestop stores, and a couple of them carry no adventures, but a couple of the others have a decent selection.

Often large stores like Target and Walmart will carry a few adventure releases, as well as a few adventure discounted (jewel case) re-releases.

I don't buy from retail stores at all, as I live 45 miles away from the nearest mall/shops/computer stores. I do all my ordering online and it is wonderful having someone deliver them directly to my door.

And, I would most probably buy more adventure games if there were more, providing they were good.

Hi noelbruton,

For me there have been enough new adventures produced particularly over the last few years - more than I have time to play, but I do work full-time. I buy most of them anyway!

I'm not sure I could afford to buy more if more were available & would probably have to start being a little more selective!

With the rise in popularity of casual games & many of them beginning to incorporate some AG elements I tend to think that more players may be tempted to try full AGs.

If I wanted to sell more AGs, I would be thinking about ways in which I could reach more people who may be interested but know nothing about them.

Taking into account the majority of buyers are female and/or more mature players, articles & advertising via publications those groups of people tend to read may be a good way.

It has been proved that AGs can help to keep 'older' minds active & can also be a stimulating form of entertainment for anyone that is or has become disabled.

Good Luck with the Adventure gaming business..

I am rooting for you..

To the question - Part 2: Would you buy more adventures than you do now if more new ones were to appear?

I almost certainly would buy more since I have normally the time to play some more, I haven't bought all that appeared but I only buy the ones I think I'd like, I download almost every demo available and decide from that and reviews published. The demos I don't even download are from series I know I don't like.

I'd say the decline happened many years ago. It began to be obvious around 1996 or 1997 but may actually have started a few years before. In recent years there has been an increase in the number of commercial adventure games being published.


They may be being published, but they aren't finding their way to retail shops. Not in every part of the country anyway. If I go to a local game shop, the chances of me finding an adventure game are less than 5%. Other shops where I hear people find adventure games, like Walmart and Target, simply don't have them where I live. It is fine for me to shop online, but it's no way to attract new adventure gamers. No impulse purchases if it's not on the shelf. Out of sight, out of mind.


If the games seemed to be of a type I would enjoy, then yes I'd buy more. But I don't want to spend time and money on something I'm not going to enjoy. I've done this a few times in the past, most recently spending $40 on the depressing and bug-ridden game "Paradise," and each time I say to myself, "never again."

The problem for me is not the amount of adventure games being produced, for the most part, but the quality. I'm not necessarily expecting big budget productions in this scaled down era of adventure gaming, but I still would like to see a few games a year that really interest me, rather than the mostly mediocre games we're getting these days. I'm tired of seeing new games that are somewhat entertaining to play through, but ultimately aren't particularly memorable.

That's a bit of loaded question, so here's a very loaded answer.

To tell the truth, if there were more adventure games, then I'll end up buying the ones that provide demos, that I tried, and that fits within my budget. Right now the numbers are still manageable so I can afford to be a collector. I'm afraid that if there were more I'll have to wait for a number of them to come out in online portals like bigfishgames.

On the other hand, I'm a rarity in my demographic. I'm woman in her 20's who enjoy adventure games - this age group is dominated by FPS / RPG / MMORPG players (ok, mostly MMORPG players). I've tried recommending adventure games to people around my age but is often met with the expression "I don't have the patience for that kind of thing" when I describe the typical adventure mechanic of exploration and puzzle solving.

My stepson asks "do we hit things in it?" "sometimes" "do we break things in it?" "sometimes" "do we kill stuff in it?" "pretty much never" and he says "well, that's stupid." He's 12. :| But he's happily playing Lego Indy, which I consider an adventure game.

So the question is not quite are "adventure games in decline" but whether the number of people who enjoy playing these games are in decline. There is also the question of how we should re-categorize the genre and accepting more games in the scope of traditional adventure games. For example, one of the most popular game on the Gamecube was a fun little gem called "Animal Crossing" which was a series of non-violent events, tasks, collection games with animals sending mail to each other. Adventure? Maybe. The Lego games are all about exploration and mechanical puzzles, with some action thrown in (but you can't die).

As lines between genres are blurred, there will be less and less "pure" adventure games, be it 1st or 3rd person. If we look at the other genres this way, ALL the pure genre games are in decline. There aren't any FPS's that are JUST about shooting things anymore, nor are there RPGs that are just about leveling up and fighting monsters. Characters in FPSes are leveling up and doing mechanical puzzles as well as exploring their landscape while uncovering great stories.

In other words, the value of "adventure" is FAR from declining. Casual games like Azada, Women's Murder Club and Dream Chronicles are taking the old adventure game ideas and making them more accessible, while games like Half-Life 2 and Lego Indy / Star Wars take their story and puzzling seriously - just like adventure games do.

Wow - according to Pagoda database, there have only been 11 new games released so far this year - Is this correct??

I agree with noelbruton - I come from Jersey (UK) and I would never ever dream of going to a store for Adventure games (well maybe HMV once in a blue moon) - But, yes, I try to buy every single pure Adventure game that is released, if I can find it.

Play.com in the UK is wising up to adventure games now - and I use interact a lot. You hardly ever see an adventure in a store.
Shoppity shop !

I have bought every Sherlock Holmes that Frogware has released - over the internet. I have also bought some other older adventure game titles over the net.

Jack Keane, Nostradamus and Secrets of Da vinci: The forbidden manuscript, I did buy in an EB Games/Gamestop store near me; I also bought Agon: The lost sword of Toledo there.

I don't know if I would buy more adventure games if more adventure games were released. (my bank certainly wouldn't recommend it...) I tend to buy adventure games that has a story as I am not that fond of adventure games in which you only solve puzzles such as Schizm, Aura etc. It is just my taste in adventure games; others may like games like Aura, Scizm etc. - and that's OK with me.

Sally(MG) - maybe your stepson would like to play Dreamfall, you both kill and break stuff in it, I think. At least you fight a little..

edit:

I would consider Overclocked as an adventure game, other might not, though, since you do indeed perform some action things in it.

Rosaboobie -- there are four recent releases that haven't found their way into the database yet -- Sherlock: Nemesis, Art of Murder, Dracula: Origin and Belief & Betrayal. So, for 2008, there have been 15 adventure releases.

There are always a perfect storm of releases in the early fall up until Christmas, so the pace will pick up then.

Not that I am a serial shoppity shopper but I have all those 4, Becky. And Perry Rhodan too.And Jack Keane. The next Nancy is preordered from Interact.
Shoppity shop.

Hi JennyP -- I am in awe.

I would buy more if 1. I had the extra cash and 2. the titles I wanted were actually available in the USA. The most frustrating thing I find is having to wait 6 months to a year or more for a particular game to actually arrive on our shelves.