Don't know what you want me to see there and how it proves your point.
See this:
That topic doesn't really prove the point about how many are on one side of the spectrum versus how many are on the other...
Not that I'm a fan of the shift in tone that I'll have to see for myself when pre-release versions become available, but I have a feeling that it's past the point where they would change the art style without a massive community backlash.
That's why a Saturation Slider would be perfect. It's rather easy to implement, they don't have to fight the "mature"(tm) community and everyone can customize the color palette to his liking. Just turning up the colors to something more happy without relying on injectors and mods would be great.
Bottom line is that you can't please everybody, and it comes down to what audience they're addressing most. If they stayed safe, they'd probably be left with just their core audience, while if they try some new approaches, they may risk losing a bit of their core audience, but stand to gain a new audience.
But doing a complete 180° turn is wrong too and feels like a backstab to your fans. Look at other games who sold out for new "audiences". C&C, ME, X, Sacred... Some of them more sucessful, others losing everything their franchise was loved for.
Slight changes are okay but completely throwing out a big part of the original game would be a little bit too much. I really hope they found a middle-way between edgy grimderp and happy athmosphere. The Witcher is an enjoyable example for that kind of a "mature"(tm) setting.
