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LittleRose

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Was the demise of the original Sierra On-Line inevitable?

Total Posts: 67

Joined 2014-08-20

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Cliff notes for those who aren’t aware of Sierra On-Line’s history:

1979- Sierra is founded by Ken and Roberta Williams as On-Line Systems.
1980- Mystery House is their first game; it is a smash hit, and is considered the first graphic adventure.

1982-1983 - Sierra is a wild den of parties, drinking, drugs and wild sex. It’s not so much a company as a family. All the developers live within close proximity of one another as the company is located in the tiny town of Oakhurst, CA. Ken Williams, CEO of the company, brings in a former boss from a previous company, Dick Sunderland, to run the company. Under Sunderland, Sierra is nearly wiped out in the video game crash of 1983 as they’d begun investing in cartridge games at the wrong time. Sunderland is ousted, Ken regains control and Sierra never again seriously enters into console gaming.

1984 - King’s Quest is released and is a mega hit and saves Sierra. Sierra, because of the debt during the ‘83 Crisis, was largely owned by venture capitalists. The success of KQ1 allows Sierra to shake off the capitalists and become fully independent.

1985-1988 - The KQ series continues to great success, and the Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and other franchises follow in it’s wake, and designers such as Lori and Cori Cole, Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe, and Al Lowe, all work for the company at this time.

1988- Sierra becomes a publicly traded company on NASDAQ

1990 - At a meeting with Bill Gates, Ken offers to sell Sierra to Microsoft to ensure Sierra enduring as a brand. Gates declines, but they have a deep discussion about the direction of the game industry. After this meeting, Ken decides that the key to Sierra’s long term survival is diversifying their product line, growing the company by acquisitions, phasing out adventure games slowly, and expanding their product line beyond entertainment software.

As a result, in 1990, Sierra buys Dynamix, a computer known for their deeper adventure games and their simulator games.

In November 1990, King’s Quest V is released and is a massive success. It is one of the first games to sell over 1 million copies and becomes the highest selling video game of all time from 1990 through 1995.

1991- A merger is announced between Sierra and Broderbund, two of the industry’s biggest players. Sierra will technically be buying Broderbund, but legally it will be a merger. The deal falls through after a month of negotiations as no clear post-merger management sturcture is reached. Broderbund goes on to publish the gigantic hit, Myst, which is the best selling game of all time from 1995 to 2003.

1992- Ken Williams, after seeing a demo of Castle Wolfenstein, attempts to buy id Software. He has a meeting with the heads of id and comes very close to acquiring the company. However, they try to bluff him by demanding a large amount of money up front, and the deal collapses. id go on to produce Doom in 1993, which revolutionizes the game industry.

Sierra makes their second acquisition, of Bright Star Technology, located in Bellevue, WA. Bright Star is known and bought for their state of the art lip-synching technology.

1993 - Sierra makes their third acqusition of Coktel Vision, a French based developer of quirky adventure game and educational software, which expands Sierra into Europe and into the then popular market of educational software.

1994 - In a move to acquire new senior managerial talent and attract a wider pool of developers, Sierra’s headquarters moves from Oakhurst, CA to Bellevue, WA. Many Sierra alumni see this move as ripping apart the soul of the company; by all accounts, Sierra is never the same and ‘the suits’ begin moving in.

Sierra hires Michael Brochu to be their CFO and guide their corporate strategy

1995 - Sierra buys several studios this year, under the direction of Michael Brochu, to grow the company and diversify their product line up:

Green Thumb Software - A maker of gardening and home improvement software
Impressions Games - known for their NASCAR series of racing games

Papyrus Design Group - Known for their simulation games

Arion Software - owners of Print Artist, a home printing and card making software program.

SubLogic - a developer of simulation games

Sierra and Pioneer Electric also sign a partnership to create an encyclopedia, and Sierra signs contracts with Japanese game design companies, further expanding Sierra’s reach.

In October 1995, CFO Mike Brochu is promoted to COO of the company. Ken Williams remains CEO and Chairman of the Board, but wants to focus more on product and less on paper work, so Brochu runs Sierra day to day while Williams remains in control.

Sierra’s stock prices soar dramatically as the company’s revenue increases. By 1995, Sierra is the market share leader in PC Gaming and the best known name in the business. Microsoft and EA are considered their only real competition.

 

 

 

     
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Great job, there. Love how you put it.

at the end I think what happened to Sierra was not bad and needn’t to change, I never wanted to see a great company like Sierra, struggling with today undefined adventure gaming scene, people who had created the rules of the genre were better off and away, than to compete with others whom their job was to top Sierra’s with cream and sugar. Smile

     
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Total Posts: 3200

Joined 2007-01-04

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In America, adventure games were on the decline while at the same time - in Europe amazing adventure games like “The Longest Journey” were starting to see publication.

I played GK3 - then TLJ and you could almost feel the passing of the torch.

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I enjoy playing adventure games on my Alienware M17 r4 and my Nintendo Switch OLED.

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Joined 2013-03-14

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I think the fall of Sierra could have been avoided in some extent. It was mostly caused by wrong people in the wrong roles after Williams’s were froced out from the business. Sierra adventures would still have fallen in the margins, but had there been non-fraudilent business men in the helm, Sierra would propably have lasted to this day.

     
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Joined 2013-03-31

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Haven’t you heard?  “Sierra” is back!  Wink

     
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Total Posts: 131

Joined 2014-04-11

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tomimt - 26 August 2014 12:45 AM

I think the fall of Sierra could have been avoided in some extent. It was mostly caused by wrong people in the wrong roles after Williams’s were froced out from the business. Sierra adventures would still have fallen in the margins, but had there been non-fraudilent business men in the helm, Sierra would propably have lasted to this day.

I think you’re right. Ken Williams has talked about this. The demise was not inevitable, but was the fault of some incompetent, dishonest people.

Anyway, I’m very happy that classic Sierra series may now be revisited in an official capacity.

     
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Total Posts: 990

Joined 2009-05-08

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If Sierra had survived onto today it would still not be the kind of company you’d like it to be in respect to point-and-click adventures. Ken Williams saw the writing on the wall for that genre prior to being forced out of the company if you remember Quest for Glory V’s development. At the end of his tenure, Ken was bringing in more action-oriented IP like Half-Life! Although, I do think Ken would have had the good sense to give us Leisure Suit Larry 8 and give a desperate little boy some closure over that bloody Larry 7 ending.

Look at Activision though. That company is a survivor but has gone through so many shifts in styles. It began as a development house for quirky and extremely addictive Atari games going on to multimedia-heavy PC gaming in the ‘90s and then popularising yearly game releases during Kotick’s tenure.

It’s now backing an indie label called Sierra while looking to expand into film with recent buzz that it is interested in Take-Two Interactive and a GTA movie: http://news.investors.com/082914-715340-ttwo-subject-of-takeover-talk-by-atvi.htm?ven=yahoocp&src=aurlled&ven=yahoo

And it’s going to change again when console gaming as we know it collapses all together and premium priced cloud apps become a thing.

Maybe Sierra got off light by going under. I was really happy when I heard LucasArts closed down and was later sold to Disney. Lo and behold, we’re getting an updated Grim Fandango out of the deal!

     
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thejobloshow - 30 August 2014 02:58 AM

give a desperate little boy some closure over that bloody Larry 7 ending.

Sorry for the off-topic, but could you maybe refresh my memory a bit? I thought Larry got the girl (the captain) at the end and all was well?
I mean, isn’t that the sole purpose of a Larry game?
What am I missing, or what have I forgotten?

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Joined 2009-05-08

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Happens at the end of the credits: http://imgur.com/vAy7HDw

     
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Joined 2004-01-05

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TimovieMan - 30 August 2014 04:04 AM
thejobloshow - 30 August 2014 02:58 AM

give a desperate little boy some closure over that bloody Larry 7 ending.

Sorry for the off-topic, but could you maybe refresh my memory a bit? I thought Larry got the girl (the captain) at the end and all was well?
I mean, isn’t that the sole purpose of a Larry game?
What am I missing, or what have I forgotten?

 

Larry explores Uranus!!

     

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