[2][4] The Hi-Res Adventure series continued with Mission Asteroid, which was released as Hi-Res Adventure #0 though being the second release. Mystery House was released through mail-order in May 1980. It was discontinued in 1999. This joint venture created a new company called Sierra Venture. Several Sierra-published games saw their online services shut down in October,[37] and the division as a whole defunct the same year. From Wikipedia: Sierra Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams. Based in Los Angeles, California, the company was last owned by Activision, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. In 2002 Sierra was renamed Sierra Entertainment. Meanwhile, Sierra announced another reorganization, this time into three business units: Core Games, Casual Entertainment, and Home Productivity. Leisure Suit Larry 6: Shape Up or Slip Out! The next few years proved to be difficult and the titles they released found only minor success ( Homeworld 2 ) if any at all. As of 2008, the company was merged into Activision and called Activision Blizzard. [6] The "Sierra" name was taken from the Sierra Nevada mountain range that Oakhurst was near, and its new logo incorporated the imagery of a mountain reflecting that. The merger was followed by many more layoffs of Sierra employees. After the sale, Ken Williams remained within the software division so that he could provide strategic guidance to Sierra, although he began to grow disillusioned as he soon found that his new titles at CUC meant very little and the software board met only once. In the summer of 2007, Sierra Online began launching Xbox Live Arcade titles for the Xbox 360. However, CUC International was caught in an accounting scandal in 1998, and many of the original founders of Sierra including the Williams left the company. During these events, CUC merged with Henry Silverman's HFS Incorporated in December 1997 and became the Cendant Corporation; the merger did not immediately affect operations of Sierra. Sierra's last owned studios Impressions Games and the Papyrus Design Group were both shut down in the spring of 2004, losing 50 jobs in the process; 180 Sierra-related positions were also eliminated at Vivendi's Los Angeles offices; and by June 2004, Vivendi had completely shut down Sierra's Bellevue location, which cost over 100 people their jobs and dispersed Sierra's work to other VU Games divisions, and re-locating the remains of Sierra's assets to Vivendi's corporate headquarters in Fresno, California. This decision caused all future games in the series (as well as newer releases of Hero's Quest I) to switch over to the new name. Add To Cart. In 1983, Sierra On-Line was contacted by IBM to create a game for the new PCjr. However, since Sierra Club already published a magazine called Sierra Magazine, the name of the magazine published by Sierra On-Line was changed to InterAction in 1991. 1991: Gobliins 2: The Prince Buffoon: Coktel Vision: Sierra Entertainment DotEmu: Gob: 10 February 1992. One of the first releases was the conversion of the successful "German-style" board game Carcassonne, which had been in development at Secret Lair Studios. (Update timer) Sierra Entertainment is a software label which publishes games from indie developers. A series of Leisure Suit Larry games followed. Bob Davidson, founder and CEO of Davidson & Associates became the CEO for the publishing body. Fallout from CUC's acquisition (1999–2003), Acquisition and closure under Vivendi Games (2004–2008), Brand name revival under Activision (2014–present), Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards, Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel, Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, "GameSpy Retro: Developer Origins, Page 17 of 19", "Under 1983 Christmas Tree, Expect the Home Computer", "How Sierra Was Captured, Then Killed, by a Massive Accounting Fraud", "Playing Catch-Up: Sierra Founder Ken Williams", https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/723612/0000950112-96-002113.txt, "CUC Agrees to Acquire Berkeley Systems Inc", "Activision-Vivendi merger leads to problems for Sierra Games", "Exactly how many studios has Activision actually closed this generation? It won several awards, such as the Best Adventure Game of the Year from both the Software Publishers Association and Computer Gaming World magazine. Brain series, Castle of Dr. [citation needed]. [8], The company weathered the video game crash of 1983 by seeing only a 20% increase in sales, after analysts in 1982 had predicted a doubling in 1983 of the entire software market. A new subsidiary called Sierra Online (no-relation to Sierra's former name Sierra On-Line) was also founded within this time, which focused on download games and online-only titles. [citation needed] 1995 also saw Sierra acquiring a number of development companies, both small home developers and larger companies. 25 November 2014: Gobliiins: Coktel Vision: Sierra Entertainment Coktel Vision DotEmu: Gob: 1992. In August 2001, Sierra announced a major reorganization, which included the closure of Dynamix as well as the layoffs of 148 employees located at the company headquarters in Bellevue.[33]. In 2003, Sierra Entertainment released the second video game adaptation of The Hobbit, as well as NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. Find vast selection, epic brands and teeny tiny prices on everything you need for running, hiking, yoga, biking, camping and more. Many of the former planned Vivendi/Sierra published games were sold on to other publishers. [41] "We're very proud of what we created all those years ago with Sierra On-Line, and today's news about carrying Sierra forward as an indie-specific brand is very encouraging," said founder Ken in an official statement. Ken and Roberta Williams accepted and started on the project. [13] Among the terms included that Ken Williams would be named a Vice-Chairman of CUC International, a Member of the Office of the President of CUC, and would remain responsible for Sierra's R&D as well as remaining Sierra's CEO. Pre-Order the game digitally and get access to the Crash Bandicoot™ 4 Demo, available on September 16, 2020*. UK-based game developer and publisher Codemasters, in an effort to establish themselves in the United States, announced the launch a new development studio in Oakhurst, using the abandoned Sierra facilities and hiring much of the Yosemite Entertainment's laid-off staff in mid-September 1999. A simplified version of The Dark Crystal, intended for a younger audience, was written by Al Lowe and released as Gelfling Adventure. Released to mostly mixed to negative reviews; Larry's creator, Lowe, was not involved with the project. 1 On-Line Systems 1.1 1980–1982 2 Sierra On-Line 2.1 1980–1983 2.2 1983–1993 2.3 1993–1998 2.4 1998–2000 2.5 Sub-Brands 2.6 2001–2002 3 Sierra Entertainment 3.1 2002–2008 3.2 2014–present (second incarnation) On-Line Systems also used the Sierra On-Line brand before officially changing to the Sierra name in 1982. Aliens versus Predator 2/Primal Hunt Predator: Concrete Jungle Aliens vs. Several sequels followed, and the series was touted for adherence to police protocol (relevant parts of which were explained in the games' manuals), and presenting some real-life situations encountered by Walls during his career as an officer. [23], In February 1996, early e-commerce pioneer CUC International, seeking to expand into interactive entertainment, offered to buy Sierra at a price of about $1.5 billion. In September 1999, they released Homeworld, a real-time space-combat strategy game developed by Relic Entertainment. The magazine was initially named The Sierra Newsletter, The Sierra News Magazine, and The Sierra/Dynamix Newsmagazine. Some games, such as the rebirth of the Leisure Suit Larry Series (without it's creator Al … They are based in Oakhurst California and later in Fresno California. After Dark Games (1998) by Sierra Entertainment. Sierra Entertainment, formerly known as On-Line Systems, is an American video game publisher based in Fresno, California. Sierra Entertainment was a computer game developer and publisher active from 1979 to 2008. "We look forward to seeing Sierra's independent spirit live on. [13] Ken accepted the offer, believing it was in the best interest for Sierra's future and stockholders, and CUC announced by the end of February 1996 that they were starting to close on acquiring both Sierra and Davidson for US$1.06 billion and US$1.14 billion in CUC stock, respectively; the deal to obtain LucasArts and Broderbund fell through.[13]. Publication date 1998 Topics after dark, computer games, windows 95, PC games, screensaver, game videos, video game preview Language English. About 250 people in total lost their jobs. Predator: Requiem Vivendi Games was absorbed into Activision after the merger and the ownership of Sierra properties went to Activision. [13] With the news, Cendant announced intention to sell the computer entertainment division, and on November 20, 1998, announced the sale of the consumer software division to Paris-based Havas S.A. Sierra became a part of Havas Interactive, the interactive entertainment division of the company. PyroTechnix; founded as Computer Presentation, acquired December 1997, and folded into Sierra in February 1999. [44], In August 2018, TJX Companies acquired the domain sierra.com from Activision. He had coded his wife Roberta's idea for a game, which eventually became Hi-Res Adventure #1: Mystery House. Read what Sierra Entertainment had to say at Metacritic.com He also began to have disputes with Davidson over Davidson's conservative management style and his disdain for Sierra's more risque product lines such as Phantasmagoria and Leisure Suit Larry.[26]. [35], On July 29, 2008, Activision dropped several planned Sierra games due for release that weren't a strong fit with its long-term strategy. In November, Ken Williams departed from CUC International, while Roberta Williams remained with Sierra until the release of King's Quest: Mask of Eternity in December 1998. purchased Books That Work and CUC International purchased Berkeley Systems and transferred management of the studio to Sierra as an internal developer. In 1987, Sierra On-Line started to publish its own gaming magazine, about its upcoming games and interviews with the developers. The Sierra label would not continue, Sierra's website was redirected to Activision's website. In mid-1984, King's Quest: Quest for the Crown was released to much acclaim, beginning the King's Quest series. Based in Los Angeles, California, the company was last owned by Activision, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Sierra Entertainment TIMESHIFT Ps3. Our Games With a renowned history, Sierra ™ continues with everything fans love. Add game Games (0 - 30 of 52) CUC Software utilized their various labels' market specialties; for example, in October 1996, Sierra published Stay Tooned!, an adventure game developed by Funnybone Interactive (a subsidiary of Davidson & Associates) as Sierra was more known as an adventure game publisher than Davidson. [13] However, Silverman, who served as CEO of Cendant, had become more involved with the bookkeeping of the merged companies and noticed irregularities from CUC's past bookkeeping, leading to the discovery of massive accounting fraud at CUC in March 1998; Forbes was later convicted on three charges related to fraud by the Security and Exchange Commission in 2007. Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Sierra On-Line) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams. Based in Los Angeles, California, the company was last owned by Activision, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Vivendi also ceased publishing under their own name by this point after their name change, with all major titles being released under the Sierra brand name. On November 24, 1997, Sierra published Diablo: Hellfire, the official expansion pack for the widely popular game Diablo developed by Synergistic Software, a division of Sierra. [32] With the exception of the warehouse and distribution department, the entire studio was shut down. [21] With $83.4 million in sales from software-publishing, earnings improved by 19 percent, and a net income of $11.9 million. Many of Sierra's most well known series began in the 1980s. Lucid Games: Sierra Entertainment Aspyr Media: 25 November 2014. Sierra was first founded by Ken Williams and Roberta Williams since then they have produced text advanture games in the early years 1980-1990. Sierra Entertainment was a former USA game development, publisher and distributor who published all Homeworld series games and currently own Homeworld licence. Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Sierra On-Line) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams. Sierra focuses on indie studios and innovative, graphically unique games … The game and subsequent sequels were critically acclaimed in the mainstream press at the time. Brochu, who had been hired in 1995 by Ken Williams, to handle the day-to-day business affairs of Sierra, replaced Ken Williams and remained as President of Sierra until October 1997, when he too departed the company. Dedicated to the history and products of Sierra On-Line Inc. In September 1996, CUC announced plans to consolidate some functions of their game companies into a single company called CUC Software Inc., headquartered in Torrance, California. 25 November 2014. The next release, Wizard and the Princess, also known as Adventure in Serenia, is considered a prelude to the later King's Quest series in both story and concept. Various titles that were retired in the process included Print Artist and titles like the Hoyle franchise were sold to other publishers or developers. ₦ 8,000. At this point, Sierra had seen modest revenues of about US$158 million in their current fiscal year, so the sum was surprising to Ken. It was an instant hit with about 15,000 copies sold, earning US$167,000 (equivalent to $518,199 in 2019). Sierra Gamers is the official website of Ken and Roberta Williams, founders of Sierra On-Line. During Late 2007, Sierra released titles like the First-person shooter game TimeShift (was originally going to be published by Atari, delayed various times during development) and the real-time tactical video game World in Conflict. In the spring of 2004, cost-cutting measures were taken at Sierra's parent company Vivendi Universal Games due to financial troubles and because of Sierra's lack of profitability as a working developer. Sierra Entertainment, Inc., more popularly known under their former name, Sierra On-Line, is an early game developer. [15] As a free service outside of access use charges, the network provided a "land-based" precursor to MMORPGs and internet chat rooms, each land theme for the type of content provided multi-player gaming and category based bulletin boards and chat rooms throughout the continental United States. Sierra's Adventure Game Interpreter engine, introduced with King's Quest, was replaced in 1988[11] with Sierra's Creative Interpreter in King's Quest IV. For the game, a complete development system called Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) was developed. With Ken's help in some of the programming, Roberta designed Mystery House, inspired by the novel And Then There Were None and the board game Clue, using text commands and printout combined with rudimentary graphics depicting the current setting.[2]. Leisure Suit Larry in the Land of the Lounge Lizards. [14] The network failed to find a mass audience, and was sold to America On-Line in 1996.[18][19]. The anticipation for the game was high at release in late 1995. Activision confirmed that the Sierra label will re-release some of their older games,[39] re-imagining their older franchises, as well as collaborate with indie studios to create new "innovative, edgy and graphically unique" projects. Development groups within Sierra such as PyroTechnix were shut down. In April 1997, to further expand upon their role in the edutainment business, Sierra. Lowe had just started work on Leisure Suit Larry 8. Sierra and Broderbund ended merger discussions in March 1991. Layoffs continued on March 1, when Sierra terminated 30 employees at the previously unaffected Dynamix, or 15 percent of their workforce. The game was released under both engines, so those who had newer computers could use the new engine and better rendering technology. ₦ 6,000. 23 March 2010. Sierra Entertianment is the division of Vivendi games famous for titles such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Empire Earth, Leisure Suit Larry, Ground Control and Tribes to name but a few. Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher. Sierra both developed its own games and published several games from its divisions and from third-party developers. Leisure Suit Larry 2: Looking for Love (In Several Wrong Places) (1988) Larry is marginally less of … Sierra Entertainment Inc. (formerly Sierra On-Line) was an American video-game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams. On-Line Systems was renamed Sierra On-Line in 1982, and they moved to Oakhurst, California. [7] By early 1984 InfoWorld estimated that Sierra was the world's 12th-largest microcomputer-software company, with $12.5 million in 1983 sales. Arion Software, acquired in 1995, absorbed into Sierra On-Line. Sierra Entertainment is an American video game developer and publisher. Also shut down was Yosemite Entertainment, the division occupying the original headquarters of Sierra On-Line. THIS many", "Geometry Wars and King's Quest return with revived Sierra label", "Geometry Wars 3, New King's Quest From Sierra Announced at Gamescom 2014", "Sierra's Coming Back With King's Quest, Geometry Wars", "Sierra is back – and so are Geometry Wars and King's Quest", "Sierra is back! Her game concept includes animated color graphics, a pseudo 3D-perspective where the main character is visible on the screen, a more competent text parser that understands advanced commands from the player, and music playing in the background through the PCjr sound hardware. Mystery House became the first of their Hi-Res Adventure series. Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Sierra On-Line) was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams. The Sierra division continued to operate through Vivendi Games' merger with Activision to form Activision Blizzard on July 10, 2008, but was shut down later that year. Ken, a programmer for IBM, had planned to use the company to create business software for the TRS-80 and Apple II. Learn about Sierra Entertainment, and find games, reviews, previews, cheats and more for games by Sierra Entertainment at GameSpot. Sierra's original location in Oakhurst continued as an internal development studio for the company and was later renamed Yosemite Entertainment. Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and publisher. TJX subsequently shortened the name of "Sierra Trading Post" to Sierra.[45]. They may take a few minutes to load on slower connections. Despite the layoffs, Sierra continued to publish games for smaller development houses. I'm not moving until I understand the market better."[9]. The company is known for its graphical adventure game series King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry, and Quest for Glory. Sierra's acquisition closed on July 24, 1996. Sierra Entertianment is the division of Vivendi games famous for titles such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Empire Earth, Leisure Suit Larry, Ground Control and Tribes to name but a few. [1][2] Ken had brought a teletype terminal home one day in 1979, and while looking through the host system's catalog of programs, discovered the text adventure Colossal Cave Adventure. [10] IBM offered to fund the entire development and marketing of the game, paying royalties. Sierra was the market-share leader in PC games for the year. In 1993, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers was released, beginning the Gabriel Knight series. Free Shipping on $89+ orders. The fifth logo of game developer and publisher, Sierra Entertainment. Read More. This page was last edited on 10 February 2021, at 13:36. 25%. Shatter Time and Space with new gameplay! Books That Work; acquired in April 1997, folded into Sierra in February 1999. Sierra remained as part of CUC Software as it was sold and renamed several times over the next few years; Sierra was formally disestablished as a company and reformed as a division of this group in August 2004. Milton Bradley successfully trademarked an electronic version of their unrelated joint Games Workshop board game, HeroQuest, which forced Sierra to change the series' title to Quest for Glory. Swordfish Studios was sold to Codemasters. Quest for Glory is a series of hybrid adventure/role-playing video games designed by Corey and Lori Ann Cole. Please Note: Many of these pages contain larger PDF and graphics files. In November 1996, Ken Williams met with the founders of Valve and negotiated Sierra's exclusive rights to publish Half-Life,[25] which Ken Williams debuted at E3 in May 1997. Additional investment from public funding allowed the company to engage in further acquisitions over the next several years.[13]. This reorganization resulted in even more layoffs, eliminating 105 additional jobs and a number of games in production. [2] Dissatisfied with the text-only format, she realized that the graphics display capability of the Apple II could enhance the adventure gaming experience. Retrieved from After Dark Deluxe Screensaver (1998) CD-ROM. Al Lowe, who had been working at Sierra On-Line for many years, was asked by Ken Williams to write a modern version of Chuck Benton's Softporn Adventure from 1981, the only pure text adventure that the company had ever released. In early October, the company announced plans to take over management and maintenance of the online RPG The Realm and acquiring the complete yet previously canceled Navy SEALs. [22], Phantasmagoria was by far the largest project ever undertaken by Sierra. [36] Upcoming titles like Crash: Mind Over Mutant, The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon and Prototype were retained by Activision. Although the series was originally titled Hero's Quest, Sierra failed to trademark the name. [28] In December 1997, in order to secure the rights to Return to Krondor, Sierra purchased PyroTechnix, who were developing the game. On February 22, 1999, Sierra announced a major reorganization of the company, resulting in the shutdown of several of their development studios, cutbacks on others and the relocation of key projects, and employees from those studios, to Bellevue. The first game in the series, Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero, was released in 1989. Sierra also purchased Papyrus Design Group and SubLogic in 1995. In 1990, Sierra released King's Quest V, the first Sierra On-Line game ever to have more than 500,000 copies sold and the highest selling game for five years. Based in Los Angeles, California, the company was last owned by Activision, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Sierra FX (adventure games and online multiplayer games) - Based at Sierra's old headquarters in Oakhurst, which was publicly referred to as Yosemite Entertainment. Our Games With a renowned history, Sierra ™ continues with everything fans love. Sierra Entertainment Video Games. As a company, Sierra was disestablished on August 24, 2004. Havas S.A. was renamed Vivendi Universal Publishing and became the publishing division of the new group, divided into five groups: games, education, literature, health, and information. The Sierra Network was launched on May 6, 1991 as the first game-only online environment. In June, Sierra and Pioneer Electric Corp. signed an agreement to create a joint venture that would develop, publish, manufacture, and market entertainment software for the Japanese software market. It can be deduced that the game first became famous as an early example of software piracy, as Sierra sold many more hintbooks than actual copies of the game. Aug 06, 2020. King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery, Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards. All ownership was transferred to them and the company was closed to any future sales later that year. It is the first computer adventure game to have graphics, although made with crude, static, monochrome line drawings. The company also reported they obtained the rights to continue using the name Yosemite Entertainment for the development house. [20], Sierra needed a new building due to growth, and moved its headquarters to Bellevue, Washington. The game was released in October 1986 as an instant success, spawning many sequels in the Space Quest series in the following years. The Sierra label has been absorbed by its parent company. [29], In 1998, Sierra divided into 5 sub-brands and corporate divisions:[30]. Sierra Entertainment was founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems in Simi Valley, California, by husband-and-wife Ken and Roberta Williams. Walls proceeded to create Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel, which was released in 1987. Throughout 2005 and 2006, Vivendi acquired several game development studios including Massive Entertainment, High Moon Studios, Radical Entertainment, Secret Lair Studios / Studio Ch'in (based in Seattle and Shanghai) and Swordfish Studios and integrated them into Sierra, alongside the creative licenses from other Vivendi divisions and from companies partnered with Vivendi and the copyrights of several notable intellectual properties, such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, 50 Cent: Bulletproof and Scarface.
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