Sierra Doesn't Care

I was recently reading the JA Forum and Randy said the president of Sierra called off the interview. Why can't they care their adventure game players?

Matt

Maybe he'll reschedule?

According to Randy this is third time to not to do it.

they obviously DON'T care about adventure games anymore......but that's not surprising since it's no longer Ken and Roberta Williams' company.

Hi Gang........Sierra is owned (as is Blizzard Entertainment) now, by Vivendi a huge conglomerate located in France. Consequently, Sierra is guided by corporate authority, so decisions concerning the types of products Sierra offers are now determined at a higher level in the organization. I'm still hoping that this direction will be reversed (or at least modified) and we will begin to see adventures coming from Sierra once again.

Love, Witchen =O)

welll... it's true that sierra is owned by vivendi, but i don't know how much that influences what games they make.

the company i work for (a publisher of patient education materials) was owned by vivendi when i started working here. you wouldn't know it, except for the fact that it said "Vivendi Universal" on our employee handbooks. vivendi was basically a silent partner -- they provided our health benefits, among other things, but didn't seem to have any say in the products we put out or the direction that the company went.

vivendi recently sold us to another company. there have been changes in our health benefits, the way our HR department runs... day-to-day internal differences, that mostly seem to stem from the fact that we aren't owned by a parent who tosses money at us anymore. but i haven't seen *any* difference in the products or the business strategy. i really don't think vivendi had any say in what kinds of products we released... just as long as we kept making money (and clearly, at some point they lost interest in us, and we were sold).

i'm not saying it's the same for sierra -- and i don't work in management, so i'm only speaking from my observations -- but i highly doubt that sierra's lack of interest in the adventure game has anything to do with vivendi. ken williams has said in interviews that he made a big mistake selling sierra initially... it was at this point that the founders lost their control of the company's direction. the company has changed hands so many times since the "good old days," now it's just a name. i don't think any of the people in that company have any interest in resurrecting sierra adventures the way they used to be, simply because the people who work at sierra now are not the same people who worked there back then. why should the current president of sierra care to support a culture that has long since died away, and has nothing to do with sierra as he knows it?

it might be easier for all of us if there wasn't any "sierra" presence, because maybe we'd stop getting our hopes up that they might do something with the copyrights they hold. but i think even if they were to do something with the franchises, it wouldn't be what we want. clearly they're making money, or they wouldn't still be around... why should they bother straying from their business model (which appears to be working for them) to please some fans who loved the company 15 years ago? what's in it for them? if some of the original sierra employees were in management, i think it would be different, because they would have an interest in maintaining the culture they developed. but as it stands, the old timers are gone, and the current management has made it pretty clear they don't want to re-initiate those old relationships.

hope this made sense, i don't feel like i'm articulating very well.

-emily

Emily,

I found that Very articulate!! Most large conglomerates just leave the running of the company to the existing staff as they can't deal with every little thing themselves.. they just provide funding for the company to carry on.

In rare cases, they will pull the company to pieces and rebuild it.. ususally they sell off the profitable parts and then ditch the unsuccessful elements later.

I suppose we can all dream of Sierra regaining their Love of adventures, but when they can gross many more $$$$$ from an action game, which way do you think a company will jump??

Hugs

Tig

I heard Jane Jenson wants to make a GK 4. Here's hoping.

Matt