Vivendi Officially Closes Down Sierra Studios.

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corrosive23

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The lights go out at old-school game company, Sierra, as Vivendi restructures its business.


More depressing news for the industry, Vivendi Universal Games has cut 350 staff and shut down Seattle-based Sierra. The venerable games company created some of the most popular action and adventure games in the 80's. The Sierra brand will live on in name only and projects tied to the Sierra pipeline, Half-Life 2, Ground Control II and Tribes: Vengeance are already being developed by other teams within Vivendi. Also affected by the restructuring, the Hoyle brand of card and board games have been canceled.

"Restructuring the organization and reducing our cost base are necessary to improve our operating effectiveness and profitability," said VU Games CEO Bruce Hack, in as terse a manner as possible. "This constitutes another important step in our turnaround plan aimed to better position the company for growth."

Along with VU Games restructuring, the game company is prepping up for profitability with a powerful lineup for the second half of 2004. VU Games is looking for some higher revenues with titles like World of Warcraft, Spyro: A Hero's Tail and the well-received The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.


http://www.gigex.com/general/article/?id=6956&game_id=&source=00001



:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
 
Gotta say this is a big mistake. Sierra made some very nice games indeed. Tribes series, HL, and AvP come to mind.
 
Viviendi is a bankrupt piece of crap, I expected this to come sooner.
 
As someone else noticed, Sierra wasn't the same after they started becoming a publisher instead of focusing on development. It also hurts when a company, primarily known for it's history of making adventure games has the genre virtually disappear.
 
Anyone else wished every night that Manhunter 3 was made? God I loved that series... As well as SQ, PQ, QfG, KQ, GK... RIP Sierra :(
 
The only Sierra game I remember was Thexder or something like that.
 
Harkamus said:
The only Sierra game I remember was Thexder or something like that.
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:eek: You've got to be kidding. I'm in shock. Get out of my gaming forum, heretic! :p

Sierra has had a rich history of gaming. In the 1980's they were the gaming company. Untouchable. Only Infocom could match their quality. Only Origin could match the fun. Harkamus, you really missed out on a great fun gaming period.
 
With death theres re-birth. Those people who lost their jobs might start up their own company. Something good could come out of this.... try to look at the bright side :(
 
Torgo said:
:eek: You've got to be kidding. I'm in shock. Get out of my gaming forum, heretic! :p

Sierra has had a rich history of gaming. In the 1980's they were the gaming company. Untouchable. Only Infocom could match their quality. Only Origin could match the fun. Harkamus, you really missed out on a great fun gaming period.
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Man, don't think I don't know games. I just don't happen to know the publishers. I know a lot of games. Just the only one that I happen to remember from Seirra was Thexder.
:( :mad:

EDIT: I play games. I don't worry about who makes them. If it's good, it's good.
 
It all comes down to the bottom dollar these days unfortuntly. Thats why cars are made cheaper, companies closing down, etc. Too many greedy mofos.
 
Haha... April Fool's right? No?

Sierra had some beyond awesome games, I hope they get together and form their own company. I wish...

Jeff
 
Seems like game companies are on VERY thin ice these days... couple of projects don't do as well as expected, and the company is "restructured" :p
 
oh well, i admit, Sierra developed some nice games: Tribes, HL. but i also have to admit: that Sierra Auto-Update thing was rather annoying. Couldnt remove it completely from my system even by using Add/Remove.

What happened to the employees? absorbed by Vivendi?
 
It says they cut 350 staff. So I'm guessing out of a job with some benefits.

Jeff
 
My favorite part is the cut 350 jobs but that its for the companys growth!? I'm kind of stoopid but i even smell somebody wanting fatter pockets... Cut and growth are opposite words so uhh yeah. *cough* bs *cough* :p

EDIT: With benefits? Rofl... the most benefit i think they will give is "heres a hl2 coupon now get the hell out!" :cool:
 
Tazman2 said:
EDIT: With benefits? Rofl... the most benefit i think they will give is "heres a hl2 coupon now get the hell out!" :cool:
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ahhhhhhhh ahahahah
 
Actually, wasn't it Dynamix that developed Tribes? (and games like Willy Beamish) With Sierra as publisher I guess, but Dynamix was the company that did the Tribes and Starsiege games.

Dynamix got shut down a couple years ago, and now Sierra's toast too. Hah.. :( At least the games live on
 
After Bungie got canned, I quit caring about who made games. Bungie... :(
 
SilkenRogue said:
Actually, wasn't it Dynamix that developed Tribes? (and games like Willy Beamish) With Sierra as publisher I guess, but Dynamix was the company that did the Tribes and Starsiege games.

Dynamix got shut down a couple years ago, and now Sierra's toast too. Hah.. :( At least the games live on
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yea thats right, my bad. Dynamix did the game, but its a subdivision of Sierra though.
 
oh man... this thread makes me wish i hadnt given away my apple IIGS with all it's sierra games :(

i had the whole fricking kings quest and space quest serieses...
 
When did Bungie get canned? I know they got acquired by Microsoft (Which has turned out to be quite a good thing, considering how focused their projects have looked).

Perhaps they delayed Half-Life 2 one too many times...the VU executives' geeky kids complained and got them fired :p
 
WickedAngel said:
When did Bungie get canned? I know they got acquired by Microsoft (Which has turned out to be quite a good thing, considering how focused their projects have looked).

Perhaps they delayed Half-Life 2 one too many times...the VU executives' geeky kids complained and got them fired :p
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I thought Bungie got canned after Myth 2. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
if they were canned after myth 2, how did they go on to make Halo and how are they working on Halo 2
 
Merlin45 said:
if they were canned after myth 2, how did they go on to make Halo and how are they working on Halo 2
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In a related announcement, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., (Nasdaq "TTWO") current distributor of Bungie-developed titles, announced it acquired all right, title and interest to select Bungie game properties, including the popular "Myth" game franchise and the upcoming action game "Oni," and has sold its 19.9 percent equity interest in Bungie to Microsoft. Ryan Brant, Chief Executive Officer of Take-Two, said, "This acquisition is a positive for all involved. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Bungie's talents and the contributions it has made to the games industry, and we look forward to working with Microsoft to make Xbox a success.

I suppose this is what I meant. The Myth series died after Take-two bought the rights to the series. Myth 3 was nothing compared to 1 and 2.
 
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