What killed Sierra

[Collector]

A thread on AI's board had a post by someone that claims "As the family member of a former Sierra employee, I witnessed it first hand." He blames it on a conspiracy by Sierra's competition.

It was actually much worse than anybody ever let on to. As the family member of a former Sierra employee, I witnessed it first hand.

None of Sierra's competitors had the capabilities to take on Sierra financially, which was the only option. AOL, EA and Activision all got together, banded against Sierra, and lost (this was all outlined briefly in the fraud charges against the CUC members). So, their plan b was to bring in a conglomerate that had virtually limitless amounts of money - this was found in CUC, on paper anyway.

CUC approached Sierra with the deal of a lifetime, from the eyes of the share holders. Even though Ken didn't want to give it up, he wasn't left much choice as the share holders would have ultimately dumped their shares of Sierra had the deal gone south unless he could have proven that it was all a fraud (he had nothing showing that data at the time, obviously). Which would have damaged and possibly destroyed Sierra anyway although they had plenty of cash on hand.

The goal of those involved was to dismantle Sierra, ruin its reputation and software pieces, and then make it go away --and they did just that. They ruined the franchises - post acquisition, it was quite obvious that different developers had their hands in it, and that their hearts nor imaginations were in it as was the case with prior versions of the software pieces.

Now look at who holds what little remains of Sierra (the name and IP)... Their number 1 competitor at the time. They've held on to all things Sierra very firmly, threatening anybody and everybody who attempts to do anything with the ancient software pieces. Making certain that none of Sierra's franchises are resurrected aside from those that did not transfer into their hands upon their final acquisition of what little remains, in which they have no control.

It's disheartening to say the least. The plan that was executed and carried out thoroughly. And unfortunately, it wrecked the lives of over a thousand people, as well as the economy of the small town of Oakhurst, CA, which has not fully recovered to date.

At one point, Ken even admitted he regretted going public with Sierra, as remaining private would have stopped these events from taking place - no share holders to please.

Make of it what you will.

[Rudy]

At first glance I'm not buying it. The post is riddled with contradictions to the facts and leaving out many crucial factors - too many to write an arm-long post at the moment.

[Tawmis]

At first glance I'm not buying it. The post is riddled with contradictions to the facts and leaving out many crucial factors - too many to write an arm-long post at the moment.

Well it's hard to tell; someone who was a family member could have been anyone. Sierra was pretty massive; so it's not like it's Al Lowe's wife, or Scott Murphy's girlfriend or whatever; it could have been an "average joe" who worked at Sierra.

[Collector]

I am thinking that this is a perception of an outsider with connections to an employee (low level?) based on rumors and innuendo that were floating around the water cooler back then. A whole scenario based upon one or two small assumed facts. This is how conspiracy theories are born.

[Tawmis]

I am thinking that this is a perception of an outsider with connections to an employee (low level?) based on rumors and innuendo that were floating around the water cooler back then. A whole scenario based upon one or two small assumed facts. This is how conspiracy theories are born.

Sort of how I see it too. There's probably fact and rumor all mixed in there. The truth of whatever happened is probably so completely blurred.
And I think Ken Williams would be too classy to confirm or deny the above, if that's how it all really went down.

[AndreaDraco]

As much as I like conspiracy theories, it seems, like Collector said, a water-cooler story.

[ClintRVA]

I'm with y'all - why would they try to bring down the company out of spite, and then bury its IP? I don't buy it. I don't think $1.5b were spent just to make Sierra "go away". It's just another bad corporate acquisition to add to a long list of bad corporate acquisitions.

That said, I do wish Activision would either a) do something worthwhile with the IP it holds or b) license it out more liberally. Al and Josh managed to get LSL, I'm assuming for a cut of the remake's revenue as opposed to an up-front lump sum? Does anybody know the answer to that question?

[Collector]

Activision does not own the rights to LSL. Codemasters bought the rights to LSL from VU when most of the rest of the Sierra IP went to Activision.

[ClintRVA]

Interesting! So what do we know about Activision's strategy w/r/t the Sierra IP? Have they made any statements whatsoever about their plans?

[Collector]

They were going to license Telltale for a "reboot," but that seems to have fallen through. In some ways I think we dodged a bullet as their style is so very different than that of what we have com to expect from KQ. I don't think we would want to see a Guybrush's Quest for the Crown . Some of the Sierra alumni have approached Activision for a license to their old creations, but Activision was asking far too much. This is why Al is the only one redoing a Sierra original. Of course, they only got a license to remake LSL1, not a new Larry game.

[Expack3]

First, I would like to say that I am in no position (due to lack of knowledge) to argue against the viewpoints presented here - and myself find the re-posted article to be quite weak. I would, however, like to point out that, as demonstrated by the revelation regarding the SpaceQuest-releated 'lawsuits', the truth may not be as clear-cut as one might think.