Sierra EntertainmentSierra Entertainment was a well-loved video game company. It started modestly as On-Line Systems in 1980, with founders Ken and Roberta Williams programming games and managing the company from their own home. Their first game was Mystery House, the world's first graphic adventure game. In 1982 the company changed its name to Sierra On-Line and moved to Oakhurst, California. In 1984, Sierra published King's Quest to show off the advanced technology of the IBM PC. The success of that game set forth one of the most popular series Sierra has ever created, and spurred them into creating numerous adventure game series based on the Quest theme. In the years to come Sierra would remain on the forefront of groundbreaking computer game design, sometimes creating large blockbusters and other times, failed experiments. Starting in 1990, Sierra began acquiring other companies, including Dynamix (1990), Bright Star Technologies (1992), Coktel Vision (1993) and Impressions Games (1995). In 1991 Sierra started an online serviced called The Sierra Network. Pre-WWW, it was comparable to services like CompuServe or Prodigy except that its interface was completely graphical. Thematically it was a "kingdom" in which you visited different "lands" to post on message boardss, exchange emails and play games.\nIt was renamed The ImagiNation Network and sold to AT&T in 1994 who sold it to AOL in 1996. In 1994, Sierra moved its headquarters to Bellevue, Washington to attract more talent. In 1996, the company was sold to CUC and Ken Williams left one year later. CUC later merged with HFS Corporation to form Cendant Software. After the discovery of an accounting scandal, Sierra was sold again to French publisher Havas who in turn were acquired by French giant Vivendi. Vivendi reorganized the Vivendi Universal games group in June 2004, distributing Sierra's work to other units and shutting down the Sierra name. Sierra's location in Oakhurst was renamed Yosemite Entertainment in 1998, then shut down in 1999. The company was renamed Sierra Entertainment in 2002.\n
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"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo." - H. G. Wells (1866-1946) |
