Sierra On-Line is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, including the first such game, Mystery House.
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32 Facts About Sierra On-Line
1.
2.
Sierra On-Line remained as part of CUC Software as it was sold and renamed several times over the next few years; Sierra On-Line was formally disestablished as a company and reformed as a division of this group in August 2004.
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3.
The Sierra On-Line 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.
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4.
The Sierra On-Line brand was revived by Activision in 2014 to re-release former Sierra On-Line games and some independently developed games.
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5.
Sierra On-Line encouraged Roberta to join him in playing it, and she was enthralled by the game; after Ken had brought an Apple II to their home, she played through other text adventures such as those by Scott Adams and Softape to study them.
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6.
The "Sierra On-Line" name was taken from the Sierra On-Line Nevada mountain range that Oakhurst was near, and its new logo incorporated the imagery of a mountain reflecting that.
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8.
In 1987, Sierra On-Line started to publish its own gaming magazine, about its upcoming games and interviews with the developers.
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9.
Sierra On-Line became a public company in 1989, trading on the NASDAQ under the stock ticker "SIER".
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10.
Sierra On-Line Network was launched on May 6,1991, as the first game-only online environment.
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11.
In 1991, Sierra On-Line released the first game in the Dr Brain series, Castle of Dr Brain, a hybrid puzzle adventure education game, which has several sequels.
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12.
Sierra On-Line needed a new building due to growth, and moved its headquarters and much of its key staff to Bellevue, Washington.
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13.
Company was now made up of five separate and largely autonomous development divisions: Sierra On-Line Publishing, Sierra On-Line Northwest, Dynamix, Bright Star Technology, and Coktel Vision, with each group working separately on product development but sharing manufacturing, distribution, and sales resources.
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15.
At this point, Sierra On-Line had seen modest revenues of about in their current fiscal year, so the sum was surprising to Ken.
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16.
In December 1996, Sierra On-Line released The Realm Online, an online fantasy role-playing game.
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17.
Sierra On-Line 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.
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18.
Brochu, who had been hired in 1995 by Ken Williams, to handle the day-to-day business affairs of Sierra On-Line, replaced Ken Williams and remained as President of Sierra On-Line until October 1997, when he too departed the company.
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19.
In December 1997, in order to secure the rights to Return to Krondor, Sierra On-Line purchased PyroTechnix, who were developing the game.
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20.
On November 5,1997, after the departure of Brochu in October, Sierra On-Line was split into three business units, all of which reported directly to MacLeod.
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21.
On November 24,1997, Sierra On-Line published Diablo: Hellfire, the official expansion pack for the widely popular game Diablo developed by Synergistic Software, a division of Sierra On-Line.
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22.
On November 19,1998, Sierra On-Line published Half-Life for the PC, developed by Valve, which became a huge success.
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23.
On February 22,1999, Sierra On-Line 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.
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24.
Sierra On-Line sold the rights of Headgate Studios back to the original owner.
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25.
Sierra On-Line reported they obtained the rights to continue using the name Yosemite Entertainment for the development house.
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26.
Meanwhile, Sierra On-Line announced another reorganization, this time into three business units: Core Games, Casual Entertainment, and Home Productivity.
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27.
On February 19,2002, Sierra On-Line officially announced the name change to Sierra Entertainment, Inc.
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28.
Newly renamed Sierra On-Line Entertainment continued to develop mostly unsuccessful interactive entertainment products.
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29.
In 2003, Sierra On-Line Entertainment released the second video game adaptation of The Hobbit, as well as NASCAR Racing 2003 Season.
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30.
In late 2007, Sierra On-Line released titles like the first-person shooter game TimeShift and the real-time tactical video game World in Conflict.
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31.
Sierra On-Line will focus on publishing downloadable games through PlayStation Network, Steam for PC and Xbox Live.
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32.
Sierra On-Line both developed its own games and published several games from its divisions and from third-party developers.
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