Sierra dissolved?? Vivendi Massive Layoffs?

[Modeps]

From a website I'd rather not link to because the url is a bit naughty (bad words in it)

Rumor has it Sierra went belly up today, taking everyone out to lunch then laying them all off. Sierra made the famous "King's Quest", "Leisure Suit Larry", and "Hoyle" games...they will be missed.

When: 6/21/2004
Company: Sierra On Line
Severity: 99
Points: 199

--------------
Rumor has it as much as 50% layoffs coming to Vivendi Universal Games. According to one employee and FC reader, "it looks like the idiot managers at creative services that squandered most of the money on bullshit printing projects will get to keep their jobs."

When: 6/21/2004
Company: Vivendi Universal Games
Severity: 75
Points: 175

Anyone heard anything else of this??

 

[SilentZero]

Nope...a shame if its accurate.

 

[yukichigai]

No, but it wouldn't surprise me really. After Sierra promised stuff in Tribes 2, then ordered Dynamix not to put that stuff in and promptly fired them after the game was released it was painfully obvious how stupid the management was. Especially after they had to effectively re-hire most of the original Dynamix coders -- except as contractors now -- to fix all the problems with the game that Sierra had created with their patches.

If Vivendi is having to cut things it does not surprise me in the least that Sierra is the first to go. They've turned to crap.

P.S. I hope this doesn't mean Tribes Vengance is cancelled.

 

[dullard]

I idolized Sierra when I was young. I liked them enough that I got my family to go there and take a tour of their facility on one family vacation (watched them work on King's Quest 5).

Unfortunately Sierra took a step onto a slippery slope when they decided to make their games graphical. Instead of a game taking 3 months to complete (nonstop playing) it became 3 hours from the time it was purchased (for example compare Space Quest 3 to the first two in the series). Things sucked ever since then. I am surprized they lasted this long.

 

[UNCjigga]

Looks like all those auctions for 'On-Line Systems' old-school game boxes, game manuals and game disks will get pretty hot on eBay.

Wasn't Sierra going to publish Half-Life 2 for Valve??? Yet another delay...

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Jigga
Looks like all those auctions for 'On-Line Systems' old-school game boxes, game manuals and game disks will get pretty hot on eBay.

I just tossed all of those boxes and manuals about 6 months ago. Never thought of selling them...

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: Jigga
Looks like all those auctions for 'On-Line Systems' old-school game boxes, game manuals and game disks will get pretty hot on eBay.

Wasn't Sierra going to publish Half-Life 2 for Valve??? Yet another delay...

Heh, like my just ended Ebay auction that sold for $565? I should have waited! I may have gotten more!

 

The adventure genre is sadly long dead.

 

[Kipper]

F'ed company is usually right about these things.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: MadCowDisease
F'ed company is usually right about these things.

Yeah, I know... that's why I'm sad

 

[Whisper]

I've had issues with sierra for a while now, ever since their handling of the quest for glory series. Doesn't surprise me that they've gone out of business finally.

 

[arod]

I really hope tribes vengeance wont be affected... because it was looking like a big step forward for the tribes series.

 

[UNCjigga]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Jigga
Looks like all those auctions for 'On-Line Systems' old-school game boxes, game manuals and game disks will get pretty hot on eBay.

I just tossed all of those boxes and manuals about 6 months ago. Never thought of selling them...

Did you see Modep's thread earlier (bout the stuff he put on ebay and how this famous Sierra auction troll was after him?) I guess you lived up to your nick, dullard!

Anyways, back on topic, how will this development (if its true) affect HL2???

 

[yukichigai]

Any word on what games this will axe? I'm really worried about Tribes Vengance, though I seem to remember that Garage Games is making it through Sierra and Vivendi. Hopefully Vivendi will just cut the middleman out.


Oh yeah, if you wanted to download Tribes 2 for free you'd better get it while you can. I doubt Sierra will be handling new key requests.

 

[Bootprint]

Text


Welcome [Sign In] To track stocks & more, Register
Financial News
Enter symbol(s) BasicPerformanceReal-time MktDetailedChartResearchOptionsOrder Book Symbol Lookup







Reuters
Vivendi Unit to Cut 350 N. America Jobs
Monday June 21, 3:05 pm ET


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The video game arm of French media and telecommunications company Vivendi Universal (NYSE:V - News; Paris:EAUG.PA - News) on Monday said it would cut 350 jobs in North America as part of an ongoing restructuring at the struggling unit.
ADVERTISEMENT


Los Angeles-based Vivendi Universal Games said its key PC games division, Blizzard Entertainment, was not affected by the job cuts. All of the employees being laid off are expected to leave the company within the next two months.

Vivendi Universal retained the games business, which it spent the better part of a year trying unsuccessfully to sell, when it sold most of its entertainment assets to General Electric Co. (NYSE:GE - News)-controlled NBC.

Earlier this year Vivendi overhauled management at the games unit, replacing long-time Chief Executive Ken Cron with Bruce Hack, formerly a top executive of both Universal Music and Universal Studios.

At that time Hack said Vivendi was committed to spending more to bolster the games business, which posted a larger loss on declining revenue in the first quarter.

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: arod
I really hope tribes vengeance wont be affected... because it was looking like a big step forward for the tribes series.

The Starseige 2845 mod was already making me all buttery....

I'm hoping they won't. They've already invested a lot in advertising and development that if they have to cancel it they're probably in really bad shape.

Besides, it's GG developing it, right? I wouldn't think that Sierra/Vivendi would play the "if I can't release it nobody can" card with a game like this.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

Originally posted by: Jigga

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Jigga
Looks like all those auctions for 'On-Line Systems' old-school game boxes, game manuals and game disks will get pretty hot on eBay.

I just tossed all of those boxes and manuals about 6 months ago. Never thought of selling them...

Did you see Modep's thread earlier (bout the stuff he put on ebay and how this famous Sierra auction troll was after him?) I guess you lived up to your nick, dullard!

Anyways, back on topic, how will this development (if its true) affect HL2???

Officially HL2 is being published by Vivendi Universal Games. Closing down Sierra studios won't affect HL2 in the slightest - especially considering the game is being developed by Valve software.

 

[Modeps]

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: Jigga

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Jigga
Looks like all those auctions for 'On-Line Systems' old-school game boxes, game manuals and game disks will get pretty hot on eBay.

I just tossed all of those boxes and manuals about 6 months ago. Never thought of selling them...

Did you see Modep's thread earlier (bout the stuff he put on ebay and how this famous Sierra auction troll was after him?) I guess you lived up to your nick, dullard!

Anyways, back on topic, how will this development (if its true) affect HL2???

Officially HL2 is being published by Vivendi Universal Games. Closing down Sierra studios won't affect HL2 in the slightest - especially considering the game is being developed by Valve software.

That's good to hear, however if VU decided to publish HL2 instead of Sierra, this may have a been long time coming. Was the next Leisure Suit Larry (Summa Cum Laude) being made by Sierra or an external company?

 

[CPA]

I'm still pissed at Sierra for cancelling the FPS Football franchise.

 

[Evadman]

Well, they f'ed up Tribes 2 bretty badly. Their management must function best when drunk, which is still pretty bad.

 

[yukichigai]

Originally posted by: Evadman
Well, they f'ed up Tribes 2 bretty badly. Their management must function best when drunk, which is still pretty bad.

Frankly I think they function better when dead.

 

[Ranger X]

I grew up on Sierra games! What a shame to see it go.

 

[Liquidh2o]

doh! Hope you guys still aren't waiting in supsense.. Tribes:vengance is still on track. A couple of the designers from Irrational as well as the guy overseeing the project post on tribalwar.com they confirmed that everything is still a go. Closed Closed beta has already started, closed beta starts in july and open beta sometime between then and I believe octorber

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Modeps

Originally posted by: KnightBreed

Originally posted by: Jigga

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Jigga
Looks like all those auctions for 'On-Line Systems' old-school game boxes, game manuals and game disks will get pretty hot on eBay.

I just tossed all of those boxes and manuals about 6 months ago. Never thought of selling them...

Did you see Modep's thread earlier (bout the stuff he put on ebay and how this famous Sierra auction troll was after him?) I guess you lived up to your nick, dullard!

Anyways, back on topic, how will this development (if its true) affect HL2???

Officially HL2 is being published by Vivendi Universal Games. Closing down Sierra studios won't affect HL2 in the slightest - especially considering the game is being developed by Valve software.

That's good to hear, however if VU decided to publish HL2 instead of Sierra, this may have a been long time coming. Was the next Leisure Suit Larry (Summa Cum Laude) being made by Sierra or an external company?

i wanna know too

 

[element]

A post on the Leisure Suit Larry forums regarding this issue where one of the developers contributes to the thread

HVS_tomsmith (Developer) - 09:04am Jun 22, 2004 PST (#1 of 8) Reply
Hi.

As far as I can tell, this shouldn't affect us at all. We're external development and we're nearing completion, so we should be fine. This sort of thing is common in the industry, so while I mourn the loss of Sierra operating facilities, I do so as an old fanboy touched by the historical implications, not as someone who is now worried for the future of his project.

--Tom

http://www.sierra.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=607

Official Site for Leisure Suit Larry