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An Angry Rant

Started by TheReturnofDMD, July 06, 2006, 10:55:34 PM

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TheReturnofDMD

Please don't mad at me, I realize that Vivendi did a good thing and  let you guys continue making TSL, but there's a few things that Vivendi's done over the years that overshadow that in my mind.       

late 1998- Havas Interactive buys Sierra in along with Davidson & Associates, Blizzard and Knowledge Adventure. Sierra was at the time the market share leader in the gaming industry and had approximately 1,000 employees.
1998- Vivendi buys Havas.
1999- ''Black Monday''  Yosemite Entertainment along with 3 other Sierra studios  shut down by Vivendi (then still called Havas Interactive) (in case some don't know Yosemite was the original Oakhurst facility where Sierra began). A lot of Sierra's key employees like Scott Murphy and Jane Jensen were still employed there.  250 people lose their jobs.
September 1999- Vivendi sends Sierra's management a directive a  and Sierra reorganizes, firing 105 more employees.
August 2001- Vivendi shuts down Sierra's Dynamix studio where a lot of memorable games had been created. 97 people lose their jobs. The next day Vivendi announced that 148 more employees of Sierra would be laid off. These people worked in Sierra's legal, marketing, Customer Service and Tech support divisions. It was announced that Vivendi would take over and handle all of those Sierra functions in Los Angeles.

2004- Vivendi shut down Impressions Games which was one of Sierra's companies and also shutdown Papyrus. about 50 people were laid off. Then, they laid off 180 people that handled Sierra's functions for Vivendi in Los Angeles. Then 111 people at Sierra's Bellevue office were fired. That marked the end of Sierra as a true company, and Vivendi announced they would still use Sierra as a brand name.

Now, Vivendi also owns Blizzard, the maker of Diablo. In all the years that Vivendi has owned Blizzard they haven't suffered any major lay offs of employees, and Blizzard is basically a totally separate brand from Vivendi with it's own publishing unit. Even before Sierra was shut down Vivendi made it clear that they owned Sierra, like having the VU Games logo on Sierra's games and adverts for Vivendi's games on Sierra's site.
Not only that but then when POS was sent the Cease and Desist order, even though it was their right to, I like everyone else felt sad and I also felt angry at Vivendi. POS wouldn't have done them any harm, especially when they were using IP that it seemed Vivendi didn't care about. Even after VG let the team continue, it seems from what I've read they're being very controlling about the release of the game.

Another thing that angers me is the Compilations. They fool people into preordering and buying them, tell several gaming sites that they are releasing the, and then after they get a bunch of fans all excited for these rereleases, they postpone the release date, again, and again and again. That is not the way to treat their costumers.

Sorry for the long rant but these thoughts have been on my mind for a while, and try to understand...I basically grew up playing Sierra games.
They were the first games I ever played and introduced me to the world of gaming, and I still hold a great fondness for them today. Not only that, but in reading Sierra's history, and on Ken William's site what he had dreamed of for his company, it is really a tragedy and Sierra being dismantled piece by piece is not something that needed to happen. Sierra was HUGE when it was bought by Cendant, and had the potential for being like the Disney of interactive entertainment.
Like Ken Williams himself said, he was building a company that he hoped would be around for generations, and it's a shame that Sierra, which built so many classic games, and games that held good morals like Non-violent solutions, isn't around to enjoy, and yet Blizzard Entertainment which creates games that are about killing and destroying things, will probably be around for years and years to come.

And the fact that Vivendi, with all their millions of dollars and resources, doesn't even rerelease or even support Sierra's old games, any of them, even the action games, for other generations to enjoy on the grounds that they are ''old' is a travesty.
Yet Diablo, a game released ten years ago this year, is still easily available on store shelves...It really is a shame.

Again I apologize, but...I needed to get that off my chest.

awesomeasapossum

Some of the KQs were released 10 years ago too.
-Proud member of the Kelsey fan club!
Long live The Silver Lining!

Yonkey

Quote from: awesomeasapossum on July 07, 2006, 07:40:42 AM
Some of the KQs were released 10 years ago too.
I believe MoE was the closest to 10 years ago (1998?), and yeah, it's still being sold I think. ::)

I know what DMD is saying though, how Sierra changed a lot from all the buy-outs and changes in management.  The Compilations I had doubts about from the start for obvious reasons, but the day I see some official box art or any marketing for them, I may change my opinion.  I agree that it's not a good way to treat their potential customers, but they probably think as long as no one has paid yet, they aren't "customers".  Prior to our shutdown, they most likely assumed that there were maybe a couple hundred or a thousand people still interested in KQ.  We proved them wrong. 8)

Anyway, from what I've heard about their new CEO, he's a lot more in-tune with this genre than the previous, so hopefully things will change. :)

"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."

Shades2585

Most of us here have also grown up on at least one Sierra game if now more. Yes, many of us have been disheartened by VG actions in the past but the fact that they have recognized the fan support for KQ, and subsequently POS, and allowed TSL to continue to be produced is promising for us. Also the fact that they are creating a KQ compilation as good news as well, it shows that they believe there is enough fan support for the game and maybe enough produce a new title. That of course will depend on the sales of the Compilation when it comes out. What is delaying it? I’ve not heard of any official reason but I’m hoping it to make it work with XP natively.
Knight of Queen Deloria since 24-Jul-06 ;D
Duke of Lancaster of Queen Deloria since 09-Sept-06
Bestowed "Captain of Calais" on 08-Nov-06

Bestowed Kingdom of Bohemia by Queen Deloria on 06-Jan-07

Does anybody even remember who Wormy is?
Bring WORMY BACK!!!!!!!

TheReturnofDMD

Quote from: Yonkey on July 07, 2006, 07:52:37 AM
Quote from: awesomeasapossum on July 07, 2006, 07:40:42 AM
Some of the KQs were released 10 years ago too.
I believe MoE was the closest to 10 years ago (1998?), and yeah, it's still being sold I think. ::)


MOE is not sold by Vivendi or Sierra anymore. The only  referrence is on their support page where it has the patch and save games.

Yonkey

Quote from: TheReturnofDMD on July 08, 2006, 02:38:36 PM
MOE is not sold by Vivendi or Sierra anymore. The only  referrence is on their support page where it has the patch and save games.
That must be recent then, because I remember seeing it on their site a year or two ago.
"A wish changes nothing. A decision changes everything."