KQ9 on the Sierra Gamers Board

[Harley77]

It's a site being run by none other than Ken Williams himself. He even made some remarks about the subject of the anticipated KQ9.

Read it here.

[Rosedragon]

It seems like Ken approves of the kq9 project. I don't think he works for Sierra anymore. of course, he can't officially gives permission for the project, since the rights belong to Sierra. Now, as to why Sierra keeps the rights to the old games and doesn't say yay or nay to a fan-made game, the reason is simple. They're just being selfish, and want to keep us in suspense and in fear of being sued.

[copycat]

His (Ken's) approval nor non-approval of this game means nothing since he doesn't have anything to do with Sierra anymore. Now if he (or Roberta) were to participate in this project, that could maybe become a problem because I think Sierra keeps a closer eye on those two than just some small-time anonymous game developers.

[Erpy]

No, they're waiting to see if they can reap any benefit from all those fan-projects. They've been aware of fangames ever since KQ1VGA was released and the results of that project made it all the way to VU. I wouldn't be surprised if fan-groups like Tierra and this project have been discussed over there, but giving no official statements is the safest way for them to go for now.

[Harley77]

I believe they are also keenly aware of the negative feedback for killing the Yosemite (aka Adventure) section of the company and would rather not tick off the fans anymore by killing a beloved sequal (albeit unofficial) to a classic favorite.

[MangoMercury]

This is a very interesting point that's being made.  But at least we're getting the KQ9 that we want and deserve, so there, Sierra >=O

[Oldbushie]

Even though Sierra the company maay or may not like it, I think it's cool that the original creator is glad that great fan projects like this are continuing King's Quest.

[copycat]

How can they expect these fangames to give them any benefit if they've stopped making KQ-games? And I still think that if Ken and/or Roberto were involved with a fangame, VU would intervene immediately. Sure they know this site exists, and Tierra, but they know they'd be getting a lot of negative feedback everywhere if they shut one of them down.

[Storm]

I wonder if Ken or Roberta ever played Tierra's remakes...

[Erpy]

My hunch is that they do indeed test something out before linking to it. Of course, having their names still "associated" with Sierra, they probably prefer to refrain from making any public statements about it.

As for Sierra's benefit from fan-games; if they'd ever wanted to continue their KQ-franchise themselves, the name KQ being widely known is an advantage for them.

[Rosedragon]

Yeah, that's what I think too. Say, does anyone know what company Ken and Roberta are working for now? Or are they retired? I thought that Ken owned Sierra. I guess they got took over by a bigger comapny.

[Harley77]

Ken sold Sierra.  They haven't had anything to do with Sierra for quite a long time. Right now, they appear to be happily retired living between Washington, Mexico and France. With time in between on their boat. He also golfs a lot.

[KatieHal]

What a life

Ken seemed extraordinarily ambivalent in that thread on sierra gamers, which sort of surprised me or maybe disappointed me. But...oh well. He could very well be playing it safe.

Okay, is it just me or is anyone else let down by the extraoridinarily plain appearance of the Sierra gamers site?

[Harley77]

You should read more of the site, It's not the final version. The site as it currently stands is simply a program that Ken is developing for his homeowners association to make it easy for them to administer. He's using the sierragamers as merely a beta test. From my understanding a new version of the site is being developed by a person name Jouke.

[KatieHal]

Ahh, I see. Well that's good to know!

[Erpy]

I remember Jouke Koning being on the team list of this project. Anyone knows where he went? It seems he took a step back from the online world.