Activizzard selling Sierra?

[Kloreep]

http://www.edge-online.com/news/activis ... ell-sierra

Anyone know if this would also mean selling off the old Sierra licenses like King's Quest and QFG, or do you think this is strictly a matter of selling off development houses?

[MusicallyInspired]

Sierra doesn't exist as a developer anymore. The offices were shut down. It's just a label. Which means no development houses being sold as it doesn't exist anymore anyway.

[Kloreep]

Ah, so it's literally just a branch of Vivendi's publishing, then? (Or is it even just a label they slap on some games now?)

Regardless, I'm guessing that means rights probably stay with Vivendi.

[MusicallyInspired]

Sierra is basically a ghost label now. Just a brand name with nothing underneath it.

[Quest For Glory Fan]

I still chuckle when I see the Sierra Label on games like Half-Life.

[MusicallyInspired]

http://gamernode.com/news/7220-activisi ... index.html

It appears "VivActivizzard" are indeed selling off Sierra and just keeping a few titles (none of which include the adventure franchises of old). What does this mean for AGDI's and TSL's licenses with Vivendi?

[AsianMusicGuy]

I would hope nothing

[MusicallyInspired]

Well if they don't own the franchises then the licenses mean absolutely squat.

[Angelus3K]

Hmm, you'd have to assume something was happening with the liceneses. I can't see them abandoning them.

But what is the question. What...

[Gronagor]

Well... the agreements were signed before this, so I'd say it wouldn't change a thing.
But what I want to know is whether they're trying to sell Sierra the name, or auctioning off piece by piece. Ok, they did say certain licenses will be held by VU, so it isn't Sierra as a whole.

Point is, do you think the licenses for each 'product' is up for grabs?

[SierraGamer1990]

Each product is up for grabs. The Sierra Online brand name (responsible for Red Baron, 3D Ultra Mini Golf and Sierra internet games), along with Vivendi Games mobile, is also going to be up for sale, but probably not the Sierra Entertainment (the Sierra of yore) brand name. But the classic games (such as KQ, SQ, LSL, etc) will be up for sale.
So it's not a sale of Sierra but of the products themselves. That means any licenses Sierra made with ADGI and other fan groups can be cancelled by the new owners of the rights, unless of course fans stood up and a group of them pooled money and bought the game rights.

By the way, Half Life was one of the last products Ken Williams okayed. So it was one of the last ''old school'' Sierra products to be signed under Ken's watch.

[Broomie]

Although it doesn't officially state that the old classic adventures like King's Quest and Space Quest are up for sale, there's a huge likelihood that those franchises aren't a strong fit with Vivendi's long-term product strategy.

Regarding the Sierra name, well, I'm just going to say now that I bet it ends up being EA who swallow up Sierra. They're such a company whore that once they see a company which is so well known (to majority of gamers anyway) they'll buy it out instantly. If not though, I'll probably say Microsoft as they're pretty much on the same wavelength as EA. We'll have to see how things turn out.

[SierraGamer1990]

Although it doesn't officially state that the old classic adventures like King's Quest and Space Quest are up for sale, there's a huge likelihood that those franchises aren't a strong fit with Vivendi's long-term product strategy.

Regarding the Sierra name, well, I'm just going to say now that I bet it ends up being EA who swallow up Sierra. They're such a company whore that once they see a company which is so well known (to majority of gamers anyway) they'll buy it out instantly. If not though, I'll probably say Microsoft as they're pretty much on the same wavelength as EA. We'll have to see how things turn out.

Well, it states that only five franchises are being kept and the rest are to be discarded. So that includes the classic adventures, plus Sierra's 200+ other games.

Sierra Entertainment, the brand, isn't being sold. Sierra Online (which is responsible for 3D Ultre Mini Golf and Red Baron) is, but only Sierra's franchises are being auctioned off.

[Broomie]

Although it doesn't officially state that the old classic adventures like King's Quest and Space Quest are up for sale, there's a huge likelihood that those franchises aren't a strong fit with Vivendi's long-term product strategy.

Regarding the Sierra name, well, I'm just going to say now that I bet it ends up being EA who swallow up Sierra. They're such a company whore that once they see a company which is so well known (to majority of gamers anyway) they'll buy it out instantly. If not though, I'll probably say Microsoft as they're pretty much on the same wavelength as EA. We'll have to see how things turn out.

Well, it states that only five franchises are being kept and the rest are to be discarded. So that includes the classic adventures, plus Sierra's 200+ other games.

Sierra Entertainment, the brand, isn't being sold. Sierra Online (which is responsible for 3D Ultre Mini Golf and Red Baron) is, but only Sierra's franchises are being auctioned off.

Could you link me the article where it says this? I haven't managed to find anything that supports this, every affiliated article I've read has pretty much said that the Sierra Entertainment brand is being auctioned off.

One of the articles I'm referring to where it says that 'The latest from Activision Blizzard is that the mega-publisher may be ready to sell off Vivendi subsidiary Sierra Entertainment. Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith said Monday:' so I'm just basing it off that. I haven't seen anywhere of it just being the franchises although I haven't exactly looked hard enough.

[SierraGamer1990]

http://news.filefront.com/activision-to ... ublishers/

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6195105.html

This means beyond the five franchises they've decided to keep, they're getting rid of all the others, meaning Sierra's games will be put up for sale

[Alliance]

I would love to see a community to buy out Sierra, and just Open Source all of the games. Not only that, but we'd be able to make SO many fangames on SO many platforms!

EDIT: On top of that, it'd be swell to see Space Quest 7 be able to continue with their project!

[Erpy]

I really wonder if THAT'S possible. I can still see them charging over a million bucks for all those rights. And if they're freeware, what's to stop another company from blatantly using them in their own commercial titles despite not having paid for the rights?

[AsianMusicGuy]

Will this affect Agdi at all Iam assuming qfg2vga will be out before then

[Erpy]

I doubt it'll affect Qfg2vga's release. Just because they're gonna be up for sale doesn't mean someone's immediately gonna buy them. And if nobody buys them, Activizzard will simply keep them.