One of the great downfalls of an acquisition or merger, in the game industry, is the loss of great franchise titles. Sierra, or Sierra Online, once stood on its own as a company with great gaming titles but later fell into the depths of Hades under many different company names.
Sierra’s last stop on the acquisition highway was Vivendi, years after much of Sierra’s steam had slowed. Now, they’re part of Activision Blizzard so we had high hopes they’d find a great use for some of the old Sierra properties long since collecting dust. Space Quest, Kings Quest, Leisure Suit Larry and especially Gabrielle Knight were some of our favorites, but times have changed.
“We are retaining only those franchises that are a strong fit with our long-term strategy including Crash Bandicoot, Ice Age and Spyro, as well as Prototype and a second game that has not yet been announced. We will not publish any other titles that previously were part of the Vivendi Games portfolio and we are currently reviewing our options regarding those titles,” says Activision Blizzard (joystiq)
This is unfortunate news, Activision Blizzard now has a large set of franchises on their hands, many of which have collected dust for years. Those dust collecting franchises could rise from the dead and reinvigorate their old fan base… or be dropped to the earth as unwanted scrapes after a big hunt with the vultures awaiting their take (sorry, too much watching of Animal Planet)
A reworked Kings Quest or Gabriel Knight could have seriously awesome potential in this time and age, imagine a dark comedy version of Gabriel Knight or a huge scaled world in King Quest using todays graphic engines. Although, these titles could also go the way Atari has gone and taken a well remembered franchise and made mud of its great name (*cough* Alone in the Dark).
Unfortunately, we’ll probably never know the distance an old franchise could go in this new world. We’ll have to pull out an old copy of our prized posessions and remember just how great they once where.
Hi guys.
Sorry for not commenting the last few episodes, but much trouble going on in real life, did noit find enough time to listen and enjoy your podcast 🙁
I played a lot of Magic the Gathering becuase its short and i could play it on my own. Besides i played some WoW Classic WOTLK. And some time i spent with Life is strange true colors (still did not finish it)
Dorfromantik: I told you its addictive .. i love it as well 🙂 Its easy to calm down and play a round, easy listening smooth music … and you dont get anrgy if it ends .. you dont “loose” or get killed or stuff like that.
Krypto Stuff: i will not miss if if it would be gone. I am still not into it and i dont think i will be the next time … so … i dont care 😀
Demon Souls / Dark Souls: OMG … this games freaked me out … i tried them so often but they are so damn hard … did not finish any (besides Bloodbourne if this counts).
System Shock / Bio Shock: never played System Shock and only some hours of BioShock 1…
So long .. stay healthy guys and thanks for your effort you put in any episode <3
Greetings,
Ralf