If you're a PC gamer of a certain age, the name Sierra On-Line (or Sierra Entertainment) revives memories of some of the most classic point-and-click adventures of the late 20th century. New corporate owner Activision is set to reactivate those memories today, reviving the brand as "Sierra Games" and promising new games in the King's Quest and Geometry Wars franchises.
The new Sierra name will apparently serve as an umbrella for a number of independent studios to reinterpret some classic gaming franchises. The newest King's Quest entry is being developed for 2015 by The Odd Gentlemen, best known for esoteric puzzle platform game The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom. Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, meanwhile, is being worked on by mobile/portable developer Lucid Games for this holiday season. No platforms have been announced for either title.
“Sierra’s goal is to find and work with gifted up-and-coming indie developers working on their own amazing projects or who are passionate about working on great Sierra IP,” a Sierra representative told GamesBeat. “We’re in talks with a large number of other indie devs, and we can’t wait to share more details with fans in the near future.”
Sierra was founded as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams way back in 1979, but it sounds like the Williams family will be relatively hands-off in this new incarnation of the company.
"We're very proud of what we created all those years ago with Sierra Online, and today's news about carrying Sierra forward as an indie-specific brand is very encouraging," Sierra founder Ken Williams said in a statement obtained by Eurogamer. "We look forward to seeing Sierra's independent spirit live on, and are especially excited to see what The Odd Gentlemen will do with King's Quest."
After being renamed Sierra On-Line in 1982, the studio was passed around to a number of corporate owners throughout the '90s and early 2000s before finally ending up as part of Activision after the mega-publisher's merger with Vivendi Games. That merger served as something of a death sentence for the brand, which has remained silent since 2008.
Though best known for adventure series like King's Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Gabriel Knight, Sierra's history also includes titles in a number of different genres, such as the city-building Caesar series, dogfighting sim Aces of the Pacific, and even open-world sandbox game The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. We're hoping today's announcement means an imminent return for the Rube Goldberg-esque puzzles of Sierra's The Incredible Machine series.
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