Hmm... It\'s complicated, I don\'t even fully understand it myself, but I\'ll try to explain it. This was probably before you\'re PC game playing time but Sierra was the first company to set up a nationwide gaming network called TSN. (The Sierra Network). At the time, the internet was still in it\'s infancy and not even 1% of the country had it yet. So Sierra had to set up their network using 2400 baud modem connecting through dial-up access. It was a fun service, and had a lot of games and areas like Red Baron II, Larry Land, Shadow of Yesubius, and even Email services. They thought they could get it to work, but Ken eventually realized that if they were going to have any possibility to make a profit, they\'d have to get a million customers to sign on. So that meant getting a million 2400 baud modems and half a million PC\'s to install them on.
AOL later bought it off Sierra and turned it into the INN (ImagiNation Network), and soon after sold it to AT&T who shut it down. Sierra struggled with the losses incured by INN, child companies like Dynamix, and the cost of developing for more powerful PCs. Games were getting more and more sophisticated, but the market wasn\'t growing. (This was the time when a lot of FMV adventures like Phantasmagora and Gabriel Knight 2 came out) Ken decided to team up with the financer CSC (Or something like that) and expanded their facilities to Bellview Washington where distribution was easier. (Sierra originally was located in Oakhurst California.. A very small mountain town that\'s about 40 minuites away from the nearest city with an Airport)
Sierra thrived for awhile but ended up getting screwed out of most of their money by CSC and was cut off from further funding. Sierra had no choice but to either seriously scale back or sell to someone else. Ken took a gamble and decided to sell.. and Sierra was bought out by some other company (Can\'t remember their name) and then was sold again almost overnight to the French based company Havas who own\'s them now. In all these transitions, Ken was forced to step down as President and CEO of Sierra. About five months later, Sierra\'s new president decided to shut down the Oakhurst facility (Along with four other divisions) and fired most of the original Sierra designers and programmers without even so much as a day\'s notice. Oakhurst was a one stoplight town until Sierra moved in.. them and the phone company fueled Oakhurst\'s economy and when the layoffs took place, Oakhurst was devistated.
Sorry, but I just can\'t be happy who would do that to a community just because the new president didn\'t like the long drive. (Ken often spent six days a week traveling around to oversee projects at all the different divisions) Ken worked his ass to make sure things got done because he cared about the company, it\'s fans, and his employees. It\'s an example of the devotion Sierra had to their fans and workers.. all that\'s been lost now under Havas. Sierra isn\'t Sierra anymore.. they\'re just another nameless company pumping out rehased and unimaginative titles as fast as possible in order to make a quick buck. Is it any wonder why a lot of the original Sierra staff went to work at Sega? Sega\'s almost the same as Sierra in spirit.. and the two worked closely together durring the Genesis/SegaCD\'s lifetime and beyond. Editors from each magazine would even make guest apprearances for the other\'s publications. Ken even wrote a few editorial for Sega Visions as well as the regular monthly editorial in Interaction.
There\'s a lot more info out there on the net if you want to check up on it. Here\'s a link to the artical I got Josh\'s quote from, it really drives home the impact the change of management has had on Sierra\'s spirit and employees.
http://www.justadventure.com/articles/RIP_Sierra/RIP_Sierra.asp
