Sierra Entertainment set to return with new game at Gamescom 2014

It's the briefest of teasers, but there's joy to be had in knowing that Sierra's still alive and kicking.

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Longtime gamers got a big surprise on Thursday night. A new splash logo has been revealed for Sierra Games, a decades-old development studio responsible for a countless number of games across a variety of platforms. Their work ranges from a large number of well-known franchises, including King's Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Gabriel Knight, and Ultima. They've also helped publish a number of Valve games, like Half-Life 2. And now it appears that they're ready to return with an all-new project, set to be revealed at this year's Gamescom.

Sierra fell under the Activision umbrella as part of the 2008 merger between Activision and Blizzard parent company Vivendi, which created the current Activision Blizzard giant we know today. The studio largely remained quiet since that sale, but it looks like Activision is ready to dust off the old brand and bring a new gaming franchise forward.

It's clearly a bit early to speculate on what Sierra could be working on, but the fact that they're even alive and kicking at all should raise excitement for anyone that grew up with their vast library of games.

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

From The Chatty
  • reply
    August 7, 2014 9:10 PM

    Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, Sierra Entertainment set to return with new game at Gamescom 2014.

    It's the briefest of teasers, but there's joy to be had in knowing that Sierra's still alive and kicking.

    • reply
      August 7, 2014 9:12 PM

      Bastards canceled Babylon 5 Space Combat Simulator.

      They will not gain my forgiveness.

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      August 7, 2014 9:47 PM

      HL3 CONFIRMED

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      August 7, 2014 9:51 PM

      In name, perhaps. They should let the dead rest.

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      August 7, 2014 9:53 PM

      It could be worse. Activision could have called their new terrible Steam clone "Sierra".

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      August 7, 2014 9:54 PM

      I miss the old school games like Kings Quest or Space Quest

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      August 7, 2014 10:02 PM

      Those of us who were there after the Activision merger know Sierra is dead. The entire corporate culture changed after that point. :-(

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        August 7, 2014 11:22 PM

        Sierra was dead long before that.

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          August 8, 2014 12:29 AM

          Yup. I'd go as far as to say that as soon as the Williams weren't involved (& Roberta kinda lost her touch with the latest King's Quest anyway), the good Sierra of old was already dead.

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            August 8, 2014 4:13 AM

            Agreed. The Williams were pretty much the heart and soul of the original Sierra. This is just purely a marketing stunt. I mean, sure I'd love to see a modern KQ, but do we really think Activision would risk doing a point and click adventure? No.

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              August 8, 2014 4:50 AM

              King's Quest yearly FPS game published with Sierra label?

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                August 8, 2014 6:03 AM

                I could see Activision try to do some kind of KQ themed RPG (A-RPG?). More focus on the story side than puzzles and/or action. The only reason being is that Broken Age did so well on Kickstarter. But, not sure if it's actually sold well otherwise.

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              August 8, 2014 6:24 AM

              Maybe Activision will use Sierra as their indie/low cost high risk publishing arm. Oh wait never mind this is Activision they would be happy with 1 game a year as long as it was Call of Duty.

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                August 8, 2014 7:59 AM

                [deleted]

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                  August 8, 2014 9:27 AM

                  and if you forget to pick up an inconspicuous stick on the floor on the second act, be prepared to get one-shot by a boss with no reason as to why.

                  You'll have to play the game all over again and pick up the fucking stick and THEN you'll survive his attacks.

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                    August 8, 2014 10:23 AM

                    This was the worst thing about the kings quest series.

                    I especially remember one in KQ5 where you walk into a frame and a cat runs across the bottom of the screen with something in his mouth. You have to throw some shit at him to drop the whatever (a key maybe?) or you get stuck in a cellar later and can't beat the game.

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      August 7, 2014 10:15 PM

      Is this the same shit as resurrecting Black Isle? You may use the name but everyone who made that company a name is no longer there.

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      August 7, 2014 10:27 PM

      Is this going to be a game published under Sierra or a game developed by Sierra? In the end, it probably doesn't mater.

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      August 7, 2014 11:20 PM

      InstantAction owns the Tribes IP, so it's not going to be that. Which is good given how badly Vivendi ruined Tribes: Vengeance.

      I dunno, maybe SWAT or Police Quest? It has to be an old IP. There's no reason to bring back the brand otherwise.

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        August 8, 2014 4:00 AM

        Not that it really matters but Hi-Rez owns Tribes.

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      August 8, 2014 12:27 AM

      Bit of a long shot to associate Sierra with Ultima: the only thing they ever dealt with was the publishing of the 2nd one, an Atari version of Ultima I and the infamous Escape from Mount Drash, they're far less linked to the series than EA ever was.

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      August 8, 2014 12:28 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 8, 2014 12:42 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 8, 2014 3:25 AM

      If it doesn't have the Williams', the Coles, Al Lowe or the Two Guys from Andromeda, then it doesn't really mean much.

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      August 8, 2014 4:03 AM

      Kings quest games would be great for the ipad

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      August 8, 2014 4:48 AM

      I would say Activision is soon announcing King's Quest since they tore down the contract that they had with Telltale on creating new King's Quest games. Most likely some brainiac thought about having Sierra as publisher for that.

      Lets see, maybe already at Gamescom there is an announcement about KQ.

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      August 8, 2014 4:50 AM

      space quest 10!!!!

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      August 8, 2014 6:05 AM

      OH! I've got it! Activision is going to combined all the greatness of that era into one game. A full motion video King's Quest adventure. OH, and wait for it. With MICROTRANSACTIONS!

      </total sarcasm>

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      August 8, 2014 6:07 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 8, 2014 6:52 AM

      SWAT 5 please.

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      August 8, 2014 7:45 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 8, 2014 8:56 AM

      I liked Police Quest...

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        August 8, 2014 11:03 AM

        Every two to three years I'll go back and play through Police Quest 2 & Space Quest 3. Such great games.

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      August 8, 2014 9:06 AM

      [deleted]

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      August 8, 2014 9:33 AM

      when I think of Sierra I think of the 'Quest games... King's Quest specifically. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to grab some of what Telltale is doing and start releasing episodic KQ games and then move on to SQ if those are successful.

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        August 8, 2014 12:09 PM

        You'd think they could bring in Al Lowe, Marc Crowe, etc since those guys actually did their own remakes on kickstarter. It could be a whole getting-the-band-back-together thing.

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      August 8, 2014 9:40 AM

      Holy shit, Outpost 3 please!!! And World in Conflict 2!!!

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      August 8, 2014 12:06 PM

      OMG OMG OMG OMG. Talk about a blast from the past. I had so many Sierra games.

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      August 8, 2014 12:08 PM

      I want a new Star Trek 25th anniversary type point and click game

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      August 8, 2014 12:12 PM

      If they're reviving a game series it probably has to be an older one, because I think all the new ones got sold off after the Activision / Vivendi merger. I know Ground Control did, and I'm pretty sure I saw a bunch of others go as well.

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      August 8, 2014 2:41 PM

      will the uninstaller delete my entire Steam folder?

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        August 9, 2014 8:07 AM

        Hahah, there we go, I was hoping someone made a "Sierra Utilities" joke. I'm so glad I never installed that thing (or if I did, I NEVER NEVER touched it or tried to uninstall it).

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      August 8, 2014 2:42 PM

      ZORK! (not gonna happen)

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      August 8, 2014 2:42 PM

      Watch, it'll be more Leisure Suit Larry :/

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      August 11, 2014 5:41 AM

      Hmmm, I loved all of their games back in the day. I could use a proper Heroes Quest series again. I miss them. Also I miss Roger W.

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