Sierra On-Line, Inc.
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Formerly called
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| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Video game industry |
| Fate | Dissolved by parent. Revived as a brand name in 2014. |
| Founded | 1979 in Oakhurst, California, U.S. |
| Founders | |
| Defunct | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Bellevue, Washington, U.S. |
| Products | List of Sierra Entertainment video games |
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| Website | sierra |
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and later Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game publisher based in Bellevue, Washington.
Founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems, by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company was acquired by CUC International in 1996, and sub-organized under its CUC Software subsidiary the year after. CUC Software was then acquired by Havas Interactive (later renamed Vivendi Universal Games and Vivendi Games) in 1999. In 2008, Vivendi Games was acquired by and merged with Activision, and Sierra Entertainment was closed shortly after. The "Sierra" brand name was re-activated as a publishing label by Activision in 2014.
Sierra Entertainment was founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems in Simi Valley, California, by Ken and Roberta Williams. Ken Williams, a programmer for IBM, bought an Apple II microcomputer which he planned to use to develop a Fortran compiler for the Apple II. At the time, his wife Roberta Williams was playing text adventure games on the Apple II. Dissatisfied with the text-only format, she realized that the graphics display capability of the Apple II could enhance the adventure gaming experience. After initial success, On-Line Systems was renamed Sierra On-Line in 1982, and the company moved to Oakhurst, California. By early 1984 InfoWorld estimated that Sierra was the world's 12th-largest microcomputer-software company, with $12.5 million in 1983 sales.
In 1980, On-Line Systems released their first game in the Hi-Res Adventure series, Mystery House. Roberta wrote the script for the adventure game in three weeks, then presented it to Ken. At this point, Roberta convinced Ken to help her develop the game in the evenings after work. She worked on the text and the graphics, and told Ken how to put it all together to make it the game she wanted. They worked on it for about three months and, on May 5, 1980, Mystery House was ready for shipment. Mystery House was an instant hit. It was the first computer adventure game to have graphics, although they were crude, monochrome, static line drawings. It sold about 15,000 copies and earned $167,000.
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