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Sierra started modestly as On-Line Systems in 1980, with founders Ken and Roberta Williams programming games and managing the company from their own home. Their first game was Mystery House , the world's first graphic adventure game.
In 1982 the company changed its name to Sierra On-Line and moved to Oakhurst, California.
In 1984, Sierra developed King's Quest, initially published by IBM, to show off the advanced technology of the IBM PCjr. The success of that game (subsequently ported to other platforms) set forth one of the most popular series Sierra has ever created, and spurred them into creating numerous adventure game series based on the Quest theme. In the years to come Sierra would remain on the forefront of groundbreaking computer game design, sometimes creating large blockbusters and other times, failed experiments.
Starting in 1990Events January January 3 Former leader of Panama Manuel Noriega surrenders to American forces. January 7 The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns. January 9 Lt Gen Bazilio Olara Okello The man who led the coup aginst Dr Apo, Sierra began acquiring other companies, including DynamixDynamix, Inc. was an American developer of computer games. The company was founded in 1984 by Jeff Tunnell and Damon Slye in Eugene, Oregon. Their first title was Stellar 7''. Originally released before the founding of Dynamix, the game was later re-relea (1990), Bright Star Technologies ( 19921992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday. Events January January The Internet Society is formed. January 1 Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Perez de Cuellar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General January 1 George H. Bush becomes the fi), Coktel Vision ( 19931993 is a common year starting on Friday and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003 Events January January 1 Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of independent Slovakia and Czech Republic.) and Impressions GamesImpressions Games was a computer game development studio founded by David Lester (currently of Firefly Studios), in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He sold the company to Sierra Entertainment, who was then bought out by Cendant and eventually, Vivendi Universal ( 19951995 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). It has a Golden number of 1, and was the first year of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People (1995- 2005): http://www. org/culture/indigenous . Events January events Ja).
In 19911991 like 2002, is a palindromic year. It also has the same calendar as 2002, including Easter on March 31. It is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first blac Sierra started an online service called The Sierra Network. Pre- WWW, it was comparable to services like CompuServe or Prodigy except that its interface was completely graphical. Thematically it was a " kingdom" in which you visited different "lands" to post on message boards, exchange emails and play games. It was renamed ImagiNation Network and sold to AT&T in 1994 who sold it to AOL in 1996.
In 1994, Sierra moved its headquarters to Bellevue, Washington to attract more talent.
In 1996, the company was sold to CUC and Ken Williams left one year later. CUC later merged with HFS Corporation to form Cendant Software . After the discovery of an accounting scandal, Sierra was sold again to French publisher Havas who in turn were acquired by French giant Vivendi.
Sierra's location in Oakhurst was renamed Yosemite Entertainment in 1998, then shut down in 1999, on a day that has become known to Sierra fans as "Chainsaw Monday".
The company was renamed Sierra Entertainment in 2002.
In June 2004, Vivendi reorganized the Vivendi Universal games group, distributing Sierra's work to other units and finally shutting down Sierra's Bellevue location in August. The Sierra brand lives on in name only.
An independant group known as AGD Interactive have also remade and updated several of Sierra's classic Adventure Games from the 80's and 90's.