I love Sierra games growing up, but I've
come to understand that they were not great
games and often quite user hostile, but
benefited more from being early movers in an
underserved market.
Harsh, but so true.
(And I'm somebody who was absolutely enthralled by about a half dozen of their adventure games back in the day)
Even if Ken and Roberta hadn't lost control of the company, I'm not sure what Sierra would have offered the world creatively at that point.
They were eclipsed by LuscasArts in the world of point-and-click adventures, and it's not really clear they had another core competency on the game development side of things. If Phantasmagoria was any indication, they seemed to want to go in the direction of "Digiwood" games with FMV but that whole genre of games turned out to be a massive dead-end for the industry and is not particularly fondly remembered.
I still celebrate Sierra, though. They absolutely moved the industry forward, and were at the pinnacle of the industry for a decade or more. Few have achieved as much, or entertained as many! Roberta in particular is a bit of a hero of mine and on a personal note I love that her and Ken are still together after all these years.
(And I'm somebody who was absolutely enthralled by about a half dozen of their adventure games back in the day)
Even if Ken and Roberta hadn't lost control of the company, I'm not sure what Sierra would have offered the world creatively at that point.
They were eclipsed by LuscasArts in the world of point-and-click adventures, and it's not really clear they had another core competency on the game development side of things. If Phantasmagoria was any indication, they seemed to want to go in the direction of "Digiwood" games with FMV but that whole genre of games turned out to be a massive dead-end for the industry and is not particularly fondly remembered.
I still celebrate Sierra, though. They absolutely moved the industry forward, and were at the pinnacle of the industry for a decade or more. Few have achieved as much, or entertained as many! Roberta in particular is a bit of a hero of mine and on a personal note I love that her and Ken are still together after all these years.