Sierra On-Line: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Gaming Legend
A Brief History of Sierra Online (2017)
Sierra On-Line, founded by Ken and Roberta Williams in 1979, defined the graphic adventure genre with King's Quest and later hits like Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Half-Life. The company launched the first game-only online network in 1991, but a $1.5 billion acquisition by CUC International in 1996 led to accounting fraud, layoffs, and eventual closure under Activision in 2007. In 2014, Sierra was revived as an independent studio.
In 1996, CUC International would buy Sierra at approximately $1.5 billion. Ken Williams stepped down from CEO of Sierra and became deputy-president of CUC. But unfortunately, both he and Roberta left the company a year later.