Sierra Bye-Bye?? and Whats the Vivendi story?

#1 Euh you have a source for that news?

#2 About Vivendi i found some news at http://www.bluesnews.com/, but haven't found anything on Sierra.

#3 Vivendi ex-boss arrested

#4 Yes, Sierra is officially shut down. Who knows if Vivendi will keep the name, though.

This is just one of a string of game companies that have gone down while under the Vivendi umbrella. (see also, Dynamix)

Blizzard is one of the only Vivendi game companies that actually seems to be doing well for itself, and even they lost their core Diablo team at Blizzard North.

#5 More official news from CNN Money

#6 Oh thats right, I remember the Blizzard/Diablo thing from a while back.

Damn, I do feel for those folks; SUCKS to be a laid off tech worker in the Seattle area. Now there will be even more people competing for a job w/ me in a year when I'm done w/ school!?? Damn...

I do know that Zipper Interactive has been on a streak of hiring if anyone from here wants to pass the word on to needy good engineers...

-s

#7 Sierra isn't gone, Sierra.com still exists, and doesn't have any mention of them deciding to close down.

They even released a few games recently - Van Helsing, Condition Zero, Crash nitro Cart.

#8 The Sierra name and domain will probably still be around for a little while yet. Vivendi Universal already stated that they will continue using the name for a while longer. However, the offices in Bellevue will be closed in 60 days and all employees will be laid off. This is not Sierra's choice, but, rather, a decision made by their parent company Vivendi Universal.

#9 All these companies that are broken up and all these employees being laid off lately (not only in gamedev, also in other sectors) is creeping my out. One would almost think that starting your own full-time company would not impose more risk that being employed for a normal day job these days. Scary stuff...

#10 The French are having to cut back a little on their American workforce. Seems the boycotts are taking effect in a lot of their economic structures. Don't be surprised to see VU cutting back a lot more in the future. if Tribes 3 isn't a huge and steller hit, there will be a lot of heads rolling, count on it.

#11 Doubtful. This is more related to Vivendi's Enron-like financial scandals than with anything else, I suspect. Not to mention poor management.

I don't know about where you are, but nobody I know takes that "boycott" thing seriously, and I doubt that the average american even knows of any French products to boycott besides Evian.

#12

Quote:I don't know about where you are, but nobody I know takes that "boycott" thing seriously, and I doubt that the average american even knows of any French products to boycott besides Evian.

Watch your national news a little more or stop getting it all from one source. Many of us Americans aer VERY WELL aware of how crappy France has been to us and we do check EVERY product to make sure it's not from France.

I suppose you never even heard of the "Freedom-Fries"?

Here's 212,000 places you can learn some more...

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=france+boycott

#13 VU Games Cuts 350 Jobs

#14 Oh and don't buy from target, I hear their stuff comes from france ;) GOOO WALLMART!

#15 Hmm...
"Watch your national news a little more..."

Yup. All the news thats printed to fit. You bet I get my authoritative news views from TV Networks who also air intellectually stimulating programs like "WifeSwap" and "Temptation Island"... It's not about *truth* in any form, it's about $$$ and ratings. That especially includes the national news IMO.

"I suppose you never even heard of the "Freedom-Fries"?"

Oh please. Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never describe a deep fat fried potato slice quite the way "Freedom Fries" does. What a farce. I live in the potato capital of the world, Idaho, we still call 'em french fries and will continue to do so until the Homeland Security Potato Gestapo come bangin' at the door... 8^)

#16 "Many of us Americans aer VERY WELL aware of how crappy France has been to us "

Yeah, helping you out during your war of independence from Britain was a really crappy thing to do. And how dare they present you with a gift as symbolic of freedom as the Statue of Liberty. Really you should send it back immediately!

#17 LOL... comeon ppl, potatoes and france?!? I wanted to hear the whole VU story, how they blew their cash etc.

Did you know that WA state actually produces more potatoes than idaho? At least thats what they taught us in WA history. Also, the Yakima valley is one of the top producers of aspargus... I think they are developing the first machine aspargus harvesting machine too... Maybe farming is the way to go in this tech economy :)

#18 Washington is also a leading producer of apples - want to say the biggest in the world.

C'mon, the French invented Tim Gift, baguettes, and the french kiss... They can't be that bad. :)

#19 Well... At least the thread started out interesting enough before politics intervened...

#20 Politics always ruins things. Can't we just do without? :p