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Ken 'Sierra On-Line' Williams Interview

Posted by simoniker on from the softporn-adventure-highlight-of-career? dept.

DasJan writes "Adventure-Treff has conducted an extensive interview with Ken Williams, the founder and former boss of Sierra On-Line ("Leisure Suit Larry", "Space Quest", "King's Quest"...) Ken tries to give insight into his gaming philosophy, and talks about the history of Sierra and adventure gaming. He also mentions several little-known and intriguing anecdotes, such as his meeting with Bill Gates or how he tried to buy id Software."

2 of 26 comments (clear)

  1. just me? by Baron_911 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... or does Ken kinda come off as a big ass?
    I had no tolerance for anyone who didn't understand my goals. I thought of business as war. Sierra's employees were my soldiers and competitors were the enemy. If someone wanted to have fun at work, they should do so - but, not at Sierra. Go elsewhere.

    I bet all the fun was Roberta's idea, and dude was the grumpy money guy. He doesn't even PLAY games for cryin out loud! Sry... I do love old Sierra games BTW, so im not tryin to be too cruel >:)

    --
    Polaroid. See what develops!!
  2. Re:Who killed sierra? by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 3, Insightful
    You've got it all wrong. This was actually a *good* thing. Have you even noticed the instability in the game industry? It isn't a question of making hit games, but weathering the storm when the bad times come. This is how Sony has survived the past decade. When the electronics giant had some serious problems due to the economy, the Playstation saved its butt. When the economy improves, Sony can use its other divisions to prop up the gaming side.

    In fact, the most successful game publishers have other divisions that complement the game development. Lucasarts has the myriad of George Lucas properties. Cendant had hotels, car rentals to help them during slow periods. (Of course, the recession hit all their industries hard.) Microsoft became a juggernaught by using their other divisions to prop up the XBox and game publishing side. Heck, even Electronic Arts has edutainment software.

    So it ends up being not just making hit games, but being able to take on the slow periods. If the game industry has another year like 1984, only those companies who have a large enough nest egg or are able to lean on other sources of income are going to survive.