# Sierra On-Line - House: Game company - Date: 1979–2008 - Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/sierra-on-line/ > Ken and Roberta Williams's company in the California foothills that invented the graphical adventure, built the fairy-tale kingdom of Daventry in King's Quest and published Ultima II. **Why it matters:** Sierra turned fairy tale and fantasy into mass-market computer entertainment, from Mystery House and King's Quest to the adventure–RPG hybrid Quest for Glory, and brought many new players, including many women, to computer games. ## Quick answers **What was Sierra On-Line?** Ken and Roberta Williams's company in the California foothills that invented the graphical adventure, built the fairy-tale kingdom of Daventry in King's Quest and published Ultima II. **When was Sierra On-Line founded?** Sierra On-Line was founded in 1979 and was based in Simi Valley, then Oakhurst, California; later Bellevue, Washington; it closed in 2008. **Who founded Sierra On-Line?** Roberta Williams. **What is Sierra On-Line known for?** King's Quest. **What happened to Sierra On-Line?** Sold to CUC International in 1996; passed through Havas and Vivendi; shut down after the 2008 Activision Blizzard merger. Activision revived the name as a publishing label in 2014. ## History Sierra began at a kitchen table in Simi Valley, California. In 1979 [Roberta Williams](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/roberta-williams/) sketched out a murder-mystery adventure inspired by the text games of the day, such as [Colossal Cave Adventure](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/colossal-cave-adventure/), and her husband Ken, a programmer, suggested adding pictures. Released through their new company, On-Line Systems, on May 5, 1980, *Mystery House* is regarded as the first graphical adventure game; with a later re-release it sold about 80,000 copies. The fairy-tale adventure *Wizard and the Princess* followed, and the couple moved into the foothills near Yosemite, renaming the company Sierra On-Line in 1982 after the Sierra Nevada. Early success brought investors and a near-disaster: pushed into cartridge games just before the 1983 crash, Sierra was forced into deep cutbacks. Rescue came from IBM, which wanted a showcase for its PCjr. Roberta Williams's answer was [King's Quest](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/kings-quest/) (1984), whose animated, walk-anywhere hero ran on Sierra's new Adventure Game Interpreter and made the company's name. By the mid-1990s Sierra, public since 1989, had well over $100 million in annual revenue, running series from *Space Quest* to *Gabriel Knight*, and it had acquired the Oregon studio Dynamix in 1990. In 1996 CUC International bought Sierra in a stock deal valued at about $1.06 billion when announced, which closed on July 24. The accounting scandal that engulfed CUC's successor, Cendant, in 1998 sent Sierra to Havas and then Vivendi. On February 22, 1999 — remembered by staff as "Chainsaw Monday" — Sierra laid off roughly 250 people and closed its original Oakhurst studio, and Roberta Williams left the company that year. Sierra survived as a label within Vivendi Games, which merged with Activision in 2008 to form Activision Blizzard; Sierra was shut down that year. Activision revived the name in 2014 as a publishing label for independent games and remakes, including a new *King's Quest* (2015). ## Notable work Sierra's contribution to fantasy was the fairy tale. *King's Quest* sent Sir Graham through a kingdom of Daventry stocked with [Grimm](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/grimms-fairy-tales/)-style witches, trolls and a leprechaun king, and the series ran through eight games; its last, *Mask of Eternity* (1998), borrowed combat from [Diablo](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/diablo/)-era action RPGs. In 1986 Sierra made *The Black Cauldron*, an adventure based on Disney's film of [Lloyd Alexander](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/lloyd-alexander/)'s [The Chronicles of Prydain](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/the-chronicles-of-prydain/). The company also bridged adventures and RPGs. Lori Ann and Corey Cole's *Quest for Glory* series (1989–98) let players choose a fighter, magic-user or thief, build skills and carry the same character through five games. It launched as *Hero's Quest*, but Sierra had not trademarked the name and had to rename it after [Milton Bradley](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/milton-bradley/) trademarked an electronic version of its [HeroQuest](https://www.lanternhall.org/works/heroquest/) board game. Sierra also published [Richard Garriott](https://www.lanternhall.org/makers/richard-garriott/)'s *Ultima II* (1982), whose royalty dispute helped push Garriott to found [Origin Systems](https://www.lanternhall.org/houses/origin-systems/), and Dynamix's *Betrayal at Krondor* (1993), set in Raymond E. Feist's Midkemia. ## Legacy Sierra showed that computer games could be storybook fantasies for a general audience. Its registration cards suggested a near-40% female audience for *King's Quest IV*, and Roberta Williams became one of the most prominent designers of the 1980s. Its adventure-game lineage, shared with rivals such as LucasArts, runs on into modern narrative games, while *Quest for Glory*'s adventure–RPG blend anticipated the choice-rich [CRPGs](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/computer-rpg/) of the 2000s. Today the name belongs to Activision, part of Microsoft since 2023, and the old catalog lives on through digital re-releases. ## Facts - Founded in 1979 in Simi Valley, California, as On-Line Systems, the company was renamed Sierra On-Line in 1982 after the nearby Sierra Nevada. - Mystery House (May 1980) is regarded as the first graphical adventure game; it and its SierraVenture re-release sold about 80,000 copies. - Sierra published Richard Garriott's Ultima II (1982), partly because it agreed to box the game with a printed cloth map. - King's Quest (1984) was commissioned by IBM to show off the PCjr and built on Sierra's new Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) engine. - Quest for Glory began in 1989 as Hero's Quest; Sierra had to rename it after Milton Bradley trademarked an electronic version of HeroQuest. - CUC International's all-stock purchase of Sierra, announced in February 1996 at about $1.06 billion, closed on July 24, 1996. - On February 22, 1999 — 'Chainsaw Monday' — Sierra laid off roughly 250 people and closed its original Oakhurst studio. ## Sources and further reading - [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Entertainment) - [Quest for Glory (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_for_Glory) --- From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.