This post over on the Sierra forums shows a list of twenty-one dedicated game servers that Sierra will be shutting down as of November 1. Although the company gives no indication as to why the dedicated servers are coming down, the games listed are rather old, and it’s likely that these PC games have reached the end of their lifespan.
Then again, shutting down the servers may be Activision Blizzard’s way of flushing out old, pre-2004 Sierra Entertainment games. The company, a part of Vivendi Games, endured a complete overhaul that included the loss of 350 jobs. Vivendi’s ultimate plan was to re-launch the Sierra brand with new management, new studios, and new IP. Thus, the new line of products assigned to Sierra included Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Scarface and more.
In 2007, parent company Vivendi Games merged with Activision to create Activision Blizzard. While the Sierra branding still exists, currently there are no mentions of returning to pre-2004 Sierra IPs. As for the list of servers going offline, here they are:
1. Alien vs Predator 2
There’s no question that many gamers will be effected by the shut-down, however it’s disappointing that Sierra did not present final statistics, showing what games are still being played online as compared to when the servers actually went online. These great games lived a good life. Cross your fingers that perhaps one day some of these great IPs will return again.
