Here's a list of video games listed among the best (a great title for a list!) I found on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vi...g_the_best
These are all games which 'have appeared on various publications' lists of "best" or "greatest" video games of all time'. It contains 16 games catagorized as 'Adventure', of which 6 are classic LucasArts / Lucasfilm point-and-click titles.
I know it's just a silly list but I found it interesting that not only are LucasArts/film the only company represented with any point-and-click titles, but that there are no classic Sierra adventures listed (in the list) at all!
Why would this be? In my mind series such as Space Quest, Police Quest and Gabriel Knight are right up there with the Lucasfilm titles, at least in terms of influence and popularity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vi...g_the_best
These are all games which 'have appeared on various publications' lists of "best" or "greatest" video games of all time'. It contains 16 games catagorized as 'Adventure', of which 6 are classic LucasArts / Lucasfilm point-and-click titles.
I know it's just a silly list but I found it interesting that not only are LucasArts/film the only company represented with any point-and-click titles, but that there are no classic Sierra adventures listed (in the list) at all!
Why would this be? In my mind series such as Space Quest, Police Quest and Gabriel Knight are right up there with the Lucasfilm titles, at least in terms of influence and popularity.
Attached Files
I agree!
This is just for fun, I'm not claiming any knowledge on this topic.
I think LucasArts was more invested in print media for advertising, getting reviews. As were the companies doing distribution, localization and marketing for LucasArts in Europe.
Here's the Sierra perspective:
"One of the major critiques of me, through the years, was that at Sierra developers were treated like gods, and everyone else as unnecessary overhead. This was a fair commentary. I felt we were in a product business, and that only product mattered. (...) You can’t turn crap into gold by spending millions on advertising. We ran almost no advertising, and spent almost no money on trade shows.
What we did spend was against existing customers, and really it was just “informational”, not hype. I’m anti-hype. I felt we were running a “club” where our job was to build cool product for people who had bought from us before (I did spend on direct mail, such as InterAction magazine)."
https://www.sierragamers.com/ken-williams/
They did try to get a power ballad on the radio at some point. i'm curious about the choices leading up to this strategy. Had they spent that money on a couple of magazines, maybe King's Quest VI would be on the list.
Sierra was often the pioneer in terms of technology, going for the most impressive release that year. The humour and cultural references were aimed at boomers and children. That does't mean bad! Some of it holds up. But LucasArts appeals more to the sensibilities of the people that would end up writing these articles.
Of all the Sierra games missing from this list, I think the first Gabriel Knight is the most surprising omission. It got a remake and it has clearly infuenced games released decades after the Golden Age®.
This is just for fun, I'm not claiming any knowledge on this topic.
I think LucasArts was more invested in print media for advertising, getting reviews. As were the companies doing distribution, localization and marketing for LucasArts in Europe.
Here's the Sierra perspective:
"One of the major critiques of me, through the years, was that at Sierra developers were treated like gods, and everyone else as unnecessary overhead. This was a fair commentary. I felt we were in a product business, and that only product mattered. (...) You can’t turn crap into gold by spending millions on advertising. We ran almost no advertising, and spent almost no money on trade shows.
What we did spend was against existing customers, and really it was just “informational”, not hype. I’m anti-hype. I felt we were running a “club” where our job was to build cool product for people who had bought from us before (I did spend on direct mail, such as InterAction magazine)."
https://www.sierragamers.com/ken-williams/
They did try to get a power ballad on the radio at some point. i'm curious about the choices leading up to this strategy. Had they spent that money on a couple of magazines, maybe King's Quest VI would be on the list.
Sierra was often the pioneer in terms of technology, going for the most impressive release that year. The humour and cultural references were aimed at boomers and children. That does't mean bad! Some of it holds up. But LucasArts appeals more to the sensibilities of the people that would end up writing these articles.
Of all the Sierra games missing from this list, I think the first Gabriel Knight is the most surprising omission. It got a remake and it has clearly infuenced games released decades after the Golden Age®.
This post was last modified: 9 hours ago by BobVP.
Good points, Bob. I wasn't aware of the differing advertising methods of the two companies but clearly LucasArts had a marketing advantage having evolved from a hugely successful film company. And yes, they certainly aimed for a far larger target market for the time: teenage and twenty-something males! Given the gap of time the marketing dust should have long since settled, though.
After thinking about it, maybe it's because a lot of LucasArts games were created with both adventure gamers and casual gamers in mind, while Sierra games were mostly meant for adventure gamers.
As a result, titles like Full Throttle and Grim Fandango were played by a much broader and diverse audiences than, say, Gabriel Knight and King's Quest series.
In the long run this paid off by bringing LucasArts games a much wider recognition among gamers, including people who make these "best of" lists.
Ken Williams' words cited by BobVP kind of support this point:
As a result, titles like Full Throttle and Grim Fandango were played by a much broader and diverse audiences than, say, Gabriel Knight and King's Quest series.
In the long run this paid off by bringing LucasArts games a much wider recognition among gamers, including people who make these "best of" lists.
Ken Williams' words cited by BobVP kind of support this point:
Quote:... I felt we were running a “club” where our job was to build cool product for people who had bought from us before...
I’m not convinced it has anything to do with advertising or demographics. The first GK is indeed a notable omission, and maybe KQ6, but really, a lot of Sierra games just didn’t hold up well, as important as they were at the time. Presumably this list was compiled well after Sierra’s adventure heyday.
Co-founder, Editor-in-Chief, Adventure Game Hotspot (perhaps you've heard of it?)