restructures its business.
More depressing news for the industry, Vivendi Universal Games has cut
350 staff and shut down Seattle-based Sierra. The venerable games
company created some of the most popular action and adventure games in
the 80's. The Sierra brand will live on in name only and projects tied
to the Sierra pipeline, Half-Life 2, Ground Control II and Tribes:
Vengeance are already being developed by other teams within Vivendi.
Also affected by the restructuring, the Hoyle brand of card and board
games have been canceled.
"Restructuring the organization and reducing our cost base are necessary
to improve our operating effectiveness and profitability," said VU Games
CEO Bruce Hack, in as terse a manner as possible. "This constitutes
another important step in our turnaround plan aimed to better position
the company for growth."
Along with VU Games restructuring, the game company is prepping up for
profitability with a powerful lineup for the second half of 2004. VU
Games is looking for some higher revenues with titles like World of
Warcraft, Spyro: A Hero's Tail and the well-received The Chronicles of
Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay.