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Sierra Entertainment
Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly On-Line Systems and Sierra On-Line, Inc.) was an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher founded in 1979 by Ken Williams (game developer), Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, including the first such game, ''Mystery House''. It is known for its graphical adventure game series ''King's Quest'', ''Space Quest'', ''Police Quest'', ''Gabriel Knight'', ''Leisure Suit Larry'', and ''Quest for Glory'', and as the original publisher of Valve Corporation, Valve's ''Half-Life (series), Half-Life'' series. After seventeen years as an independent company, Sierra was acquired by CUC International in February 1996 to become part of CUC Software. However, CUC International was caught in an accounting scandal in 1998, and many of the original founders of Sierra including the Williamses left the company. Sierra remained as part of CUC Software as it was sold and renamed sev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Division (business)
A division, sometimes called a business sector or business unit (segment), is one of the parts into which a business, organization or company is divided. Overview Divisions are distinct parts of a business. If these divisions are all part of the same company, then that company is legally responsible for all of the obligations and debts of the divisions. In the banking industry, an example would be East West Bancorp and its primary subsidiary, East West Bank. Legal responsibility Subsidiaries are separate, distinct Commercial law, legal entities for the purposes of taxation, regulation and Legal liability, liability. For this reason, they differ from divisions, which are businesses fully integrated within the main company, and not legally or otherwise distinct from it. The ''Houston Chronicle'' highlighted that the creation of a division "is substantially easier than developing subsidiaries. Because a division is an internal segment of a company, not an entirely separate enti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriel Knight
''Gabriel Knight'' is a series of point-and-click adventure games released by Sierra On-Line in the 1990s created by Jane Jensen. The titular character is an author and book store owner in New Orleans who is investigating a strange series of murders when he learns he is descended from a long line of ''Schattenjäger'' ("Shadow Hunters"). After undergoing a spiritual trial, Gabriel becomes the new ''Schattenjäger'', called on to stop those who use supernatural methods to threaten others. To signify this, he wears the Ritter Talisman, a protective medallion. Not having supernatural abilities himself, Gabriel mainly opposes his enemies with cunning and insight after investigation and research. In the first game, he is assisted by Grace Nakimura. In the two sequels, the two act as partners against evil, with Grace being a playable character. The original 1993 game '' Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers'' met with success and popularity, due in part to the voice cast including actors ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simi Valley, California
Simi Valley (; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''Shimiyi'') is a city in Simi Valley (valley), the valley of the same name in southeastern Ventura County, California, United States. It is from Downtown Los Angeles, making it part of the Greater Los Angeles Area. Simi Valley borders Thousand Oaks, California, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, California, Moorpark, and the Chatsworth, Los Angeles, Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 126,356, up from 124,243 in 2010. The city of Simi Valley is surrounded by the Santa Susana Mountains and the Simi Hills, west of the San Fernando Valley, and northeast of the Conejo Valley. It grew as a commuter town, bedroom community for the cities in the Los Angeles area and the San Fernando Valley when a freeway was built over the Santa Susana Pass. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where the Ronald Reagan, former president was buried in 2004, is in Simi Valley. History Chu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sierra (On-Line Systems) Logo
Sierra (Spanish for "mountain range" or "mountain chain" and "saw", from Latin '' serra'') may refer to the following: Places Mountains and mountain ranges * Sierra de Juárez, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra de las Nieves, a mountain range in Andalusia, Spain * Sierra Madre (other), various mountain ranges ** Sierra Madre (Philippines), a mountain range in the east of Luzon, Philippines * Sierra mountains (other) * Sierra Nevada, a mountain range in the U.S. states of California and Nevada * Sierra Nevada (Spain) Sierra Nevada (; meaning "snow-covered mountain range") is a mountain range in the Andalusian province of Granada in Spain. It contains the highest point of continental Spain:The highest peak in Spanish territory is Teide on the island of Tenerif ..., a mountain range in Andalusia, Spain * Sierra de San Pedro Mártir, a mountain range in Baja California, Mexico * Sierra Maestra, a mountain range in Cuba Other places Africa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acquisition Of Activision Blizzard By Microsoft
On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The acquisition was completed on October 13, 2023, with its total cost amounting to $75.4 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Microsoft brought Activision Blizzard under its Microsoft Gaming business unit as a sibling division to Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax Media. With it, Microsoft gained ownership of several franchises under Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King, including ''Call of Duty'', ''Crash Bandicoot'', ''Spyro'', ''Warcraft'', ''StarCraft'', '' Diablo'', ''Overwatch'', and '' Candy Crush''. As of 2023, the acquisition is the largest video game acquisition by transaction value in history. Following shareholder approval of the acquisition, the merger was reviewed by several national anti-trust bodies, with early approvals granted by the European Commission and China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), among others. The United State ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft Gaming
Microsoft Gaming is an American multinational video game and digital entertainment division of Microsoft based in Redmond, Washington, established in 2022. Its five development and publishing labels consist of: Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks (publisher of ZeniMax Media), Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King (company), King (the latter three are publishers of Activision Blizzard). It produces the Xbox video game consoles and services, in addition to overseeing production and sales, and is led by CEO Phil Spencer (business executive), Phil Spencer, who has overseen Xbox since 2014. Prior to 2022, Microsoft had several different video game-related product lines, including Xbox hardware, Xbox operations, and game development studios. Microsoft Gaming was created with the announcement of Microsoft's plans to Acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft, acquire Activision Blizzard to unify all of Microsoft's gaming groups within a single division. With the completi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The early 1980s and home computers, rise of personal computers through software like Windows, and the company has since expanded to Internet services, cloud computing, video gaming and other fields. Microsoft is the List of the largest software companies, largest software maker, one of the Trillion-dollar company, most valuable public U.S. companies, and one of the List of most valuable brands, most valuable brands globally. Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Windows. During the 41 years from 1980 to 2021 Microsoft released 9 versions of MS-DOS with a median frequen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Activision Blizzard
Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. and Vivendi Games, the company owns and operates additional subsidiary studios, as part of Activision, including Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games. Among major intellectual properties produced by Activision Blizzard are ''Call of Duty'', ''Crash Bandicoot'', ''Guitar Hero'', ''Skylanders'', ''Spyro'', ''Tony Hawk's'', ''Diablo (series), Diablo'', ''Hearthstone'', ''Heroes of the Storm'', ''Overwatch'', ''StarCraft'', ''World of Warcraft'', and ''Candy Crush Saga''. Under Blizzard Entertainment, it invested in esports initiatives around several of its games, most notably ''Overwatch'' and ''Call of Duty''. Activision Blizzard's titles have broken a number of release records. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vivendi
Vivendi SE (stylized in all lowercase) is a French investment company headquartered in Paris. It currently wholly-owns Gameloft as well as a number of investments in several companies, primarily involved in content, entertainment, media, and telecommunications. In 2000, Vivendi Universal was created from the merger with Canal+ S.A., Groupe Canal+ and Seagram, Seagram Company Ltd., owner of Universal Pictures. Vivendi sold 80% of Universal to the now-defunct General Electric (GE, owner of NBC) in 2004, forming what is now NBCUniversal. In 2006, it sold off most of the Universal components and its name reverted to Vivendi. GE bought out Vivendi's 20% stake in NBCUniversal during Comcast's Acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast, acquisition of the latter. , Vivendi's chairman Yannick Bolloré is also CEO of Havas, which was spun off from Vivendi in 2000, later became a subsidiary, and was spun off again in 2024. From 2021, Vivendi has spun off its fully-owned assets in order to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CUC Software
Vivendi Games (formerly known as CUC Software, Cendant Software, Havas Interactive, Vivendi Universal Interactive Publishing and Vivendi Universal Games) was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associates and Sierra On-Line. Between 1997 and 2001, the company switched parents and names multiple times before ending up organized under Vivendi Universal (later renamed Vivendi). On July 10, 2008, Vivendi Games merged with Activision to create Activision Blizzard. History CUC/Cendant On February 21, 1996, CUC International announced its intention to acquire Davidson & Associates (including Blizzard Entertainment) and Sierra On-Line, two American video game companies, in a stock swap. The deal closed on July 24, 1996. CUC International previously only operated membership shopping clubs, wheref ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
CUC International
CUC (Comp-U-Card) International Inc. was a membership-based consumer services conglomerate with travel, shopping, auto, dining, home improvement and financial services offered to more than 60 million customers worldwide based in Stamford, Connecticut, US, and founded in 1973 by Kirk Shelton and Walter Forbes. In 1998, it became involved in a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into what, at the time, was the biggest accounting scandal in corporate history. History Their main product, a shopping service, originally a membership telephone-based drop-ship service called Comp-U-Card begun in 1973, was made available online to users of The Source in the mid-1980s, and later CompuServe after its purchase of The Source. It later offered its Shoppers Advantage service on America Online, Prodigy, GEnie and Delphi as well. It was perhaps the first company conducting electronic commerce, although its web based service first went online in 1995. CUC's main line of operat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Half-Life (series)
''Half-Life'' is a series of first-person shooter, first-person shooter games created by Valve Corporation, Valve. The games combine shooting combat, puzzles and storytelling, and are played entirely from the first-person (video games), first-person perspective. The original ''Half-Life (video game), Half-Life,'' Valve's first product, was released in 1998 for Windows. Players control silent protagonist Gordon Freeman, a scientist working at the Black Mesa Research Facility who must survive an alien invasion caused by the facility. The use of innovative scripted sequences instead of cutscenes were influential on the first-person shooter genre, and the game inspired numerous community-developed Mod (video gaming), mods, leading to the release of the multiplayer games ''Counter-Strike'' and ''Day of Defeat''. ''Half-Life'' was followed by the expansions ''Half-Life: Opposing Force, Opposing Force'' (1999), ''Half-Life: Blue Shift, Blue Shift'' (2001) and ''Half-Life:Decay, Decay'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
