A press release was sent out today describing the cutbacks/actions taken to bring the restructuring of Vivendi Universal Games to a halt in order to get things moving again for the company.

VIVENDI UNIVERSAL GAMES ANNOUNCES REORGANIZATION AND COST REDUCTIONS AS PART OF TURNAROUND PLAN

LOS ANGELES - June 21, 2004 - Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) today announced another step in its turnaround plan to improve operating effectiveness, reduce costs and position for growth. The changes include a significant staff reduction in its North American based operations resulting in the elimination of 350 staff positions. The Company's Blizzard Entertainment studio was not part of the staff reduction.

Sierra have as a result closed their doors in Bellevue, such games as Lord Of The Realms - Zues are no more. Read more below. Or go straight to the Press Release.

More from the Press Release:

"Restructuring the organization and reducing our cost base are necessary to improve our operating effectiveness and profitability," said VU Games CEO Bruce Hack. "This constitutes another important step in our turnaround plan aimed to better position the Company for growth."

With a global and more focused organization in place, VU Games is looking ahead to the second half of the year with several major releases scheduled for launch. VU Games plans to release World of Warcraft from Blizzard Entertainment, marking the Company's entry into the massively multi-player online role-playing games category. Other current and upcoming releases for 2004 include Crash Twinsanity, Leisure Suit Larry, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, Van Helsing, Ground Control II, Fight Club and Spyro: A Hero's Tail.

About Vivendi Universal Games
Headquartered in Los Angeles, VU Games is a leading global developer, publisher and distributor of multi-platform interactive entertainment. Its development studios and publishing labels include Blizzard Entertainment, Sierra Entertainment, Fox Interactive and Massive Entertainment. VU Games' library of over 700 titles features multi-million unit selling properties such as Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo from Blizzard; Crash Bandicoot, Spyro The Dragon, Ground Control, Tribes and Leisure Suit Larry.

I never saw it coming.

Cheers

If I see anything with Blizzard on it I will buy it. Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo are all awesome titles. Can't wait for Diablo III.

a blow to the gaming world - to be sure

damn bean counters

I didn't see this one coming either. This is a big shock, as Sierra has proven time and time again that it could sell games. I personally still have the original multi-disc Darryl F. Gate's Police Quest: SWAT and other older titles, such as Conquests of Camelot. I thought Camelot was a very innovative game and looked forward to more titles like it.

Alas, also the CS community has felt this blow as well. Coming from the current state of things, I don't think much actually is going to change as Vivendi has a notion to 'change' for the better, so we shall wait and see. Personally, I think Vivendi is a playing a little 'sleight of hand' with their business lately, including that of the development of Half-Life 2, however it's no big issue really...the inconsistant and misleading information concerning Half-Life 2 (and previous Counter-Strike: Condition Zero) can be disturbing if thought about for too long, however I trust Vivendi, if really hoping for profit and growth, will make the right decisions in the future...and not release anymore positions.

I feel sad for so many people losing their jobs like that, though...I could get started on "off-shoring" however, I don't think that's appropriate. With such a 'storm' in media about it though, one can't help to wonder and maybe even do a little research into the reasons for such a "turnaround" beginning with the loss of Sierra and several hundred employees.

The topic turns me off, personally, so I doubt I'll do any heavy research into the area.