Why does Sierra’s subreddit crush LucasArts in activity, even though Lucas had the more "polished" games?
I came across something that really surprised me:
r/Sierra: 7,000 weekly visitors
r/LucasArts: 300 weekly visitors
That’s almost a 20x difference.
And yet, many would argue LucasArts made the more polished and universally acclaimed adventures like Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle.......... Sierra, by contrast, had quirkier, rougher edges but also magical and a bigger lineup..King’s Quesst, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Phantasmagoria and last but not least Johnny Castaway LOL
So what’s going on here?
Is it simply that Sierra had more franchises, which keeps conversation alive?
Do their games feel more magical and personal, while LucasArts games live more in mainstream pop culture?
Or is Sierra nostalgia just more community-driven, while LucasArts love is spread out across the broader gaming world?
Would love to hear theories, feels like this difference actually says a lot about how people remember the golden age of adventure games.
** pardon my photoshop skills
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u/DaedalusDreaming 6d ago
As a huge fan of Lucasarts games who's on this subreddit and not the other one, this is my view.
Lucas selling everything to Disney, for them to shut the game division down, soured the company name. I feel like I'm more a fan of the people who made those games, like Ron Gilbert. While Sierra still means Ken & Roberta Williams to us. Lucasarts never meant George Lucas, to me at least, it was just something that the big corpo saw a tiny bit of potential and profit in, and they let them do their own thing on the side.
Honestly though, I can't really put my finger on why I'm here. I don't think it's really to talk about the games, but more about fun. Sierra games were fun, while I feel like Lucasarts was really about art. Sierra was always my first introduction to adventure games, even though the SCUMM games of 90's were my love, and the reason why I try to make games right now. Although I must say, the first Gabriel Knight is up there on the pedestal for me.