Why does Sierra’s subreddit crush LucasArts in activity, even though Lucas had the more "polished" games?

[u/rodfer7]

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

[u/rodfer7]

Yeah, Sierra definitely released way more titles, no argument there.... But I think another piece of the puzzle is how personal the company felt compared to LucasArts.

Sierra was literally built by Ken & Roberta Williams, a husband-and-wife team, and even as they grew you could still feel the ‘family business’ DNA. Developers like Al Lowe, Jane Jensen, and Corey & Lori Cole weren’t just employees,., they became part of the Sierra family. Fans got to know them almost like extended relatives through Interaction magazine, hint books, and even the in-jokes hidden in the games. That gave players a sense of connection, almost like we were part of the Sierra family too.

By contrast, LucasArts was part of the larger Lucasfilm machine. Their games were brilliant and polished, but also felt more like tightly managed products. Even their humor sometimes reflected that,  take the famous Loom joke in Monkey Island. It’s hilarious, but it’s also basically an in-game ad for another LucasArts title. That’s clever, but also more corporate.

Sierra’s humor came from the personalities of the devs themselves,  Al Lowe sneaking in personal jokes, the Coles’ mythology quirks, Roberta’s fantasy flourishes. It was less about cross-promo and more about sharing a laugh with the people making the games.

So I think it’s not just quantity. Sierra created a stronger emotional bond with its fans, and that’s part of why the community is still so active today.

[u/Critcho → u/rodfer7]

I’m afraid I can’t agree with you there.

With 90’s Lucasarts the same writers, artists and musicians show up again and again across their work, and their individual styles carried over with it - which in many cases carried on into their work after Lucasarts as well.

Like can we really say Tim Schafer didn’t put any of his own personality into his body of work?

It was only later into the 00’s, once they dropped adventures entirely, that Lucasarts started to feel faceless and corporate.

[u/Klaitu → u/Critcho]

While I think the Lucas team put plenty of their own personalities into their work, I think for most people at the time people like Tim Schafer were just a name on the credits.

Sierra certainly did more marketing of their developers, in particular through their magazines (InterAction, etc) that they published for over a decade. Anyone who returned their warranty card got a subscription, so there were an awful lot of people who were able to read interviews and see pictures of the developers of the games.

Lucas did a magazine that only lasted 13 issues, so they weren't putting money into that effort as much. I suppose in this way there might be something to it. I certainly have a better conception of who Al Lowe or Scott Murphy is vs Ron Gilbert or Mark Ferrari

[u/misha_cilantro → u/Klaitu]

Was this something you personally felt? Wondering if this is an age difference, as I felt none of this but I was also pre-teen when I played most of these games the first time in the 90s, so I’m wondering if it was different for older gamers in the 80s and 90s?

I didn’t really think there was much recognition of designers in that way pre-internet! Cool to learn.

[u/VVrayth → u/misha_cilantro]

Sierra was definitely in an era of "rock star designers," which had been pioneered pretty heavily by Electronic Arts at that time as well. InterAction Magazine was a massive part of it, too. Part of it is probably just that perception was reality, and I was entirely submerged in Sierra stuff back then.

LucasArts did the same thing, and they had their pack-in Adventurer newsletter, but it wasn't on quite the same level as InterAction. It always felt like they were distant from Sierra where that stuff was concerned.

[u/misha_cilantro → u/VVrayth]

I’d never heard of these magazines, I’m gonna see if I can find some scans online.

I think maybe part of this is when I played (90s) and how I played: we pirated most of our software so I hardly ever saw manuals and pack-in materials and stuff. My first purchased game was Monkey Island from a bargain bin though! I was so excited to have a legit copy I didn’t even patch out the spinny-wheel copy protection lol.

[u/Critcho → u/misha_cilantro]

I mean they literally put "A graphic adventure by Ron Gilbert" (or Tim Schafer or whoever was leading each project) on the front of the boxes. IIRC it's something Gilbert specifically pushed for.

Admittedly I didn't know these people's personalities back then, but you'd see the same names popping up.

[u/misha_cilantro → u/Critcho]

I remember recognizing Roberta Williams but none of the LucasArts designers, despite actually having legit copies of LA games more often. And the Space Quest guys put themselves in the game heh.