Sierra was almighty but they still didn’t convince Stephen King to work together

The founders of the legendary studio share some memories about their desired projects.

Those who grew up in the 80s and 90s surrounded by -especially- PC video games know that Saw On Line It was one of the most important and influential companies of the time, with some of the most successful and respected video game sagas. However, its founders have recognized that not even with all that power were they able to convince one of the great masters of terror to work together on a video game.

I didn’t even know who we were so we ended up creating our own horror gameRoberta WilliamsKen and Roberta Williams They have taken advantage of their time at GDC 2022 to share some memories about those times when Sierra dazzled PC gamers from all over the world with such emblematic sagas as SWAT, Gabriel Knight or King’s Quest to name just a few. However, the Williams have a thorn in their hearts. “I tried to work with Stephen King because I wanted to make a horror game”, comments Roberta Williams. “We tried many, many times,” adds Ken Williams.

“I didn’t even know who we were, what we did, so I just went ahead and created our own horror game, Phantasmagoria. That went very well”, adds Roberta Williams. As fans of Sierra will know, this terrifying adventure was released in the mid-90s, not without controversy due to its high degree of violence. “Probably [Stephen King] he now regrets not having worked with us after what he saw in Phantasmagoria“, adds Ken Williams, extolling the quality of this video game.

King’s Quest, Gabriel Knight or SWAT are sagas that were born in SierraHowever, this would not be the only dream project in which the founders of Sierra managed to embark, since they also wanted to create a video game of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy which ultimately fell into the hands of Infocom. “I’ve always wanted to make a Guide to the Galaxy game,” says Ken Williams. “The guys at Infocom pulled it off. I really wanted to work with its author, Douglas Adams, but I never got around to it,” he concludes.

In recent days Roberta and Ken Williams have made headlines by confirming that after more than 20 years away from video game development, they have started working on a remake of a legendary game out of sheer boredom, as a result of the months of confinement due to the pandemic.

More about: Stephen King, Sierra and Phantasmagoria.