Sierra Entertainment

Logo descriptions by EnormousRat and MegaAveron25

Logo captures by EnormousRat and MegaAveron25

Video captures courtesy of EnormousRat and Sierra Games

Background:
Sierra is a legendary game developer and publisher, most famous for its quests. It was founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems. The company came to fame following their production of Hi-res Adventuresfor the Apple II. The company would soon become Sierra On-Line and later Sierra Entertainment, which is the company's current identity.In late 90's Sierra passed through a series of acquisitions (by CUC International, then Cendant, which was purchased by Havas). In 1999 Sierra, suffering from financial troubles, announced major layoffs, which included some studios to be closed. Year later Havas became a part of Vivendi and was renamed Vivendi Universal Publishing. Sierra continued as a game publishing division of Vivendi. In 2008, Vivendi Games was integrated into Activision Publishing, who then closed Sierra Entertainment. However, in 2014, Sierra was relaunched by Activision Blizzard.

1st Logo (1980's-1997)
Nickname : "The Sierra Mountain"

Logo : We see a circle full of horizontal lines, which arrange to create the picture of a two-side mountain. The word "SIERRA" is seen below the logo. The logo shines and two stars appear on it after a while. sometimes, "PRESENTS" can be seen on the bottom.

Variants :Because Sierra made loads of games during the logo's lifetime, there are a lot of variants, such as the text and mountain being in different colours, or the "SIERRA" word being in a different font. There are also other variants in which more animation is added, or where it transitions in an unique way to the title screen of the game.

FX/SFX : The shining and the 2 stars, usually.

Music/Sounds : Usually an original fanfare with strings which ascend, followed by a 4-note trumpet, and two dings when the stars appear.

Availability : Very common. Can be seen on Sierra games from the time, most notably the King's Quest series.

Scare Factor : None to low, depending of the version.

2nd Logo (1996)
Nicknames : "The Sierra Mountain II", "The Animated Sierra Mountain"

Logo : We see a picture of a pixelated mountain, surrounded by faded trees and other rocks, with a thundering sky. It begins to zoom in, while lightnings hit the peak, and the weather becomes calm. Then an orange circle takes the mountain, making it golden picture, similar to the previous logo, and a rainbow comes, ending in the picture, which begins to shine. Then the word "SIERRA" zooms in and below the mountain.

FX/SFX : The thunder, the circle with rainbow, the shine. Very impressive animation, looking beautiful even under the limits of CD-ROM technology.

Music/Sounds : Some dark flute playing and thunder sounds, ending in a proud orchestral fanfare.

Availability : Appears on Lighthouse: The Dark Being as well as Lionel Traintown. It also appears on the Space Quest Collection installer.

Scare Factor : Minimal. The animation and music may scare a few, but this is a beautiful looking logo.

3rd Logo (1997-2000)
Nickname : "Sierra Attractions"

Logo : The new Sierra logo with "attractions" and a yellow line next to the "s" rotates with Red, Blue and Green lights. The yellow line shines and the copyright date "©[Year] Sierra On-Line, Inc. TM designates a trademark of Sierra On-Line, Inc." fades below.

FX/SFX : the rotation and the shining.

Music/Sounds : A short synth theme.

Availability : Can be found on pinball, poker and other sport games by Sierra.

Scare Factor : None.

4th Logo (1998)
Logo : The letters in the word "SIERRA" fly around in blue light. A rise of the blue light happens, which turns into a black BG, and the Sierra FX logo zooms out (FX has a dark-blue outline). The light shines on the logo and it fades out.

FX/SFX : The fragments flying and shining.

Music/Sounds : TBA.

Availability : Only seen on 2 Yosemite Entertainment games, which were Police Quest: SWAT 2 and Quest for Glory V.

Scare Factor : Low.

5th Logo (1998-2001)
Logo : On a starry background, we see a blueprint version of Sierra Studios logo appearing, and then after the logo is finished, black metal pieces appear and then the blue changes into black and white. Then, a yellow color replaces the black and white colors of "Sierra". The ring on the "S" shines.

FX/SFX : The logo forming.

Music/Sounds : A deep synth note and several whooshes, ending with sparkles and a dark bell tune.

Availability : Uncommon. Appears on Sierra published games from the era. The most well-known game with this logo is Half-Life. Other games include Lords of Magic, Team Fortress Classic, Counter Strike, Ground Control, SWAT 3: Close Quarters Battle (Original and Elite Editions only), King's Quest: Mask of Eternity and Homeworld Cataclysm. A shortened version appeared on Caesar 3. None of the Steam releases of Valve games will have this logo.

Scare Factor : Low to medium.

6th Logo (2001-2002)
Logo : On a black background, six CGI letters fly out from the right of the screen to the left, one by one, at a fast rate, spelling out the company name and forming the logo from before. Then a light shines behind the letters.

Variant: On SWAT 3 Tactical GOTY Edition, A copyright date appears below.

FX/SFX : The letters flying and shining.

Music/Sounds : Several sharp flying sounds, then a small whoosh sound.

Availability : Rare due to its short life span. Seen on Arcanum, Aliens vs Predator 2, The Throne of Darkness, Empire Earth, SWAT 3 Tactical GOTY Edition and both the GOTY PC/PS2 versions of The Operative: No One Lives Forever.

Scare Factor : Medium to high. The fast animation and sounds will put off many.

7th Logo (2002-2008)
Nicknames : "The Sierra Mountain III", "The CGI Sierra Mountain"

Logo : We start at the bottom of a snowy mountain. The camera then pans upward right, revealing the mountain. The mountain then fades to several segmented lines in a circle while the camera is still moving, then the camera freezes. A cloud of snowflakes then sweeps away the circle, and we see the word "SIERRA" in the company's font, with the segmented mountain circle to the left of it.

Variants :
 * World in Conflict contains different animation. Helicopters surround the red-colored mountain, which forms the Sierra logo on red without any words. Then it flashes, transforming into a Soviet emblem with hammer and sickle, and the name СЬЕРРА (literal transcription of Sierra in Russian) appears. In a moment, the logo changes to normal.
 * Software released under the Sierra Home label had this logo with the word "Home" in a cursive font. This print variant was used until 2004, when the Sierra Home label was discontinued.
 * A still version exists, with the mountain in yellow.
 * There was a version with tribal-style remixed soundtrack.
 * A white-background still version was used on Tribes: Vengeance.
 * Starting from 2006, the logo now plays in warp-speed.

FX/SFX : Excellent CGI.

Music/Sounds : A flute piece, transitioning into a techno beat that grows louder into an orchestral hit, and then a whoosh when the snowflake cloud appears.

Availability : Very common. The original version can be seen on original, Non Steam versions of Half-Life 2, F.E.A.R, Eragon, SWAT 4, Ground Control 2, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, Caesar IV, and the international version of Spyro: A Hero's Tail, among others. Often accompanied by the Vivendi Univesal Games logo. The later shorter version appears on The Legend of Spyro trilogy, Crash of the Titans and Crash: Mind Over Mutant, Sacrifice: The World is Yours, TimeShift and other games from that era. The Sierra Home variant was seen on Sierra published software from 2002-2004.

Scare Factor : Low, due to the music.

8th Logo (August 7, 2014-)
Nicknames : "The Sierra Mountain IV", "New Sierra Mountain", "CGI Sierra Mountain II", "The Hiker"

Logo : We see wind blow against a white background as a man clad in hiking gear, shielding his eyes with his left arm, comes into view. As the wind dies down, we see the Sierra mountain, and the hiker pauses to view it for a moment before running up to it. The camera zooms out as we see that the hiker animation is coming from a series of blue bars. They come together to form a blue, redesigned version of the Sierra mountain logo as "SIERRA", in a gray, stylized font, forms underneath it. When the logo is complete, it flashes blue and some frost blows off of it, and the background changes to vignetted black/blue gradient. The small byline "©[year] Activision Publishing, Inc. SIERRA is a trademark of Activision Publishing, Inc." fades in at the bottom of the screen.

Variants :
 * A still version of the finished product appears on the bottom-left corner of the title screen for the iOS version of Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions.
 * A shorter version of the logo with only the last part of the animation and no byline appears in trailers for Sierra games.

FX/SFX : Impressive CGI animation that looks very realistic.

Music/Sounds : Wind blowing sounds are heard throughout. Near the end, there are some whooshes and a deep "boom" (not unlike the 2001 logo) as the logo comes together.

Availability : Current. It was first revealed on the Sierra website in late 2014 and officially debuted on Velocity 2X in September. Also seen on Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions, Shiftlings, and the 2015 King's Quest reboot.

Scare Factor : Low.