Wednesday July 14th, 1999
Ray posted this mail on the success of Return to Krondor. It has garnered neither the critical acclaim or high sales of its predecessor (although Ray notes that it is still selling) and the development was more expensive, and the demise of PyroTechnix cast a pale shadow over the game, regardless of its success. Here's Ray:
Tough question to answer. In terms of raw units sold, it made a profit, and it's still selling, so the longer it's out there, the more profitable it becomes.
In terms of expectations, that's hard to answer because there were so many factors involved with the game that had nothing to do with writing code, putting words on paper, or scoring music and voices.
I think it would have been much happier for everyone if the game had made everyone go 'wow,' which is pretty much what most game makers are looking for.
I think it also would have been a much happier pass if Havas hadn't closed down Pyrotechnix within weeks of the game's release. That certainly killed any pleasure those of us associated with the game might now be feeling.
If you didn't know, Havas is the name of the European (French maybe) company that purchased Sierra Online from Cendant, and preceeded to shut down several development units and reorganized a bit. Oh how we miss the days of Ken and Roberta Williams...
