After the release of King's Quest: Mask of Eternity in 1997, Sierra Online made it clear that it had no further interest in releasing games in the King's Quest series. Sierra felt that the fan base for adventure games was too small to be financially viable.

So, in 2002, a group of King's Quest fans decided that another adventure in the series was needed, and undertook the challenge of creating a new game themselves. Many fans were disappointed in Mask of Eternity; they felt it was much more of an action game than an adventure game. They wanted another King's Quest title that was much more about storytelling and puzzle-solving, rather than running, jumping, and fighting.

Thus, Phoenix Online Studios was formed, and work on the game began. After almost four years of hard work, the first segment of the game was due to be released in December of 2005. However, shortly after releasing a trailer for the game in September, Vivendi Universal Games (who now owns Sierra) sent Phoenix Online Studios a cease and desist letter, telling them to stop all work on the game. Therefore, King's Quest IX was forced to shut down.

A few weeks later, the Save King's Quest IX campaign was launched. It was a grass-roots campaign designed to reach out to King's Quest fans all across the internet.

Emails and letters were sent to Vivendi by fans from all over the world. People blogged about us. Gaming press wrote about us. After only a few weeks into the campaign, Vivendi announced it would allow King's Quest IX to be released, under the new title "The Silver Lining."

We are grateful to everyone who participated in this campaign. The game will soon be available to King's Quest fans around the world because of you. Be sure to visit the official website for more information.