Unfortunately when BAK didn't IMMEDIATELY make Sierra Online a goldmine (though in the long term BAK ended up being one of the most profitable games in Dynamix's very impressive history), we ran into issues. The management had wanted us to crank out TOD on a third of the budget of the original, but John Cutter and I told them we didn't want to comprimise the quality of what we felt was a very valuable franchise. Rather than negotiate about it, management's response was to kill the team and look for a low-cost alternative which ultimately became "Betrayal at Antara" (after John and I were both long gone). Had we been allowed to finish it, I definitely think it would have eclipsed BAK in almost every respect because the story was even better, the stakes even higher, and we had learned so much while making BAK that there were some terrific improvements in store for virtually every aspect of the game.
"Return" happened when another company -- 7th Level-- purchased the license. Because they'd had some success building a puzzle game for Monty Python, they had believed that their Hollywood connections would make all problems disappear. They had no idea how complex a role-playing was to develop, implement, and deply. They spoke confidently that they could build a full sequel in 10 months (without having an engine to start with), but I told them straight out they'd be lucky to ship it in 18 months...and more likely, 24. The truth wasn't appreciated. After several months of consulting with them, both John and I realized that they had very little respect for the original title and for the groundwork the first game had laid. We both took our consultant checks and went our merry ways. Other than a few of my characters and some story details, there isn't much left of what we contributed to that title. I think it ended up taking them three years or so to finally push it to market, and then only after 7th Level had collapsed, it was bought by another company, then that company was repurchased by Sierra Online.