| Industry | Computer and video game industry |
|---|---|
| Fate | Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code |
| Successor | Acclaim Games (purchaser of brand name and logotype) Electronic Arts (purchaser of intellectual property for Burnout) THQ (purchaser of intellectual property for Juiced) Throwback Entertainment (purchaser of intellectual property) We Go Interactive Co.,Ltd (purchaser of intellectual property for Re-Volt, RC Revenge Pro, RC De Go) |
| Founded | 1987 |
| Defunct | 2004 |
| Headquarters | Glen Cove, New York, USA |
| Key people | Greg Fischbach: founder, co-chairman, CEO |
| Products | Video games, comic books |
| Subsidiaries | Iguana Entertainment, Probe Entertainment, Sculptured Software, Valiant Comics |
| Website | Acclaim.com |
Acclaim Entertainment was an American video game developer and publisher. It developed, published, marketed and distributed interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms, including Sega's Mega Drive/Genesis, Saturn, Dreamcast, and Game Gear, Nintendo's NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance, Sony's PlayStation and PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox, and, to a lesser extent, personal computer systems and arcade games. It also released video games for the Sega Master System in Europe.
After Acclaim Entertainment's 2004 demise, the Acclaim brand and logotype were purchased by the unrelated company Acclaim Games (now also defunct). Canadian video game publisher Throwback Entertainment acquired 150+ titles of Acclaim's video game library. In July, 2010, We Go Interactive Co.,Ltd, based in Seoul, Korea, purchased all IP related with Re-Volt, RC Revenge Pro, RC De GO from Throwback Entertainment.[1]
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Founded in 1987 as a Delaware corporation, Acclaim maintained operations in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Australia, and Japan. In its first years, Acclaim was exclusively a video game publisher, either farming out the creation of its video games to external developers or localizing existing video games from overseas. But as it grew, it purchased some independent studios, including Iguana Entertainment of Austin, Texas, Probe Entertainment of London, England and Sculptured Software of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The name of the company was picked because it had to be alphabetically above the co-founder's former place of employment, Activision, and also had to be alphabetically above Accolade (another company formed by ex-Activision employees). This was a common formula for picking names of new companies that were founded by ex-Activision employees (the founders of Activision used this formula when they left Atari).
Many of Acclaim's products were licensed titles: games based on comics, television series (including wrestling shows and cartoons) and movies. They were also responsible for the ports of many of Midway's arcade games in the early-to-mid 1990s, including the Mortal Kombat series. They also published some games from other companies that at the time of publication didn't have an American branch, such as Technos Japan's Double Dragon II and Taito's Bust-A-Move series. Several games in the Acclaim catalog are frequently cited as among the worst of all time, a fact that has continued to earn it the derision of gamers and gaming media.
The waning of the arcade game industry, coupled with some poor sales and public enthusiasm from several key titles led to the eventual loss of many of their licenses. One result of this was their late refactoring of the Dave Mirra's Freestyle BMX series. To add to that, their arcade game Batman Forever, as well as its console adaptations, had poor sales also due to poor gameplay.
In 1995, the company acquired Sculptured Software and Probe Entertainment.[2]
A less significant aspect of Acclaim's business was the development and publication of strategy guides relating to their software products and the issuance of "special edition" comic magazines, via Acclaim Comics, to support the more lucrative brand names. Lastly, they created the ASF/AMC motion capture format which is still in use in the industry today.[3]
Acclaim enjoyed a long relationship with the World Wrestling Federation dating back to 1988's WWF WrestleMania. However, after failing to match the success of World Championship Wrestling's THQ/AKI games amidst the Monday Night Wars, the WWF unexpectedly defected to THQ in 1999. Acclaim then picked up the license to Extreme Championship Wrestling and released two lackluster games for the company. ECW declared bankruptcy in 2001 while still owing Acclaim money. The game publisher would release three marginal wrestling titles under the Legends of Wrestling banner in the throes of its final years.[4]
During Acclaim's decline towards bankruptcy, Steve Perry, an executive, made several infamous business and marketing decisions. One example was a promise to UK gamers that a £500 prize would be awarded to up to five winners who would name their baby "Turok", to promote the release of Turok Evolution. Another was an attempt to buy advertising space on actual tombstones for a Shadowman game.
The company also had a history of shady dealings with its employees. Roughly two years after its acquisition of the Salt Lake City-based Sculptured Software, during which it offered Sculptured Software employees what looked like iron-clad contracts and stock that would be vested over the course of the contracts, it abruptly laid off about half the company, violating its own contract terms. The lay-off, however, came so abruptly that the employees had to choose between taking a reasonable severance package (whose terms altered several times during the initial weeks after the layoff) and not suing, or join the other creditors and sue, but lose their severance packages. Roughly ten years later, one of numerous class action suits filed on behalf of stockholders was won, allowing some of these employees the chance at least to realize a return on some of the stock that had been vested [1]. Named in this particular suit were founder and CEO Greg Fishbach, Edmond Sanctis, James Scoroposki and Gerard Agoglia.
Acclaim also suffered multiple lawsuits, a portion of them with former partners. Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen sued over unpaid royalties. In the last iteration of the BMX series, semi-nude, nude and porn content (e.g., full motion video of strippers and nude female riders) was added in hopes of boosting sales. However, like most of their other contemporary titles, BMX XXX sold poorly and was derided for its trashy content and poor gameplay. Dave Mirra himself publicly disowned the game, stating that he was not involved in the decision to include nudity, and he sued Acclaim for fear of being associated with BMX XXX. Another was from Acclaim's own investors, claiming that Acclaim management had published misleading financial reports.
In 2001, Probe Entertainment became Acclaim Cheltenham.
In May, 2002 Acclaim bought most of the assets of the Software Creations studio and established a new development company, known as Acclaim Studios Manchester.[5]
In December 2002, Acclaim closed its Salt Lake City studio (formerly veteran developer Sculptured Software).[6]
Acclaim suffered severe financial problems in 2004, the result of most of their video and video game titles (like Showdown: Legends of Wrestling) selling very poorly. This resulted in the closure of Acclaim Studios Cheltenham and Acclaim Studios Manchester in England and other places and their filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, leaving many employees unpaid. Amongst the titles under development at the UK studios were Emergency Mayhem, Kung Faux and Made Man.
On September 1, 2004, Acclaim filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of New York, which would virtually annihilate their company in liquidating all possible assets to pay off their enormous debt which reportedly tops USD$100 million.
An attempt to reopen the Cheltenham and Manchester studios in October 2004 (under the new name Exclaim) failed due to legal wrangling over IP, with both the US and UK administrators claiming rights.
In August 2005, former Activision executive Howard Marks purchased the name "Acclaim" for a reported $100,000. In the beginning of 2006, Marks formed a new company called Acclaim Games. According to a job listing for the company, Acclaim Games is aimed at the US and UK preteen multiplayer markets.
In 2006, Throwback Entertainment, a video game company that had once considered acquiring Acclaim Entertainment, announced that it had purchased 50+ of Acclaim's games, and vows to bring such titles as Re-Volt, Extreme-G, Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance, Vexx, Fur Fighters and many other franchises into the next generation and beyond.[7] However the second iteration of Acclaim did not go well either due to connectivity and payment issues for their online games, along with a lack of action against dishonest players, earning that iteration of the company an "F" grade from the Los Angeles/Southern California Better Business Bureau.[8]
In July 2010, We Go Interactive Co.,Ltd, based in Seoul, Korea, acquired all IP related with Re-Volt, RC Revenge Pro, RC De Go from Throwback Entertainment.
| Name | Release Year | Platform(s) |
|---|---|---|
| AFL Live 2003 | 2002 | PC, PS2, Xbox |
| AFL Live 2004 | 2003 | PC, PS2, Xbox |
| AFL Live Premiership Edition | 2004 | PC, PS2, Xbox |
| Alias | 2004 | PC, PS2, Xbox, Mobile |
| All-Star Baseball | PS, PS2, N64, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube | |
| ATV Quad Power Racing 2 | 2003 | PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, GBA |
| Armorines: Project Swarm | 1999 | PS, N64, GBC |
| Aggressive Inline | 2002 | PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, GBA |
| Batman & Robin | 1998 | PlayStation |
| Batman Forever | 1995 1996 |
Super NES, Sega Master System, Mega Drive, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy, PC |
| Blast Lacrosse | 2001 | PlayStation |
| BMX XXX | 2002 | Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 |
| Bubble Bobble/Rainbow Islands | 1995 | Sega Saturn, PlayStation |
| Burnout | 2001 (PlayStation 2) 2002 (Nintendo GameCube, Xbox) |
PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox |
| Burnout 2: Point Of Impact | 2002 (PlayStation 2) 2003 (Nintendo GameCube, Xbox) |
PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox |
| Bust a Move 2 | 1997 | PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Game Boy |
| Bust a Move 99 | 1999 | PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, Game Boy |
| Constructor | 1997 | PC, PlayStation |
| Crazy Taxi | 2001 | PlayStation 2/Nintendo GameCube |
| D | 1995 | 3DO, Sega Saturn, PS, PC |
| Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX | 2000 | PlayStation, Dreamcast, Windows PC, Game Boy Color |
| Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 | 2001 | PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance |
| Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3 | 2002 | Game Boy Advance |
| Dragonheart: Fire & Steel | 1996 1997 |
Playstation, Sega Saturn, Game Boy, PC |
| ECW Anarchy Rulz | 2000 | PS, Dreamcast |
| ECW Hardcore Revolution | 2000 | PS, N64, Dreamcast, GBC |
| 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker | 2001 (PlayStation 2) 2002 (Nintendo GameCube) |
PlayStation 2/Nintendo GameCube |
| Extreme-G | 1997 | N64 |
| Extreme-G 2 | 1998 | N64, PC |
| XG3: Extreme G Racing | 2001 | PS2, Nintendo GameCube |
| XGRA: Extreme-G Racing Association | 2004 | PS2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox |
| Fantastic Four | 1997 | PS |
| Forsaken | 1998 1999 |
Windows, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 |
| Fur Fighters | 2000 (Dreamcast, Windows) 2001 (PlayStation 2) |
Dreamcast, Windows, PlayStation 2 |
| Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance | 2003 | PS2, Xbox, PC |
| Iggy's Reckin' Balls | 1998 | N64 |
| Jupiter Strike | 1995 | PS |
| Kevin Sheedy AFL Coach 2002 | 2001 | PC |
| Legends of Wrestling | 2001 (PlayStation 2) 2002 (Xbox, Nintendo GameCube) |
PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube |
| Legends of Wrestling II | 2002 | PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube |
| The Uncanny X-Men | 1989 | NES |
| Machines | 1999 | PC |
| Mary-Kate and Ashley: Get A Clue | 1999 | Game Boy |
| Mary-Kate and Ashley: Get A Clue 2 | 2000 | Game Boy Color |
| Mary-Kate and Ashley: Magical Mystery Mall | 1999 | Playstation, PC |
| Mortal Kombat | 1991 | Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega CD, Sega 32X, SNES, PC |
| Sword Maker 2: Descent | 1994 | Game Gear, PC |
| Mortal Kombat II | 1992 | Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega 32X, SNES, PC |
| NBA Jam | 2003 | PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| NBA Jam Extreme | 1996 1997 (Windows) |
Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC |
| NFL Quarterback Club | PS, N64, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Sega 32X, Sega Saturn, SNES | |
| NHL Breakaway | 1998 1999 |
N64, Playstation, Dreamcast |
| Othello | 1988 | NES |
| Paris-Dakar Rally | 2001 | PC, PlayStation 2 |
| Paris-Dakar 2: The World's Ultimate Rally | 2003 | PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube |
| Re-Volt | 1999 | PS, N64, Dreamcast, PC, Arcade |
| Revolution X | 1995 | Super NES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PlayStation |
| World Championship Rugby | 2004 | PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Shadow Man | 1999 | N64, PS, PC, Dreamcast |
| Shadow Man: 2econd Coming | 2002 | PS2 |
| Showdown: Legends of Wrestling | 2003 | PS2, Xbox |
| Smash TV | NES | |
| South Park | 1999 | PS, N64, PC |
| South Park Rally | 2000 | PS, N64, PC, Dreamcast |
| South Park: Chef's Luv Shack | 1999 | PS, N64, PC, Dreamcast |
| Space Jam | 1996 | PS, Sega Saturn, PC |
| Spider-Man: Return of the Sinister Six | 1992 1993 |
NES, Master System, Game Gear |
| Spider-Man/X-Men: Arcade's Revenge | 1992 1993 1994 |
SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, Game Boy |
| Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage | 1994 | SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis |
| Spider-Man: The Animated Series | 1995 | SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis |
| Stargate | 1995 | SNES |
| Summer Heat Beach Volleyball | 2001 | PS2 |
| The Simpsons: Bart & the Beanstalk | 1994 | Game Boy |
| The Simpsons: Bart Meets Radioactive Man | 1992 | NES, Game Gear |
| The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants | 1991 | NES, Master System, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear |
| The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World | 1991 | Amiga, Atari ST, NES, Master System, Game Gear |
| The Simpsons: Bart vs. The Juggernauts | 1992 | Game Boy |
| The Simpsons: Bart's Nightmare | 1992 1993 1994 |
SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis |
| The Simpsons: Virtual Bart | 1994 | SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis |
| Trickstyle | 1999 | Dreamcast, PC |
| Trog! | 1991 | NES, MS-DOS |
| Turok: Dinosaur Hunter | 1997 | N64, PC, Game Boy |
| Turok 2: Seeds of Evil | 1998 | N64, GBC, PC |
| Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion | 2000 | N64, GBC |
| Turok: Rage Wars | 1999 | N64, GBC |
| Turok: Evolution | 2002 | PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PC |
| Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety | 1995 | SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, PC |
| WWF In Your House | 1996 | PlayStation, Sega Saturn |
| WWF WrestleMania | 1988 | NES |
| WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game | 1996 | PC, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Saturn, PlayStation |
| WWF War Zone | 1998 | PS, N64, Sega Saturn (Cancelled) |
| WWF Attitude | 1999 | PS, N64, Dreamcast |
| WWF Raw | 1995 | SNES, Megadrive/Genesis, Sega 32x, Game Boy |
| WWF Royal Rumble | 1994 | SNES, Megadrive/Genesis, Game Boy |
| Vexx | 2003 | PS2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube |
| Virtua Tennis 2 | 2002 | PS2 |
| X-Men: Children of the Atom | 1997 | Sega Saturn, PC, PlayStation |
Acclaim had its headquarters in One Acclaim Plaza,[9] located in Glen Cove, New York. Acclaim bought the 3 story, 65,000 square feet (6,000 m2), Class A office building in 1994 for $4 million.[10] Acclaim was originally located in the hamlet of Oyster Bay in the Town of Oyster Bay.[11] It originally occupied a one-room office in Oyster Bay. At a later time it occupied a brick structure with two stories.[12]