Acclaim Entertainment Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide d ...

was an American

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ( ...

from

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, active from 1987 until filing for

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debtor. ...

on September 1, 2004. Through a series of acquisitions between 1990 and 2002, Acclaim built itself a large portfolio of subsidiaries acting in the fields of development and publishing.

Development

Acclaim Studios

Acclaim Studios was established in July 1998 to organize all Acclaim-owned development studios under one management. In May 1999, all underlying studios were uniformly rebranded to bear the "Acclaim Studios" prefix. Acclaim Studios and all of its development facilities were closed on August 27, 2004.

Acclaim Studios Austin

Acclaim Studios Cheltenham

Acclaim Studios Cheltenham was based in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, England. The studio was founded in 2000 by former employees of

Psygnosis Psygnosis Limited (known as SCE Studio Liverpool or simply Studio Liverpool from 1999) was a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher headquartered at Wavertree Technology Park in Liverpool. Founded in 1984 by Ian Hether ...

' South West studio.

Acclaim Studios London

Acclaim Studios London was based in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, England. The company was founded in 1984 by Fergus McGovern and Vakis Paraskeva under the name Probe Software, which was later renamed Probe Entertainment. By 1988, the company employed 72 people. Several games developed by Probe included references to McGovern's name or likeness, including the sentence "Is that you, Fergus?" presented to players of '' Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper'' upon gaining a low score. The company specialized in the development of

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

ports and movie

tie-ins A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...

, including ''

Out Run (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi (comp ...

'', ''

Mortal Kombat ''Mortal Kombat'' is an American media franchise centered on a series of video games originally developed by Midway Games in 1992. The development of the first game was originally based on an idea that Ed Boon and John Tobias had of making a v ...

'' and ''

FIFA Soccer ''FIFA'', also known as ''FIFA Football'' and to be rebranded as ''EA Sports FC'' from 2023, is a series of association football video games developed and released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. As of 2011, the ''FIFA'' f ...

''. On October 10, 1995, Acclaim agreed to acquire Probe for 1,732 shares of

common stock Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other Com ...

. The deal closed on October 16 and was valued at , making McGovern a millionaire. The same year, McGovern also received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work at Probe. McGovern left the company a few years later to found HotGen, also a video game developer. With the consolidation of Acclaim Studios' branding in May 1999, Probe was renamed Acclaim Studios London. Acclaim Studios London was closed in April 2000.

Acclaim Studios Manchester

Acclaim Studios Manchester was founded in Manchester as Software Creations, a sole trader company, by Richard Kay in 1985. The following year, the company was joined by Steve Ruddy, who began working on

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

conversions of games like ''

Mystery of the Nile ''Mystery of the Nile'' is a 2005 IMAX film documenting the first successful expedition to navigate the entire length of the Blue Nile and Nile from its source in Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea. The expedition was led by geologist A geolo ...

'' and '' Kinetik''. Subsequently, further employees, including the Follin brothers and Mike Ager, followed after Ruddy and joined Software Creations. Successful titles produced or ported by Software Creations include ''

Bubble Bobble is a 1986 platform video game, platform arcade game developed and published by Taito. It was distributed in the United States by Romstar, and in Europe by Electrocoin. Players control Bub and Bob, two dragons that set out to save their girlfrien ...

'' (1987), ''

Bionic Commando ''Bionic Commando'' is a video game franchise consisting of an original arcade game released in 1987 and several later versions and sequels. Background The original Japanese arcade game and its Famicom counterpart (''Hitler's Resurrection'' ...

'' (1988), and '' Tin Star'' (1994). After developing ports of ''

Ghouls 'n Ghosts ''Ghouls 'n Ghosts'', known as in Japan, is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Capcom, released as an arcade game in 1988 and subsequently ported to a number of home platforms. It is the sequel to ''Ghosts 'n Goblins'' and the second g ...

'' and ''

LED Storm A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

'' in 1989, Software Creations moved into custom-built offices located within Manchester. The Pickford brothers, John and Ste, joined the company in 1990, producing ''

Equinox A solar equinox is a moment in time when the Sun crosses the Earth's equator, which is to say, appears directly above the equator, rather than north or south of the equator. On the day of the equinox, the Sun appears to rise "due east" and se ...

'' and ''

Plok ''Plok!'' is a side-scrolling platform game developed by British studio Software Creations and its concepts and characters created and owned by Ste and John Pickford. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in late ...

''. In 1994, Software Creations was acquired by

BCE Multimedia Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...

and became part of

Rage Software Rage Games (formerly Rage Software) was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its video games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay. Rage's first title '' Striker'' sold more than one mil ...

. On May 1, 2002, Acclaim announced that they had acquired Software Creations, which was renamed Acclaim Studios Manchester. At the time, Software Creations had approximately 70 employees. Acclaim Studios Manchester was closed as part of Acclaim Studios and all of its development facilities on August 27, 2004. Rod Cousens and Barry Jafrato, who served as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

and head of publishing, respectively, for Acclaim, announced in September 2004 that they were planning to create as new video game publisher, Exclaim, with the help of Europlay Capital Advisers. Exclaim was set to acquire and reinstantiate Acclaim's two UK studios, namely Manchester and Cheltenham, and re-employ their roughly 160. Exclaim's opening was expected on October 11, however, Cousen's ownership over the two studios was challenged by Acclaim's liquidator, Allan Mendelsohn, leaving the UK staff in a state of limbo. A successor to Acclaim Studios Manchester, SilverBack Studios, was founded by Jon Oldham in April 2005 and employed 15 former Acclaim Studios Manchester staff.

Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City

Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City was based in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. The company was founded as Sculptured Software by George Metos,

Bryan Brandenburg Bryan Brandenburg (born February 18, 1959 in Châteauroux, France) is a biophysicist, author, technology entrepreneur and former game programmer. Brandenburg is best known as co-founder of Zenerchi, Sculptured Software and Salt Lake Comic Con and ...

, Peter Adams, Mike Macris and Bob Burgener, and incorporated on July 12, 1985. Significant games developed by Sculptured Software include the ''

Super Star Wars ''Super Star Wars'' is an Action game, action video game developed by LucasArts and Sculptured Software for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is based on the 1977 film ''Star Wars (film), Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope''. It was rel ...

'' series, ''

Doom Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...

'' (

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

), ''

'' (SNES), ''

Mortal Kombat II ''Mortal Kombat II'' is a 1993 arcade fighting game originally produced by Midway for the arcades in 1993. It was later ported to multiple home systems, including MS-DOS, Amiga, Game Boy, Game Gear, Sega Genesis, 32X, Sega Saturn, Super Nint ...

'' (SNES), and ''

Mortal Kombat 3 ''Mortal Kombat 3'' is a 1995 arcade fighting game developed by Midway Games and first released into arcades in 1995. It is the third main installment in the ''Mortal Kombat'' franchise and a sequel to 1993's ''Mortal Kombat II''. As in the prev ...

'' (

DOS DOS is shorthand for the MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS family of operating systems. DOS may also refer to: Computing * Data over signalling (DoS), multiplexing data onto a signalling channel * Denial-of-service attack (DoS), an attack on a communicat ...

, SNES, Genesis/Mega Drive). Acclaim agreed to acquire Sculptured Software on October 9, 1995, and closed the deal the following day. The deal included a transaction of 1,013 shares of common stock, valued at . By February 1996, Sculptured Software employed 140 employees, and all founders but Metos had left the company. Metos left the company the following year to found Kodiak Interactive Software Studios. By December 1997, Sculptured Software was renamed Iguana West. The renaming reflected a major change in the management which involved the former Sculptured Software being overseen by the president of

Iguana Entertainment Acclaim Studios Austin (formerly Iguana Entertainment) was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg, previously lead designer for Punk Development, and originally located in Sa ...

. With the consolidation of Acclaim Studios' branding in May 1999, Iguana West was renamed Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City. Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City was dissolved as a cost-cutting exercise in December 2002. Through the closure, 70 employees were laid off and an unannounced title was canceled, while the remaining staff and the development of a third installment in the ''

Legends of Wrestling ''Legends of Wrestling'' is a professional wrestling video game based on the greatest wrestlers of all time, from WWF/WWE, NWA, WCW, WCCW, AWA, ECW and various independent promotions. It was developed and published by Acclaim. It was rele ...

'' series were shifted to Acclaim Studios Austin.

Acclaim Studios Stroud

Acclaim Studios Stroud was formed in July 1999 to focus on the development of

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

games. Led by Neil Duffield, the studio's team was made up of 26 staff formerly employed by

Acclaim Studios Teesside

Acclaim Studios Teesside was based in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, England. The company was founded in February 1988 by brothers Darren and Jason Falcus, at the time aged 19 and 18, respectively, under the name Optimus Software. The company was originally located in Stockton, where the Falcus brothers were born as well. Both founders had previously started programming in 1981, and released their first game, ''Castle of Doom'', in 1983. Games released by Optimus Software generated retail sales in excess of . These games included ''

Big Nose the Caveman ''Big Nose the Caveman'' is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Optimus Software and released in 1991 by Camerica for the Nintendo Entertainment System and by Codemasters for the Amiga and the Atari ST. A Master System and Game Gear vers ...

'' and the '' Seymour'' series, both of which they developed for

Codemasters The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in Octo ...

. In 1993, Optimus Software was acquired by

to undisclosed terms. Subsequently, the company moved to new offices located in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, and was renamed Iguana UK. Iguana Entertainment itself was acquired by Acclaim in 1995, at which point Iguana UK moved back to Stockton. Under the new banner, Iguana UK and the Falcus brothers developed the '' Shadow Man'' series,

home console A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than ...

versions of various ''

NBA Jam ''NBA Jam'' (sometimes "Jam" for short) is a long-running basketball video game series based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). Initially developed as arcade games by Midway, the game found popularity with its photorealistic digiti ...

'' titles, and the

Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and Au ...

version of '' Forsaken''. With the consolidation of Acclaim Studios' branding in May 1999, Iguana UK was renamed Acclaim Studios Teesside. The Falcus brothers left the company in February 2000 and founded

Atomic Planet Entertainment Atomic Planet Entertainment Ltd was a British video game developer based in Middlesbrough, England. It was founded in 2000 by Darren and Jason Falcus, the brothers who previously managed Acclaim Studios Teesside. History APE's first title wa ...

. At that time, the studio had 75 employees. The studio was closed in May 2002.

Publishing

Acclaim Coin-Operated Entertainment

Acclaim Coin-Operated Entertainment was an Acclaim subsidiary based in

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

, that focused on releasing

coin-operated A currency detector or currency validator is a device that determines whether notes or coins are genuine or counterfeit. These devices are used in a wide range of automated machines, such as retail kiosks, supermarket self checkout machines, ...

arcade games. It was established in July 1994. Leon Deith served as sales director for the company, as of January 1998. Acclaim Coin-Operated Entertainment was closed in March 1998, as Acclaim wanted to shift development resources to Acclaim Studios closer to the company's headquarters in New York City.

Acclaim Comics

Acclaim Distribution

Acclaim Distribution was established in June 1993 to act as the

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plugs ...

for Acclaim. Companies that partnered with Acclaim Distribution for distribution services include

Digital Pictures Digital Pictures was an American video game developer founded in 1991 by Lode Coen, Mark Klein, Ken Melville, Anne Flaut-Reed, Kevin Welsh and Tom Zito. The company originated from an attempt to produce a game for the failed VHS-based NEMO (vid ...

Marvel Entertainment Marvel Entertainment, LLC (formerly Marvel Enterprises) is an American show business, entertainment company (law), company founded in June 1998 and based in New York City, New York (state), New York, formed by the merger of #Marvel Entertainment ...

Sound Source Interactive TDK Mediactive was the brand name used by Japanese company TDK as a media subsidiary in Europe, and as a video game publishing subsidiary in North America. TDK Mediactive Europe TDK Mediactive Europe was a division of TDK Recording Media Euro ...

Sunsoft , stylized as SUNSOFT, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. Sunsoft is the video games division of Japanese electronics manufacturer Sun Corporation. Its U.S. subsidiary operated under the name Sun Corporation of America, though, a ...

, and

Interplay Productions Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca ...

Lazer-Tron

Lazer-Tron Corporation focused on the production of coin-operated "redemption games". The company was acquired by Acclaim on August 31, 1995, in exchange of 1,123 shares of Acclaim's common stock. Acclaim sold off all assets of Lazer-Tron on March 5, 1997, for in cash.

LJN

LJN was a toy and video game company located in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, known for manufacturing toys from such licensed brands as '' E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'', ''

Back to the Future ''Back to the Future'' is a 1985 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis, and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson. Set in 1985, ...

'', '' ThunderCats'', and ''

Who Framed Roger Rabbit ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 1 ...

'', as well as publishing software game titles (under the ''Enteractive'' trademark) for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

, including games about ''

The Karate Kid ''The Karate Kid'' is a 1984 American martial arts drama film written by Robert Mark Kamen and directed by John G. Avildsen. It is the first installment in the ''Karate Kid'' franchise, and stars Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue and W ...

'', ''

Jaws Jaws or Jaw may refer to: Anatomy * Jaw, an opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth ** Mandible, the lower jaw Arts, entertainment, and media * Jaws (James Bond), a character in ''The Spy Who Loved Me'' and ''Moonraker'' * ...

'', and ''

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

''.

Flying Edge

Flying Edge was a division of Acclaim that was founded in 1992 to publish games on

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

consoles. The division was dissolved in 1994.

Arena Entertainment

Arena Entertainment was a division formed under

Mirrorsoft Mirrorsoft was a British video game publisher founded by Jim Mackonochie as a division of Mirror Group Newspapers. The company was active between 1983 and 1991, and shut down completely in early 1992. History In the early 1980s, Jim Mackono ...

to publish games on Sega platforms. Arena was acquired by Acclaim in 1992 and dissolved in 1994.

Acclaim Sports

Acclaim Sports was established as a division of Acclaim in November 1997, as part of a –

marketing campaign Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

for ''

NFL Quarterback Club '98 ''NFL Quarterback Club '98'' is a football video game, released in 1997. It was developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim Entertainment under their Acclaim Sports banner for the Nintendo 64. It was the first football game announce ...

''. Acclaim stated that the creation of the target specifically targeted challenging

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

label. Bob Picunko was appointed director of marketing of Acclaim Sports.

Club Acclaim

Club Acclaim was a division of Acclaim announced in January 2000, originally for a line of

Game Boy Color The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...

games directed towards a younger audience. Club Acclaim's most successful games were those based on

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen (born June 13, 1986), also known as the Olsen twins as a duo, are American fashion designers and former actresses. The twins made their acting debut as infants playing Michelle Tanner on the television s ...

AKA Acclaim

AKA Acclaim was a division of Acclaim that released

extreme sports Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

games. Originally known as Acclaim Max Sports, the division was renamed AKA Acclaim in 2002, and was discontinued in 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Acclaim Entertainment Lists of companies Lists of corporate subsidiaries