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[MassiveAttack]

Well, it's all over. Farewell Acclaim. Let the employee lawsuits commence.

http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzaklm020904,0,2586709.story?coll=ny-business-headlines

Acclaim Entertainment, the maker of such popular 1990s video games as Mortal Kombat and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and once one of Long Island's largest public companies, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy today, bringing an end to the troubled company.

The Chapter 7 filing means the company will liquidate its assets in order to pay off creditors, ceasing operations. On Friday, the company let go of its nearly 600 employees at its Glen Cove headquarters and in offices in Austin, Texas, and Manchester, England.

In the filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip, Acclaim listed assets of between $10 million and $50 million and debt of more than $100 million.

Acclaim officials could not be reached for comment.

Acclaim had flirted with bankruptcy for the past two months as it tried to secure a lender to replace GMAC Commercial Finance, whose loan agreement with Acclaim expired Aug. 20 after twice being extended.

Acclaim said on Aug. 20 that it was trying to secure a $65 million loan, but on Friday chief financial officer Gerard Agoglia told Glen Cove employees that negotiations had failed, former employees said.

 

[DarienA]

f*ck that places Juiced on hold... anybody got Namco's phone number again?

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Here in Austin there was a local news story about Acclaim Austin closing shop. They talked about how the employess haven't been paid in over two weeks and one day the studio doors were locked without warning...then this comes. Poor Acclaim Austin folks.

 

[GDJustin]

Yeah I spoke with someone in the Austin office and he'd been on "unpaid vacation" for a couple weeks...

 

[MetatronM]

It was all over on Monday, when they fired all their employees.

This is just the very last nail in the coffin.

 

[john tv]

R.I.P.

 

[WarPig]

Chapter 7 means they'll be stripped and the assets sold. Betcha they'll have a big auction for all the office equipment, like after all the dotcoms died out here. You could own your own piece of Acclaim!

DFS.

 

[Kon Tiki]

Can I bid for MK?

 

[Defensor]

f*ck that places Juiced on hold... anybody got Namco's phone number again?

Haha

 

[Scalemail Ted]

What the...I thought Midway owned MK????

 

[Deg]

They make SEGA look smart.

 

[Bluemercury]

Nintendo should buy the Turok license to Retro where probably the best employees who work at Turok 1/2 are now.....

 

[Scalemail Ted]

What involvement does Acclaim have with the new Bard's tale game?

 

[ferricide]

What the...I thought Midway owned MK????

yes, they do. acclaim just published it on SNES/genesis, before midway started distributing home games.

hope the red star finds a good home. hope 100 bullets doesn't.

 

[WarPig]

What involvement does Acclaim have with the new Bard's tale game?

Very little. They were gonna publish it in Europe, but that's all -- I don't think this will affect its release any.

DFS.

 

[explodet]

What involvement does Acclaim have with the new Bard's tale game?

They were just publishing it for inXile.

 

[bjork]

What properties do they have now anyway? Is it going to be sold off like 3D0's stuff?

 

[explodet]

 

[Trevelyon]

R.I.P

 

[WarPig]

Yeah, presumably they'll have a fire sale. Lessee, what they got...

-- Juiced and The Red Star will definitely get sold, cuz they're finished. I see somebody like Majesco or whatever buying 'em.

-- In-development shit like 100 Bullets, maybe, maybe not.

-- Older properties...somebody might wanna buy the NBA Jam name off 'em. The Turok license they don't actually own, or any of that old comicbook shit.

-- Even older IP...hey, do they still own, like, Wizards and Warriors and shit? Or did the developers get to keep that?

DFS.

 

[GDGF]

I wonder what's going to happen with Acclaim Comics, or was that gone a long time ago?

(not the properties, but the actual entity)

 

[ferricide]

What properties do they have now anyway? Is it going to be sold off like 3D0's stuff?

well, they didn't own turok... so someone else can already license it. huzzah.

the red star and juiced are done and will doubtlessly be sold off.

100 bullets is not done, nor soon to be done AFAIK. it will probably die, because the developers will scatter to the winds (ala four horsemen of the apocalypse.) it also doesn't strike me as being worth the expense to finish it, judging from what i've seen of it.

does acclaim own any interesting/important series? really, i can't think of anything offhand. perhaps this is why they are dying!

-- Older properties...somebody might wanna buy the NBA Jam name off 'em. The Turok license they don't actually own, or any of that old comicbook shit.

that's actually midway's, just like MK. right?

-- Even older IP...hey, do they still own, like, Wizards and Warriors and shit? Or did the developers get to keep that?

i can't even think of a good property of theirs from the 8 or 16 bit eras. jesus.

i think wizards & warriors is dead. some other game came out with that title on PC, i think, a couple years ago. implies it no longer exists.

 

[WarPig]

No, I think Acclaim actually owns the Jam name in some fashion, because they released a new one about a year ago, and Midway's given up on it. Acclaim presumably bought the rights to it sometime in the 16-bit age when it was whoring out console Jam variations as hard as humanly possible.

I am seriously at a loss to think of much in the way of original Acclaim IP. I hit a big mental block after Vexx.

DFS.

 

[explodet]

The Acclaim list from IGN:

http://games.ign.com/objects/025/025002.html?ui=GameDetailBox&fromint=1

More recently, they published the Legends of Wrestling series, All-Star Baseball, and a handful of Mary-Kate and Ashley games.

 

[WarPig]

Yep, I don't see anything else there they could sell. All licensed shit. There's a lesson here, I guess.

DFS.

 

[Scalemail Ted]

According to this site:

http://www.rareware.com/games/timeline/timeline_content.html

W&W was published by Acclaim and developed by Rare in 1989

 

[fennec fox]

This also means that Acclaim Studios Manchester is without a parent company, which means that yet another large British developer may find itself closing its doors shortly.

 

[Suerte]

Am I the only one who will miss the Extreme-G series?

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Chapter 7 means they'll be stripped and the assets sold. Betcha they'll have a big auction for all the office equipment, like after all the dotcoms died out here. You could own your own piece of Acclaim!

DFS.

Hmm, I might put a bid down on all the code for Juiced. I'm pulling a Namco!

I feel bad for Acclaim, it seemed like they were turning things around with The Red Star... it looked like Cannon Spike for a new generation to me. And the impressions from the Xbox demo were great.

So you think I can get some cheap stuff out of this? I wouldn't mind having some of their game materials. Big ass posters, concept drawings, anything. Sorry to sound like a vulture, I do feel bad that people lost their jobs over this. But living in Austin has forced me to see this same thing happen so many times. These guys will bounce back though.

 

[jett]

Bye bye Acclaim. Ironsword RAWKed.

 

[Buffy4ever]

poor red star I hope a developer will pick it up.

 

[fennec fox]

Yeah, if anyone's in Austin, can you get me the Vexx statue they had at E3?

 

[DDayton]

Actually, I thought that NBA Jam had some sort of weird lawsuit attached to it... somehow, Acclaim got the rights to the brand even though it was a Midway property. Midway entered into the home publishing business because of that fiasco -- to ensure that Acclaim couldn't "rip them off" again. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I remember reading that Acclaim somehow got the rights to exclusively use that title with any game console games, which is why Midway used different names after that.

Midway might take advantage of this to snag the rights back.

 

[WarPig]

Yeah, if anyone's in Austin, can you get me the Vexx statue they had at E3?

You know, after 17 years in the console biz, there must be some insane shit in Acclaim's attic. Wonder what they have in the way of old prototype shit?

DFS.

 

[clipunderground]

R.I.P.

God I loved this game...

 

[MC Safety]

I'll actually miss Acclaim.

I tested games there. I met Xbox Nation freelance writer extraordinaire Russ Garbutt there.

I remember being called into the gigantic motion capture room with the rest of Acclaim employees and being told the company was going to concentrate on making fewer, more high-quality games. They called it "the New Acclaim" and the very next day they started firing guys in the production department.

I remember pizza Fridays and free M&Ms and free Cokes. The free candies and sodas didn't last too long after I joined.

I remember my promotion: Project lead managing testers with a raise of $0 dollars and the understanding I now needed to come in on weekends to test.

I remember hiding from QA head Jeff Rosa when he came around to see who was working on weekends. I also remember the fake cough I used to get out of coming to work on weekends.

I remember "Mean" Joe Greene, the greatest tester and human being ever. I remember this other tester who told me he once took mercy on a wounded squirrel by -- and I am not making this up -- sawing its head off with a pocket knife.

I remember a lot of bad games and good bugs I wrote up.

Mostly I just remember the wonderful feeling of collecting that paycheck: $38.25 after taxes.

Farewell, Acclaim.

 

[arter_2]

man no more extreme G i really like that game, i know its not as good as f-zero but extreme g was alot of fun and i really loved the game dunno y though.

 

[Patrick Klepek]

good thing juiced is pretty crappy!

 

[Johnny Konami]

Damn. Never a huge fan of the games they produced, but it's a loss to the industry regardless. Sorry to see any company fold.

 

[GSG Flash]

Am I the only one who will miss the Extreme-G series?

No, i'll be missing it too.

*remembers Extreme-G on the 64*

Ahh the good old Extreme-G days, I remember I even skipped a day of school trying to beat that game, it was so damn addictive.

Well, I guess they had it coming, it seems most companies dropping Cube support are having financial problems.

 

[Sysgen]

I'll actually miss Acclaim.

I tested games there. I met Xbox Nation freelance writer extraordinaire Russ Garbutt there.

.
.
.

I remember a lot of bad games and good bugs I wrote up.

Mostly I just remember the wonderful feeling of collecting that paycheck: $38.25 after taxes.

Farewell, Acclaim.

I think Atari needs you now.

 

[Matlock]

XG3 is much better than F-Zero dreamed of, don't know about XGRA though. Too bad, I kinda liked making fun of the guys.

 

[sc0la]

Bye Bye Iron Sword

*purple crying thing*

Bye Bye Acclaim:

 

[Laurent]

Acclaim Entertainment, the maker of such popular 1990s video games as Mortal Kombat and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and once one of Long Island's largest public companies, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy today, bringing an end to the troubled company.

Erratum? Let's say Probe/Midway never happened...

 

[JackFrost2012]

Well, I guess they had it coming, it seems most companies dropping Cube support are having financial problems.

That's awfully disingenuous. Rather that most companies having financial problems are dropping Cube support.

 

[T-1000_Model3]

So Akklaim doesn't really hold the Shadow Man license then? Who does?

Thats one of the series I enjoyed a few years ago,well the original game anyway. Its sequel wasn't as good as the first game,but was decent to me. I hope someone continues the Shadow Man series,just have it blaze on. That along with Turok series I'll surely miss,Akklaim made the N64 shine pretty brightly years back. For that I'll miss them.

 

[TheGreenGiant]

FUCKING BATMAN DUNG.

They're Prophets!!!!!

lol @ fate of acclaim - that's what you get for

a) releasing SHIT

b) not supporting the BIG N

c) releasing SHIT

 

[Laurent]

So Akklaim doesn't really hold the Shadow Man license then? Who does?

Acclaim also distributes entertainment software for other publishers worldwide, publishes software gaming strategy guides and issues "special edition" comic magazines from time to time to support its time valued brands, Turok and Shadow Man.

They own Shadow Man according to this press release...

http://www.acclaim.com/company/pressReleases/product/ShadowMan2.html

 

[FitzOfRage]

So Akklaim doesn't really hold the Shadow Man license then? Who does?

Thats one of the seriers I enjoyed a few years ago,well the original game anyway. Its sequel wasn't as good as the first game,but was decent to me. I hope someone continues to have take the Shadow Man series and have it blaze on. That along with Turok series I'll surely miss,Akklaim made the N64 shine pretty brightly years back. For that I'll miss them.

Actually I believe Acclaim does own Shadowman, just not Turok. Valiant comics started off re-inventing old comic book charcters from the 60s like Turok but then they started mixing in original characters of their own, and I think Shadowman was one of the new ones.

 

[T-1000_Model3]

Time valued brands,that means it was exclusive to Akklaim publishing at that time, till its exclusivity ran out? What a crazy twist to all this.

I really hope Shadowm Man is purchased by a company that hopes to revive and dedicate good honest work into this fallen series. Someone such as Ubisoft perhaps.