Another stalwart of the old gaming guard has bitten the dust. Acclaim -- who brought us Turok, Burnout and Space Jam to name a few -- is finally dead and gone.
The company had already crashed and burned back in 2004 when it filed for bankruptcy, but all its IPs and its name were sold off meaning the name lived on. In its reborn state Acclaim became a free-to-play gaming publisher and made games like MMO 9Dragons and rhythm game RockFree. At one point their service had 15 million registered users, but it looks like those users weren't buying too much.
Around three months ago Playdom procured the reinvented Acclaim, but is now shutting it down. Those with unused coins or whatever can head over to Acclaim's site and get a refund for their money. The site seems pretty final on any use of the name Acclaim as well.
Hats off, folks. A legend has finally been brought down. It's definitely time for one last Jam.
Matthew Razak is Destructoid's Associate editor and co-founder of film site Flixist. He began as community member "cowzilla" and was since sequestered to write brainy features material. He lives in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife.
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Rest In Piece Acclaim You Will be Remembered ANytime I think...Hmm What was that one company who made this old game I used to play....You will never be forgotten permanently...
Dang... I knew this happened since a long time... But seriously, it was an awesome company, Turok, Extreme G, Jam... sigh.. We´re losing lots of good people this year
They specialized in low-quality drek, with or without a license. Spending money on an Acclaim product was essentially the same as flushing that same amount of money down the toilet, and then hitting yourself in the face two or three times. They probably spent more time designing their box art than they did making the games inside. By the time I was 11 years old I knew it would be more fun to eat a cartridge with an Acclaim logo on it than it would be to play it on your NES. Their games were so bad they made that ripoff bootleg shit from China look like Goddamn Ico.
Getting all misty about Acclaim would be kinda like getting all misty for some homeless guy who breaks into your house every morning and pukes in your breakfast. I mean seriously, how do you -miss- something like that? The guy who ran Acclaim ought to have had his lips cut off. It astounds me that a company who did one thing so consistently badly managed to exist as long as it did. I'm glad that turd-factory is finally gone. Now toss some damn quicklime on it and make room for someone who actually cares about the products they make.
I gotta agree with the Dr here. I felt much the same way back in the day. Acclaim would make ONE good game, and then bury that franchise with over hyped, under performing sequels. They dug their own grave years ago because of this. They never, never learned their lesson.
Its like feeling sorry for the boy who cried wolf, and while you looked for the wolf, the boy stole all your electronics and gold and sold them on the black market, and pissed in your cereal. Then when the boy cries wolf for real, you punch him in the face and kick him in the balls. That is exactly how Acclaim died.
i predicted that Acclaim was going to fail about a year and a half ago. i use to be a moderator on the 9Dragons forum and i warned them that if they continued to go down the path they were on, it was going to get worse. now i know i was right to leave them.
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5:00 PM on 08.28.2010
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What a Classic
Rest in peace.
It's sad... but it's kind of past due.
Good memories.
Hell yes. Digging that out tonight while I pore one out for homies you aren't here.
BaiBai Akklaim. Crappy F2P MMOs just weren't enough to revive you. ;(
you were my heroes in the N64 era (turok 1&2, shadow man, extreme G)
Holy shit I played that game so much..damn..
no constructor 2 then?! :(
R.I.P. Acclaim
They specialized in low-quality drek, with or without a license. Spending money on an Acclaim product was essentially the same as flushing that same amount of money down the toilet, and then hitting yourself in the face two or three times. They probably spent more time designing their box art than they did making the games inside. By the time I was 11 years old I knew it would be more fun to eat a cartridge with an Acclaim logo on it than it would be to play it on your NES. Their games were so bad they made that ripoff bootleg shit from China look like Goddamn Ico.
Getting all misty about Acclaim would be kinda like getting all misty for some homeless guy who breaks into your house every morning and pukes in your breakfast. I mean seriously, how do you -miss- something like that? The guy who ran Acclaim ought to have had his lips cut off. It astounds me that a company who did one thing so consistently badly managed to exist as long as it did. I'm glad that turd-factory is finally gone. Now toss some damn quicklime on it and make room for someone who actually cares about the products they make.
Its like feeling sorry for the boy who cried wolf, and while you looked for the wolf, the boy stole all your electronics and gold and sold them on the black market, and pissed in your cereal. Then when the boy cries wolf for real, you punch him in the face and kick him in the balls. That is exactly how Acclaim died.
Yes, Acclaim had some really bad titles (BMXXX anyone), but there was a handful of decent games that came out of the publisher.
.
.
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Damn, I had a Sega Saturn.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqsMrC4u2eg