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[IbizaPocholo]

Acclaim Entertainment reborn as indie game publisher focused on original IP

Acclaim Entertainment, the legendary company published titles like Mortal Kombat in the 1980s and 1990s, is back as an indie game publisher.

venturebeat.com

Acclaim Entertainment, the legendary company published titles like Mortal Kombat in the 1980s and 1990s, is back as an indie game publisher.

After more than two decades, a team of industry veterans has united to bring back one of gaming’s most iconic brands to publish original intellectual properties, said Alex Josef, CEO of the new Los Angeles company, in an interview with GamesBeat.

“It’s a relaunch, and revitalization of the Acclaim brand with a completely new team,” Josef said. “Some players have an association with Acclaim in the past, but it’s an all new team.”

He added, “First and foremost, the new Acclaim is going to support indie developers and new original IP. It will provide all of the resources needed to bring their games to the widest possible audiences.”

Just as other publishers shut their doors, Acclaim Entertainment is officially returning with a vision aimed at revitalizing the gaming landscape and fostering new talent. Originally founded in 1987, the relaunch marks a new chapter for the publisher, as it seeks to support indie developers and reignite classic franchises.

Acclaim will provide much-needed resources such as funding, marketing and PR support, giving independent studios the opportunity to bring their creative visions to a broad audience.

One of the key goals for the relaunched Acclaim is to resurrect and revitalize its beloved portfolio of classic IP enjoyed for years by millions of players. To ensure this vision comes to life, Acclaim has assembled an advisory board comprised of esteemed industry leaders, including Russell Binder at Striker Entertainment, Mark Caplan at Ridge Partners and Jeff Jarrett at Global Force Entertainment.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

They made a lot of trash.

But nice to see an old familiar gaming logo come back I guess.

All the best.

 

[March Climber]

They made a lot of trash.

But nice to see an old familiar gaming logo come back I guess.

All the best.

It's because the original Acclaim had a lot of staff from the remains of LJN.

Not many knew this because the internet wasn't a big thing back then, so LJN got away with what was essentially a rebrand.

Edit: Adding coffinbirth 's quote and a link for further context:

LJN was a publisher, not a development studio. In actuality, most LJN published titles were early entries in many long standing studios like Rare, Atlus, Probe Software, etc.
LJN was bought by Acclaim in 1990 for their licenses.

Here's more:

Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. (Company) - Giant Bomb

Acclaim Entertainment was a New York-based company who began publishing games on the NES and went out of business in 2004. The company's collapse was one of the largest implosions of a game publisher in industry history.

www.giantbomb.com

 

[PanzerCute]

It's because the original Acclaim had a lot of staff from the remains of LJN.

Not many knew this because the internet wasn't a big thing back then, so LJN got away with what was essentially a rebrand.

That explains a few things! Thanks I did not know about this.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

It's because the original Acclaim had a lot of staff from the remains of LJN.

Not many knew this because the internet wasn't a big thing back then, so LJN got away with what was essentially a rebrand.

Ljn were on another tier of shit though, I actually bought a few games Acclaim published back in the day. I always knew to avoid Ljn like the plague though.

The Microsoft of the late 80s/early 90s.

 

[March Climber]

That explains a few things! Thanks I did not know about this.

Ljn were on another tier of shit though, I actually bought a few games Acclaim published back in the day. I always knew to avoid Ljn like the plague though.

Yeah. I guess... on an LJN scale, they technically did get slightly better with their game quality while under Acclaim.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Last Acclaim game I bought

Was good

 

[March Climber]

Last Acclaim game I bought

Was good

Janky but fun game. I remember liking this Acclaim game when I was younger:

Kind of reminded me of Tony Hawk, but if the difficulty was set to extreme lol.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Old logo back confirmed

 

[RetroGamingUK]

Turns out TrickStyle wasn’t he last Acclaim published game I bought, they did a lot on Dreamcast

 

[mansoor1980]

 

[bender]

Janky but fun game. I remember liking this Acclaim game when I was younger:

Kind of reminded me of Tony Hawk, but if the difficulty was set to extreme lol.

Aggressive Inline was amazing.

 

[havoc00]

 

[RetroGamingUK]

 

[diffusionx]

Soulless

 

[Punished Miku]

Smart. There's more great indies than people are even aware of. Lots of room to provide marketing and help push greater awareness here.

 

[El Muerto]

I always thought it was Akklaim when i was a kid looking at that logo, not with two Cs.

 

[mansoor1980]

I always thought it was Akklaim when i was a kid looking at that logo, not with two Cs.

dude what? that is CC and not KK............

 

[Jesb]

they were awful lol.

 

[El Muerto]

dude what? that is CC and not KK............

Always looked like a K to me. Then i figured the 2nd one was just another K to make it look cool. I was today years old when i realized it was CC. I think i might be dyslexic lol.

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Always looked like a K to me. Then i figured the 2nd one was just another K to make it look cool. I was today years old when i realized it was CC. I think i might be dyslexic lol.

Yeah, same here.. I always thought it was "Akklaim" to this day.. but here we are I guess!

 

[Giallo Corsa]

It's because the original Acclaim had a lot of staff from the remains of LJN.

Not many knew this because the internet wasn't a big thing back then, so LJN got away with what was essentially a rebrand.

The original LGBQT-focused company

 

[adamsapple]

 

[mansoor1980]

Always looked like a K to me. Then i figured the 2nd one was just another K to make it look cool. I was today years old when i realized it was CC. I think i might be dyslexic lol.

yup , i thought the same

 

[Three]

Acclaim developed NBA Jam was my jam

 

[DownLikeBCPowder]

Acclaim developed NBA Jam was my jam

NBA Jam was such a great game.. played many hours of that multiplayer. Was the go-to game for all of us before Nintendo 64.

 

[ScHlAuChi]

Acclaim developed NBA Jam was my jam

Midway developed it!

 

[Three]

Midway developed it!

Not on consoles. Acclaim did

 

[havoc00]

 

[Shadowstar39]

Ok now give us:
wizards and warriors
W&W2 - Iron sword
Swords and Serpents
3D World Runner
Robocop
Bart vs Space Mutants/world
Smash TV
On the Switch NES app or if not in a bundle.

So many awesome games from that era I'd love to play on the go but I am not about to hack my switch.

So they are just going to be making new games? Who owns the rights to these?

 

[Zacfoldor]

So we're getting another Ecco the Dolphin right?....right?

Edit:

Ecco The Dolphin Is Seemingly The Next Franchise Sega Is Reviving

Could Ecco join Crazy Taxi and Jet Set Radio in Sega's big nostalgia push?

www.thegamer.com

 

[March Climber]

I always thought it was Akklaim when i was a kid looking at that logo, not with two Cs.

Always looked like a K to me. Then i figured the 2nd one was just another K to make it look cool. I was today years old when i realized it was CC. I think i might be dyslexic lol.

I always wondered if that's why their extreme sports dev team had this logo for a period of time:

 

[Days like these...]

Irem needs to make a comeback. I miss Deady Towers

 

[coffinbirth]

It's because the original Acclaim had a lot of staff from the remains of LJN.

Not many knew this because the internet wasn't a big thing back then, so LJN got away with what was essentially a rebrand.

Not many knew this because it's not really true.
LJN was a publisher, not a development studio. In actuality, most LJN published titles were early entries in many long standing studios like Rare, Atlus, Probe Software, etc.
LJN was bought by Acclaim in 1990 for their licenses.

 

[Beechos]

Oh the irony these guys were the kings of licensed games back in the day.

 

[Futaleufu]

I took a look at their game list in wikipedia and it seems they don't own most of the IPs of games they developed/ported/published back in the day. Good luck to them.

 

[MrCunningham]

It's because the original Acclaim had a lot of staff from the remains of LJN.

Jack Friedman (The J in LJN) sold off LJN to Activision, including all of its obtained IP licenses and used the money to start up THQ. In a way THQ became the new LJN for the time, and Acclaim used the LJN brand to publish their shovelware tier titles. The last game that Acclaim-LJN published was Spirit of Speed for the Sega Dreamcast and the game was a complete dud. Arguably one of the worst games published for the Dreamcast.

NBA Jam was such a great game.. played many hours of that multiplayer. Was the go-to game for all of us before Nintendo 64.

Yeah, the arcade game was developed by Midway, but Acclaim had the rights to publish NBA Jam on various home consoles. Also, Acclaim took control of the NBA Jam name and developed their own 'NBA simulators' under the names NBA Jam Extreme, NBA Jam 98, 99 and such with the Acclaim Sports branding.



Because of that, Midway had to rebrand NBA Jam to NBA Hang-Time.



At some point in time the NBA Jam name reverted back to Midway for home consoles. But Midway went out of business and EA purchased the NBA Jam license at an IP auction. WB purchased most of Midways old IP's including the Atari Games stuff.

 

[AJUMP23]

Welcome back make something fun and good.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

They were annoying and I was happy when they died, remember the stupid publicity stunts?

 

[EverydayBeast]

 

[ReBurn]

Mortal Kombat ports to 16 bit systems let's go

 

[Saber]

I wish them luck in their endevours.
These are difficult times, even more so because of the constant focus on social and propaganda aspects.

 

[Hollywood Hitman]

Cool to see an old name back, would love a new wizards and warriors

 

[Walter Matthau]

Bring back David Wise for all soundtracks

 

[FinalBossWithTheMostPower]

Don't feel like there's any value proposition here, for anyone.

 

[Unknown?]

Only had one game made by them.

 

[MrCunningham]

Don't feel like there's any value proposition here, for anyone.

Yeah. I am trying to do my best to figure out what IP's Acclaim even owns. I am pretty sure a large chunk of their IP's were sold off to Throwback Entertainment, which did release Extreme-G on the Switch NSO.

I have no idea who actually owns the rights to Turok. I think Dreamworks/ Universal? Turok Origins is in currently in development by Saber Interactive. Acclaim did own the rights to Turok at some point.

Acclaim really didn't own many original IP's, as they were almost all licensed properties. It's not like they could get the Simpsons back. EA had the rghts to develop new Simpsons games, but I think that has ended. I doubt that Disney-Fox would give the rights to this newly formed Acclaim. T2 has the rights to WWE. SCE has the rights to Spider-Man.

 

[Deerock71]

Don't you mean AKKLAIM?!

 

[Ozzie666]

They certainly took advanage of Midway and coasted on all those great arcade ports, then promptly stabbed Midway in the back and stole the NBA Jam name.

I love how they picked their name to appear ahead of Accolade.

 

[N0S]

Better not fuck with Nightdive studios