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Acclaim May Declare Bankruptcy


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I saw this article on IGN. Read this:

 

Acclaim is seeking a new credit lender as its current agreement with lender GMAC Commercial Finance, the investment banking concern of General Motors, is ending. However, in the event a new agreement cannot be secured, the company may turn to drastic measures. The company's financial report states, "Failure to obtain a new banking facility would materially adversely affect the Company's operations and liquidity and the Company could be forced to cease operations or seek bankruptcy protection."

 

I can't say I'm necessarily shocked that this is happening, given the quality of the games they put out. When was the last time you played a truly great game from Acclaim? This is what happens when you consistently fail to deliver a quality product to masses. They stop buying and you stop earning profits. If the company does cease opperations, I hope the artists and programmers there find work at other places quickly. I suspect that there are quite a few talented people working at Acclaim who simply cannot reach their potential due to management's incompetence.

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Originally posted by iCamp@Jul 2 2004, 11:56 PM

Acclaim is the Michael Bay of the game industry. All bang no substance.

I wouldn't even go that far. At least some of Michael Bay's films are decent,fun, & watchable.

 

I honestly can't remember the last Acclaim game that I have bought. The only game that comes to mind that I'm even considering would be the new Legends of Wrestling game.

 

The company has been in trouble for a long time now, & I don't see how it will get out of this mess...

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I've been waiting for the announcement that Acclaim is closing since the days of the NES. They never, to my recollection, published much of anything that wasn't shit (the original Wizards & Warriors comes to mind as a rare exception, possibly MK2). I mean, THQ at least managed Sphinx.

 

They're more a testament to how long you can last in this industry despite not putting out any major amount of good product.

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I don't think this is a surprise to anyone who has watched the industry for long. The real surprise to me is that they lasted as long as they did. Acclaim just never seemed to be able to get it right. Every once in a while you would see flashes of potential in their work, but the quality just never solidified.

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The last Acclaim game that I bought was Turok, for the N64. That was an excellent game for it's time! Some really cool levels and it was a great ride. :tu:

 

Still, there are companies out there that put out mediocrity that are making money. Enter the Matrix and Driv3r are some very so-so games. Matrix sold big and, Driv3r seems to be repeating.

 

While I really hate seeing people lose their jobs, especially since mine is in jeopardy, but what benefit do we gamers get from companies profiting off of garbage, except more garbage? I can't say that I'm a fan of Atari and that I'd be sad if it went the same way as Acclaim.

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The last Acclaim game that I bought was Turok, for the N64. That was an excellent game for it's time! Some really cool levels and it was a great ride.

 

It's funny, because for a brief period of time, I actually did enjoy a few of the games Acclaim released for the N64, Turok being chief among them. I was also very impressed with Forsaken, even though that was essentially a rip off of Descent. For a while, it appeared as though the company might actually turn into something worthwhile, but when I played Turok 2, I realized something was up. The game, while obviously much more ambitious than the original, suffered from poor controls and a stuttery framerate both of which kept it from feeling as smooth as the original. I realized that something was seriously wrong with the release of the first South Park video game, which as we all know, was a crapfest with an endless barrage of evil turkeys.

 

Of course, the drop in quality between the first and second Turok games could easily be attributed to the fact that many of the key people in that game left the company to form their own studio. The good news is that these people ended up founding Retro Studios, which went on to create one of the GameCube's biggest titles (and my personal favorite) Metroid Prime. In all, I'd say they've done pretty well for themselves

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Forsaken may have been Descent in a disco, but those silly lights were great for showing my 3DFX card off...

 

Besides, they've not always been bad. Some of their Naomi conversions (not the most challenging project, I'll admit) like F355 are Dreamcast classics.

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I can't say that I'm a fan of Atari and that I'd be sad if it went the same way as Acclaim.

 

So you wouldn't be sad to see games like Unreal Tournament 2k4, Neverwinter Nights, Splashdown, Civilization III, Gothic II, Temple of Elemental Evil, Godzilla Destroy All Monsters and the upcoming Forgotten Realms Demon Stone go without a publisher?

 

You have a great point in noting how craptacular Enter the Matrix and Driv3r are and thier success is indeed mind boggling but in the end its only 2 titles out of a very big portfolio and I for one would be sad to see Atari go (especially since I consider them a very dependable publisher in the PC world).

 

I don't think anyones going to miss Acclaim. They haven't put out a good game in a really long time but as noted I hate to see people lose thier jobs. Its too bad the company may be in a position to have not seen the light soon enough to try and turn thier fortunes around by making some good games that might for once interest the gaming community.

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They haven't put out a good game in a really long time

 

I disagree with that - they may not have put out a great game, but they've put out at least two good games in Alias & XGRA. And they put up the money for the first two Burnout games mind...

 

I think Acclaim actually have some interesting looking titles in the pipeline in things like Red Star & 100 Bullets, but still not enough to save them in the long term I suspect...

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Alias & XGRA

 

Its subjective of course. I personally didn't care for either one in the least bit. Not to say they aren't good games of course (and some folks will definitely enjoy them) but I note that so you can understand where I'm coming from.

 

And they put up the money for the first two Burnout games mind

 

Very true and I completely forgot about those two games (already used to associating the franchise with EA :oops: .). I stand corrected in that regard.

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Originally posted by Kain rising@Jul 3 2004, 08:27 AM

I thought Aggressive Inline was a pretty decent game, but that is the only game by Acclaim in my collection.

I liked Aggressive Inline quite a lot, but like you it's the only Acclaim game that I currently own, not a good sign I suppose.

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The hits keep on coming as Acclaim loses its MLBPA and Turok licenses. Looks as though All-Star Baseball may be done and over with and Turok will be looking for a new home soon:

 

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/07/07/news_6102086.html

 

"we received notification from Classic Media, Inc. the licensor of the intellectual property Turok, that due to failure to make certain royalty payments relating to the videogame title Turok: Evolution that our license agreement with Classic was terminated."

 

We have made all required payments to the MLBPA and are current with our payment obligations with certain MLB players," read the report, "however we have not reached agreement with the MLBPA regarding the other requested remedies and MLBPA is considering the license terminated."
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Since Turok was pretty much the defining franchise for Acclaim, this does not bode well for them at all.

 

That said, a part of me really hopes that the licence gets picked up by another developer - one that will return the series the glorious days of the original Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. Naturally this game would be packed full of grusome violence, a sick arsenal of fucked up weapons, and of course, lots and lots of dinosaurs. :)

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