Acclaim Games

Acclaim Games should not be confused with Acclaim Entertainment, the major American publisher founded in 1987 and closed after bankruptcy in 2004. Its story begins after that collapse. Former Activision executive Howard Marks acquired the “Acclaim” name and relaunched it in 2006 through a new company, Acclaim Games Inc., with people such as Neil Malhotra and David Perry also involved. The idea was not to rebuild the old Acclaim model, based on console retail, licences, arcade conversions and boxed distribution. It was to use a still recognizable name to enter the online free-to-play market.

The new Acclaim was born in a very different context from the era of Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, Turok or Burnout. In the mid-2000s, the Western market was beginning to look more seriously at Asian MMOs, downloadable games, free accounts and monetization through virtual items or in-game advertising. Acclaim Games focused exactly on that area: publishing online games in North America and Europe, often originally developed in Asia, and making them available for free after registration. It was far removed from the historical Acclaim identity, but it anticipated some changes that would later become central to digital gaming.

Its catalogue included BOTS!!, one of its launch titles, 9Dragons, 2Moons, Dance Online, The Chronicles of Spellborn, Ponystars, My Diva Doll, Kogamu and other online projects. These were not games aimed at the traditional console retail audience, but at registered communities, continuous updates and forms of play closer to client-based MMOs, browser games and social gaming. Acclaim Games also tried to involve users in submitting their own games, giving the revived brand a more participatory direction than the old company had ever had.

Howard Marks was the most visible figure, bringing with him experience from Activision’s history. David Perry, known for Shiny Entertainment, was also connected to the relaunch at a time when many veteran game creators were looking for paths beyond traditional retail. The project had some early traction: available accounts report that by 2007 Acclaim Games was claiming millions of registered accounts and a significant active player base, showing that its model had at least caught a real change in player behaviour.

The story was short. On May 18, 2010, Acclaim Games was acquired by Playdom, a company focused on social gaming; only a few months later, in August 2010, Playdom shut down Acclaim Games and most of its titles. The brand did not leave a legacy comparable to Acclaim Entertainment, but it remains an interesting transitional case: a name born in the NES and retail console era, revived to enter the age of free-to-play, MMOs and social games. For Retro-Gamers.it, it makes sense as a separate entry, but with a clear note: Acclaim Games was the digital-era revival of the Acclaim name, not the original historical company.