Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher located in Glen Cove, New York. It was started in 1987 by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes, and Jim Scoroposki from a store in Oyster Bay. The company grew by buying other companies, which helped them create a team that worked on games worldwide during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
After having poor financial results in 2003, Acclaim filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on September 1, 2004. The company's properties were later sold to different groups. Howard Marks, a former CEO of Activision, started a new company called Acclaim Games. This company continued until 2010 when Playdom bought it and closed the business. In 2025, a group of investors started a new company using the Acclaim name.
History
In the early 1980s, Greg Fischbach worked for Activision, a video game company in the United States. He worked with Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki. After leaving Activision, Fischbach joined RCA Records, which was later bought by Bertelsmann, leaving him without a job. In 1987, Fischbach met Scoroposki in Oyster Bay, where Scoroposki owned a sales company. They discussed starting a business together. Scoroposki suggested they return to the video game industry, and they asked Holmes to join them. The three men started Acclaim Entertainment. Acclaim did not receive money from outside investors. Instead, Fischbach and Scoroposki provided all the funding. In its early years, Acclaim only published video games. It either hired other companies to make its games or adapted games made in other countries for sale in the United States. As the company grew, it bought several smaller studios, including Iguana Entertainment in Texas, Probe Entertainment in London, and Sculptured Software in Utah.
The name "Acclaim" was chosen so it would appear alphabetically before Activision and another company named Accolade. This naming method was common among companies started by former Activision employees. Activision’s founders had used a similar strategy when they left Atari.
Many of Acclaim’s games used licenses from popular movies, TV shows, and comic books. Fischbach said that in the late 1980s and early 1990s, video game buyers were less selective, and magazines that reviewed games had little influence on what people bought. This made using popular licenses an effective way to get stores to sell Acclaim’s games. In its early years, Acclaim made interactive VCR games with a company called Interactive VCR Games Inc. It also entered the handheld game market. Acclaim also published games based on arcade titles from Midway, including the Mortal Kombat series. It also published games from companies that did not have offices in the United States, such as Technōs Japan’s Double Dragon II: The Revenge and Taito’s Bust-a-Move series.
In 1990, Acclaim partnered with Saban Entertainment and Bohbot Entertainment to launch a TV show called Video Power, which began airing in the fall of that year.
In December 1993, Acclaim signed a deal with Buena Vista Home Video’s Spanish branch to distribute its games in Spain.
In May 1994, Tom Petit, who had worked for Sega for nine years, became president of Acclaim’s coin-op division.
Throughout the 1990s, Acclaim was one of the most successful video game publishers. In the year ending August 1994, the company made $481 million in profit. The next year, profit increased to $585 million. Games like Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and NFL Quarterback Club helped Acclaim earn money. Acclaim also managed video game licenses for Marvel’s comic book characters. Later that year, it bought a small share of a company called Digital Pictures and released its games through Acclaim Distribution.
In 1995, Acclaim bought Sculptured Software, Iguana Entertainment, and Probe Entertainment. These companies became part of Acclaim Studios from 1999 to 2004. Acclaim also gained the right to publish Taito’s games in the Western Hemisphere. It built a motion capture studio at its headquarters, becoming the first video game company to do so.
Acclaim also made strategy guides for its games and published comic magazines to support its popular brands. It also created the ASF/AMC motion capture format, which is still used today.
Acclaim had a long partnership with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), starting in 1988 with the game WWF WrestleMania. However, after failing to match the success of a rival company’s games, the WWF ended its deal with Acclaim in 1998. It instead partnered with Jakks Pacific and THQ.
In early 1998, Acclaim closed its coin-op division, moving its staff to New York.
In October 1999, Acclaim signed a deal with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) to make games based on the promotion. It released two games before ECW went bankrupt in 2001, leaving Acclaim unpaid. Acclaim later released three wrestling games under the Legends of Wrestling brand.
In 2004, Acclaim faced financial problems due to poor sales of its games. This led to the closing of studios in England and the filing of bankruptcy, leaving many employees without pay. Some games being developed at the time included Emergency Mayhem, ATV Quad Power Racing 3, and Kung Faux.
In May 2004, Major League Baseball ended its licensing deal with Acclaim for the All-Star Baseball franchise because Acclaim did not pay royalties. In June, Turok’s owner, Classic Media, also ended Acclaim’s rights to the Turok franchise for the same reason.
On August 20, 2004, Acclaim’s agreement with its main lender, GMAC Commercial Finance, ended. On August 27, the company closed all its locations, firing all employees in Austin and New York. Before closing, Acclaim had 585 employees worldwide. On August 30, Acclaim announced plans to file for bankruptcy. On September 1, it officially filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New York.
In September 2005, a lawsuit was filed against Acclaim’s founders, including Fischbach and Scoroposki, and some executives. The lawsuit claimed they were responsible for the company’s financial losses before bankruptcy and sought $150 million in damages.
On October 1, 2004, Rod Cousens bought Acclaim’s studios in Cheltenham and Manchester, along with unfinished projects. He tried to restart the studios under a new name, "Exclaim," but legal disputes over Acclaim’s intellectual property blocked his efforts.
In October 2004, THQ acquired the rights to publish Juiced, a game previously developed by Acclaim.
In November 2004, Acclaim’s headquarters were sold to Anthony Pistilli for $6 million.
Controversies
During Acclaim's decline toward bankruptcy, the company made several business and marketing decisions in the United Kingdom that caused controversy. One example was a promise to give a US$10,000 (£6,000) prize to UK parents who named their baby "Turok" to promote the game Turok: Evolution. An investigation by VG247 later found that all individuals who claimed to have changed their names were actors. Another controversial effort involved trying to buy advertising space on tombstones for the game Shadow Man: 2nd Coming. To promote Burnout 2: Point of Impact, Acclaim offered to reimburse UK drivers who received speeding tickets. However, the plan was canceled after the UK government expressed strong disapproval.
In the United States, Acclaim faced multiple lawsuits. One involved Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, who sued over unpaid royalties. Another lawsuit was filed by Acclaim's investors, who claimed that company leaders had shared false financial reports.
In the final version of the BMX series, BMX XXX, the game included nudity and semi-nudity, such as full-motion videos of strippers and images of nude female riders, in an effort to increase sales. However, the game sold poorly and was criticized for its sexual content and not very good gameplay. Dave Mirra said he had no role in the decision to include nudity and later sued Acclaim to avoid being linked to the game.
In 1997, two years after buying Sculptured Software, Acclaim fired about half of the workers at its Salt Lake City studio. This action broke the terms of the contracts given to employees, which seemed very strict and included stock that would be earned over time. The layoffs were sudden, forcing employees to choose between accepting a severance package (whose terms changed often) and giving up the right to sue, or joining other creditors in a lawsuit, which would mean losing their severance. In 2007, one of several class action lawsuits filed by shareholders was won, allowing some employees to recover a portion of the stock they had earned.