1987–1990: Founding In the early 1980s,
Greg Fischbach was employed by the American video game company
Activision, where he worked alongside Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki. After leaving Activision, he joined
RCA Records, which was subsequently acquired by
Bertelsmann, leaving Fischbach unemployed. In 1987, he met with Scoroposki in
Oyster Bay, where Scoroposki owned a
sales rep company, to discuss a potential joint venture. After Scoroposki suggested that they re-enter the video game industry, they contacted Holmes to join them, and the three co-founded Acclaim Entertainment. Acclaim did not secure any
venture financing and was entirely financed by Fischbach and Scoroposki. In its early years, Acclaim operated exclusively as a
video game publisher, either outsourcing the development of its video games to
external developers or localizing existing titles from overseas. However, as the company expanded, it acquired several independent studios, including
Iguana Entertainment of
Austin, Texas;
Probe Entertainment of
London, England; and
Sculptured Software of
Salt Lake City, Utah. Fischbach noted that during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the video game market was less discerning, with specialized gaming publications exerting minimal influence on consumer opinion. Consequently, leveraging a popular license became one of the few reliable strategies to persuade retailers to stock a game. Acclaim was also responsible for porting many of
Midway's arcade games in the early to mid-1990s, including the
Mortal Kombat series. Additionally, it published several games from companies that, at the time of publication, did not have an American branch, such as
Technōs Japan's
Double Dragon II: The Revenge and
Taito's
Bust-a-Move series.
1990–2004: Success In 1990, Acclaim partnered with TV producer
Saban Entertainment and distributor
Bohbot Entertainment to launch
Video Power, which subsequently premiered in the fall of 1990. In December 1993, Acclaim signed a distribution deal with the European Spanish branch of
Buena Vista Home Video, allowing the company to distribute its titles in Spain. In May 1994, Tom Petit, former president of
Sega Enterprises USA, who had worked at Sega for nine years, became the president of Acclaim's coin-op division. Throughout much of the 1990s, Acclaim was one of the most successful publishers of console video games in the world. In the financial year ending August 1994, the company reported a profit of $481 million, which rose to $585 million the following year. Later that year, the company acquired a minority interest in the FMV gaming studio
Digital Pictures and began releasing its titles through Acclaim Distribution. In 1995, the company acquired Sculptured Software, Iguana Entertainment, and Probe Entertainment, with these entities transitioning to the first-party development studio known as Acclaim Studios from 1999 to 2004. Acclaim's gaming business further expanded with the acquisition of exclusive rights to publish Taito's games in the
Western Hemisphere. The company also constructed a
motion capture studio at its headquarters, making it the first video game company to have an in-house motion capture studio. A less prominent aspect of Acclaim's business was the development and publication of
strategy guides related to its software products, along with the issuance of "special edition"
comic magazines via
Acclaim Comics to support its more lucrative
brand names. Additionally, it created the ASF/AMC
motion capture format, which remains in use in the industry today. Acclaim enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the
World Wrestling Federation (WWF) that dates back to 1988's
WWF WrestleMania. However, after failing to replicate the success of
World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s
THQ/
AKI games during the
Monday Night Wars, the WWF announced in April 1998 that it would not renew its deal with Acclaim, opting instead to sign a joint-publishing agreement with
Jakks Pacific and THQ after WCW's contract with the latter publisher expired and signed a deal with rival
Electronic Arts. Acclaim closed its coin-op division in early 1998, transferring the key personnel and resources to its New York development studios. In October 1999, Acclaim signed a contract with
Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) to publish video games based on the promotion. Under this agreement, Acclaim released two video games until ECW declared bankruptcy in 2001, leaving the promotion still owing Acclaim money. The game publisher subsequently released three wrestling titles under the
Legends of Wrestling banner during its final years.
2004: Decline and bankruptcy Acclaim faced significant financial difficulties in 2004, primarily due to poor sales of its
video game titles. This situation led to the closure of
Acclaim Studios Cheltenham and
Acclaim Studios Manchester in
England, along with other locations, and resulted in its filing for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, leaving many employees unpaid. Among the titles under development at the UK studios were
Emergency Mayhem,
ATV Quad Power Racing 3,
The Last Job,
Interview with a Made Man, and
Kung Faux. In May 2004, it was announced that
Major League Baseball had revoked its licensing agreement with Acclaim for the
All-Star Baseball franchise due to a failure to make royalty payments. The following month, in June,
Turok owners
Classic Media announced that it had terminated Acclaim's video game rights to the franchise, also due to non-payment of royalties. When Acclaim's agreement with GMAC Commercial Finance, its primary lender, expired on August 20, 2004, the company closed all of its facilities on August 27. This closure resulted in the termination of all employees at the Austin and New York studios. Prior to the closures, Acclaim employed 585 staff worldwide as of March 31, 2004. officially filing for
Chapter 7 bankruptcy with the
United States bankruptcy court in
Central Islip, New York on September 1. In September 2005, a complaint filed in the same court sought to hold the company's founders, including Fischbach and Scorposki, and several executives accountable for Acclaim's financial losses shortly before the bankruptcy filing, seeking in damages.
Asset selling On October 1, 2004, Rod Cousens acquired the former Acclaim Studios Cheltenham and Acclaim Studios Manchester development studios, along with several of its unfinished projects. Cousens sought to reopen the studios under a new publisher provisionally named "Exclaim" on October 11, but his efforts were hindered by a lawsuit and legal disputes over Acclaim's
intellectual property, with both US and UK administrators asserting their claims. Following interested offers from
Take Two Interactive, it was announced on October 8 that
THQ had acquired the worldwide publishing rights to
Juiced. In November 2004, Acclaim's headquarters were sold to Anthony Pistilli of Pistilli Realty Group for $6 million. On April 20, 2005, Fund4Games announced that Acclaim's upcoming European titles had been sold to them, with
Interview with a Made Man and
ATV Quad Power Racing 3 being returned to development at the Manchester studios, which were reopened by Fund4Games under the name Silverback Studios. In June 2006,
Mastertronic announced that it had acquired the publishing rights to
Made Man in Europe. The
Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX and
ATV: Quad Power Racing franchises were sold to
Crave Entertainment in July 2005. In August 2005, former Activision executive Howard Marks acquired the Acclaim brand and logo for a reported $100,000. At the beginning of 2006, Marks established a new company named
Acclaim Games. According to a job listing for the company, Acclaim Games targeted the US and UK preteen multiplayer markets. However, the second iteration of Acclaim struggled due to connectivity and payment issues for its online games, as well as a lack of action against dishonest players, earning this iteration an "F" grade from the Los Angeles/Southern California
Better Business Bureau. In 2006,
Throwback Entertainment acquired more than 50 of Acclaim's games and committed to bringing titles such as
Re-Volt,
Extreme-G,
Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance,
Vexx,
Fur Fighters, and many other franchises into the next generation and beyond. In March 2007, budget publisher
XS Games acquired the publishing rights to
The Red Star, with
Take-Two Interactive managing European distribution. In April 2007,
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, then the North American distributor for
Codemasters' products, announced that the British publisher had acquired the rights to
Emergency Mayhem. In July 2010, the South Korean-based company We Go Interactive acquired
Re-Volt,
RC Revenge, and
RC De Go! (developed and owned by
Taito) from Throwback. In October 2015, Gregarious Games, LLC were reported to be the current owners of the Acclaim trademark. In May 2016, the Acclaim brand was acquired by Collectorvision, an independent game developer, publisher, and manufacturer. In October 2018, Liquid Media Group purchased 65 former Acclaim titles from Throwback for $1 million. This acquisition primarily included installments in the
NBA Jam,
AFL Live,
All-Star Baseball, and
NFL Quarterback Club franchises, as well as games from Japanese developer
Taito that Acclaim had published outside of Japan.
2025 revival (as Acclaim, Inc. "PlayAcclaim") On March 4, 2025, it was announced that a group of executives purchased the Acclaim trademark and would relaunch Acclaim Entertainment as an indie publisher and potentially purchase former Acclaim IP. The company, Acclaim, Inc., is led by Russell Binder, Mark Caplan and wrestler
Jeff Jarrett, while Graffiti Games CEO Alex Josef was appointed as Acclaim's new CEO. On September 10, 2025, the revived company announced a slate of nine indie games, during its newly described, "
Play Acclaim Showcase". During the showcase, Acclaim, Inc. announced that two of its nine titles,
Katanaut, an all-new sci-fi samurai action platformer, was made immediately available for PC, and
Basketball Classics, a retro-style basketball game developed by Namo Gamo, were made immediately available for PC, with
Basketball Classics also coming soon to home consoles. == Controversies ==