Acclaim: back from the dead
Former Activision exec will launch new company with old name; business model to focus on bringing Asian MMOs to North America and Europe.
Although the official announcement isn't scheduled for weeks, a clear picture of Howard Marks' new company has formed. Ironically, the new company will have an old name--that of Acclaim Games.
Marks picked up the Acclaim name shortly after the company filed for bankruptcy in September 2004. Marks secured the rights to the name for a reported $100,000.
According to a job listing for the new company, Acclaim Games will "be the first US major brand to bring some of the most successful online games in the world, specifically designed to meet the community and multiplayer experience that the 36 million U.S. tweens and the 41 million European tweens want." (Tweens are typically defined as children aged 9 to 13.)
Marks is no stranger to the game business. While a student at the University of Michigan, Marks and roommate Bobby Kotick started Arktronics, a software development company that created business-application technology for the Apple II platform.
Then, in 1991, the two bought a 30 percent interest in an ailing game publisher, Activision. The company was in a precarious financial state and the two investors took the company through bankruptcy proceedings and then rebuilt it from the ground up. Now, the game maker is considered the second-biggest third-party publisher in America, after Electronic Arts.
Of course, Bobby Kotick is now Activision's CEO. Marks remained with the company in an executive role until late 1997. Marks founded business-application software company eMinds in February 1998.
Today, Marks hopes to introduce casual MMO PC games, a genre that is wildly popular in Asia, to stateside gamers.
Acclaim's products will be based on the microtransaction-based business model made popular by Korean titles like Go Pets, Kart Racer, and Hangame. Marks has said "these small content transactions are a proven model for millions of gamers in Asia and is directly analogous to the explosive $4 billion worldwide ring tone and wallpaper mobile phone market mainly consumed by the 8-16 group [in the US and Europe]."
The company will license game content from Korea, then localize and support it for Western markets. Its launch title will be B.O.U.T., a "robot fighting game" for PCs with "an incredibly easy interface," according to Acclaim. The title is currently owned and operated (in Korea) by Seoul-based publisher NHN Corporation. NHN is widely credited with pioneering the micropayment strategy almost four years ago.
B.O.U.T. will be a free game that will entice gamers to buy from among 15,000-plus in-game robot parts using real-world cash. Parts can then be used and combined by gamers to make their robots better fighters.
At the recent G-Star game summit in Korea, NHN president Whee-Young Choi said that B.O.U.T. will mark the "starting line" of collaboration between Korean and US companies. He also alluded to B.O.U.T. having an anime component, though he offered no specifics.
Expect Marks and Acclaim Games to launch its lineup of casual, item-based games sometime next year.
Content you might like…
-
Q&A: Throwback CEO Thomas Maduri
Now that the bulk of Acclaim's intellectual property rights have found a new home, what's going to be done with them?
- Jul 10, 2006
Users who looked at this article also looked at these content items.
Hot Stories
Newsmakers
-
Carmack on ZeniMax, Apple, and new 'triple-A' game
Q&A: id Software's technical guru explains shock buyout by Bethesda parent, talks about new project, and doubts the Mac-maker will enter the console wars; new wave of iPhone games explained in detail. Full Story
- Posted Jun 26, 2009 12:23 pm PT
- 169 Comments
-
Crosshairs Interview: Remedy Ent. on Alan Wake
We chat with lead writer Sam Lake at E3 2009 about Alan Wake. Full Story
- Posted Jun 29, 2009 1:04 am PT
Featured Stories
-
Starcraft II jettisons LAN support
Blizzard confirms anticipated sci-fi RTS will skip local multiplayer due to piracy, quality concerns. Full Story
- Posted Jun 30, 2009 11:45 am PT
- 939 Comments
-
28% of all console gamers now female - Study
Industry-tracking NPD Group reveals women flocking to Wii, hardcore gaming on decline, online gaming stagnate. Full Story
- Posted Jun 29, 2009 4:45 pm PT
- 504 Comments
-
Shippin' Out June 28-July 4: Call of Juarez prequel, Harry Potter
Ubisoft's Western shooter and J.K. Rowling's boy-wizard lead this week's retail charge along with Mega Man Star Force 3, Worms 2: Armageddon, The Punisher: No Mercy, Ice Age film game. Full Story
- Posted Jun 29, 2009 8:22 am PT
- 66 Comments
-
Obsidian, Sega confirm Aliens RPG 'no longer in development'
Developer breaks silence, confirms all work has ceased on sci-fi film-inspired role-playing project; publisher says there are "no plans to move forward" with the game. Full Story
- Posted Jun 26, 2009 4:31 pm PT
- 151 Comments
-
THQ reveals controller-based game for 2010
UFC publisher reveals first peripheral-specific title, claiming it will have a "competitive advantage" by being "different from anything else." Full Story
- Posted Jun 26, 2009 2:17 pm PT
- 145 Comments
Submit News
Recent News
-
Alpha Protocol initiated for October 6
Sega and Obsidian Entertainment's wetwork-heavy stealth RPG dated for this fall on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.
Site Blogs
-
Battlestations: Pacific DLC deploying in July
Battlestations: Pacific won the battle against critics when it debuted on the Xbox 360 and PC in May. And while it has yet to be seen...
42 Comments