Post by: WindyMan on July 05, 2004, 09:03:14 AM
Acclaim has released its financial report for its fiscal year ending on March 31st, and the numbers aren't good: In the past year, the company has lost $56.4 million. (Then again, they lost $84.4 million the year before, so it's not that bad...) These massive losses don't bode well for the credit line, and if Acclaim doesn't find a new source of money to help counterbalance these debts, they'll have to file for bankruptcy.
To add insult to injury, Acclaim has lost two if its biggest remaining franchises, mostly because of failure to pay royalty fees. The Major League Baseball Player's Association has dropped All Star Baseball from its list of licenses, meaning Acclaim can't use the names or likenesses of MLB players in its game, effectively making ASB worthless. More embarassing, however, is that Acclaim no longer holds the rights to Turok. The first-person shooter that made a name for the publisher (in both a good and bad way) was taken away from them last month from Classic Media, creators of the franchise.
These latest two franchises lost can be added to the list of big-name games taken away from them. The first to go, of course, was the then-named WWF series of games to THQ, and recently Criterion's Burnout series to EA. With virtually no licensed or familiar game properties left in their lineup, Acclaim's future is very bleak, if they even have a future left.
Just to put into perspective how bad it is for Acclaim, their stock price on the NASDAQ is currently around $0.25 a share, which is well below the $1.00 minimum stock price the index requires its listees to hold.
Post by: The Omen on July 05, 2004, 09:58:33 AM
Post by: Ian Sane on July 05, 2004, 09:59:07 AM
I was unaware that Turok had been taken away. Makes sense.
Post by: joshnickerson on July 05, 2004, 10:26:17 AM
Post by: Bill Aurion on July 05, 2004, 11:07:14 AM
Post by: GaimeGuy on July 05, 2004, 11:30:37 AM
It's about time.
Post by: couchmonkey on July 05, 2004, 11:37:33 AM
Post by: MysticGohan24 on July 05, 2004, 11:50:29 AM
Maybe some of the staff will form a new studio, to make decent games.
Turok was actually good, on the 64. atleast up till 2 or 3 not sure which was actually better
But acclaim had to screw it up with their whacked advertisments and contests, what a freak of nature.
Let alone the onetime when they released a racing game a any who speeds and got a ticket acclaim would pay for it.
Incompetent people at work!!!
Post by: darknight06 on July 05, 2004, 01:18:36 PM
Post by: Flames_of_chaos on July 05, 2004, 02:00:03 PM
Post by: Bill Aurion on July 05, 2004, 02:15:46 PM
Post by: theRPGFreak on July 05, 2004, 03:52:31 PM
Post by: Dasmos on July 05, 2004, 04:30:11 PM
Post by: Uncle Rich AiAi on July 05, 2004, 04:37:50 PM
oh noes.......
Post by: Flames_of_chaos on July 05, 2004, 06:04:10 PM
Post by: Perfect Cell on July 05, 2004, 09:30:37 PM
Post by: S-U-P-E-R on July 05, 2004, 10:57:37 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: couchmonkey
*Sigh*. I know Acclaim made a lot of crap games, but this is still sad news. A lot of people are going to lose their jobs, and in spite of what we're saying, I'm sure the majority of Acclaim's staff actually wants to make good games. Too bad the marketers and managers at the company put trash and expediency ahead of quality products.
I wouldn't worry too much, the talented people will get jobs at other companies if they haven't already gotten hired away. Right?
Post by: TheYoungerPlumber on July 06, 2004, 07:08:42 AM
Post by: Epitaph on July 06, 2004, 10:47:25 AM
Post by: Syl on July 06, 2004, 11:57:32 AM
Quote
Originally posted by: Epitaph
My guess is that atari is next, matrix was horrible and they just keep on relying on movie contracts. My mind just tells me their next. It makes sense that companies are falling out tho the market got too big too fast and then all the companies saturated it. So whats gonna happen now companies are gonna go banktrupt and the survivers will start to make alot of money and its gonna turn into something like the music industrie where a select few companies own the whole thing.
True that.
I won't mourn acclaim, the one title they did that i care about is currently being released by EA. (Burnout)
I think that Midway is going to be heavily relying on the new Mortal Kombat game as well....
Vivendi is barely staying afloat as it is, they need to be very grateful they have blizzard.
Interplay also recently got owned...
I'm thinking that this business is going to slowly turn into one of publishing monopolies =/
Post by: Djunknown on July 06, 2004, 02:45:34 PM
As mentioned earlier, other mediocre/crappy publishers better start counting their stock; the video-game reaper may come for them too...
Any one want to bet who's next to go?
Post by: Felis Demens CCXXI on July 06, 2004, 04:50:49 PM
Post by: KDR_11k on July 06, 2004, 11:36:28 PM
Quote
Originally posted by: Epitaph
My guess is that atari is next, matrix was horrible and they just keep on relying on movie contracts. My mind just tells me their next. It makes sense that companies are falling out tho the market got too big too fast and then all the companies saturated it. So whats gonna happen now companies are gonna go banktrupt and the survivers will start to make alot of money and its gonna turn into something like the music industrie where a select few companies own the whole thing.
Actually Atari is still a bit farther from the ground than Eidos. I think Eidos is the next to impact, Atari has an occassional hit title that keeps them afloat. Won't be too long until they fumble, crash and burn, but I think they'll outlast Eidos, anyway. Activision's still alive, though, and Doom 3 wil give them a bt of upward motion. Now we just need to see THQ and their subsidiary ValuSoft (look at the fine print, ValuSoft is a division of THQ) die and we'll be free from most awful publishers.
Post by: mouse_clicker on July 06, 2004, 11:42:59 PM
Post by: Caillan on July 06, 2004, 11:50:53 PM
Quote
I'm kind worried about all these publishers struggling. I mean, I know they're bad and all, but having that many companies go south so soon can't be a good sign for the industry.
Yeah, I can see another big crash happening real soon. It's enivitable, though, so there's little use worrying about it. Maybe all these crap publisher's sinking will postpone it for a while, as the industry's value will be less inflated. Maybe not.
Post by: Epitaph on July 07, 2004, 09:22:14 AM
Post by: Ian Sane on July 07, 2004, 09:41:28 AM
I think it's good for the industry personally. It shows that publishers with poor track records can't survive and that should encourage other publishers to release a better product. A "make great games or die" scenario is pretty beneficial for us gamers. Now if good publishers were dying left and right while companies like Acclaim were flourishing then it wouldn't be a good sign.
I do however hope that Midway toughs it out because they seem to be on the right track to making good games again.
Post by: KDR_11k on July 07, 2004, 10:43:03 AM
Microsoft just noticed they're bleeding money for three years now, wonder what could be the cause
? They said they need to cut costs of one billion dollars per annum, what did lose that much money, again?
Post by: FyreWulff on July 08, 2004, 09:50:07 AM
THQ is one of the few independent third parties publishing GameCube exclusives anymore.
Post by: KDR_11k on July 08, 2004, 10:08:34 AM
Random thought: Acclaim just learned what it means to refuse an offer Yamauchi said they couldn't refuse...
EDIT: Argh, that keyboard screws everything up!
