For those who’re a gamer of a sure age, the title Acclaim will ring some fairly loud bells. It was a big-time videogame writer by the late Eighties and ’90s, with numerous main sports activities and leisure partnerships to its title. Flagging gross sales pressured the corporate to declare chapter in 2004 however now it is again, in title at the very least, and aiming to “assist indie builders and reignite traditional franchises.”
“Acclaim will present much-needed sources reminiscent of funding, advertising and PR assist, giving impartial studios the chance to deliver their artistic visions to a broad viewers,” Acclaim mentioned in its rejuvenation announcement.
“One of many key objectives for the relaunched Acclaim is to resurrect and revitalize its beloved portfolio of traditional IP loved for years by thousands and thousands of gamers. To make sure this imaginative and prescient involves life, Acclaim has assembled an advisory board comprised of esteemed business leaders, together with Russell Binder at Striker Leisure, Mark Caplan at Ridge Companions, and Jeff Jarrett at World Drive Leisure.”
That is the a part of the in any other case totally boilerplate announcement that caught my consideration. Certainly, I believed to myself, they don’t seem to be speaking about Double-J Jeff Jarrett, the veteran professional wrestler identified for smashing guitars over the heads of just about anybody who catches his consideration?
Yup, that’s precisely who they’re speaking about.
“For greater than three a long time, I’ve had the privilege to have been part of each the wrestling and gaming universes, and I am thrilled to now be a associate within the revival of Acclaim, an iconic writer identified for releasing among the most legendary video games of the ‘80s and ‘90s,” Jarrett mentioned.
“From my early involvement with the writer’s hit 16-bit WWF titles to my expertise serving to form the TNA Wrestling collection, which spawned the primary online game wrestler to turn out to be a full-time roster member within the Squared Circle, I’ve seen firsthand the kind of influence nice video games can have on gamers and followers. Resurrecting Acclaim is a chance to impart the identical diploma of ardour and like to a brand new era, and I am excited to be concerned.”
One other attention-grabbing little bit of trivia: One of many monetary backers of the revived Acclaim is VaynerFund associate Phil Toronto, who is just not really from Toronto. That’s his actual title, although.
The brand new Acclaim can be headed up by CEO Alex Josef, who has numerous credit to his title as CEO of writer Graffiti Video games. “It’s an absolute honor and pleasure to be main the cost in bringing Acclaim again to the forefront of the video games business,” Josef mentioned. “We’re lucky that we now have an especially proficient workforce and that we’ve already signed some unbelievable indie titles, which we’ll be revealing quickly.”
To be blunt, I am just a little uncertain about how a lot weight the Acclaim title carries as of late. But when the resurrected firm is ready to comply with by on its new mission assertion and supply significant assist for indie builders, then I am all for it.