Iconic 90s game publisher Acclaim Entertainment has been relaunched

Acclaim Entertainment, the prolific game publisher of popular titles of the 80s and 90s, including Mortal Kombat II, Burnout and Turok as well as a boatload of movie tie-in games has been revived after having closed its doors back in 2004. The company’s CEO will be Alex Josef, former founder and CEO of Turnip Boy Robs a Bank publisher Graffiti Games and will focus on resurrecting its old franchises as well as supporting indie studios.

“It’s an absolute honor and pleasure to be leading the charge in bringing Acclaim back to the forefront of the games industry,” said Josef in a press release, “We’re fortunate that we have an extremely talented team and that we’ve already signed some incredible indie titles, which we’ll be revealing soon.” In addition to Alex Josef, the revived Acclaim Entertainment will feature a leadership board of “licensing icons, professional athletes, living music legends and seasoned veterans“, including two-time Hall of Fame wrestler Jeff Jarrett.

Acclaim Entertainment was incredibly prolific in its heyday of the late 80s and throughout the 90s. The company was particular known for publishing a variety of licensed, sports and fighting game franchises, such as Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and NFL Quarterback Club. However, the company’s decline was marked by a succession of weird controversies involving its marketing strategies in the United Kingdom. These included offering a cash prize to anyone who named their baby “Turok” to commemorate the release of Turok Evolution, attempting to put advertisements for the Shadow Man sequel on tombstones or offering to reimburse any driver in the UK who received a speeding ticket to promote Burnout 2: Point of Impact. Fortunately, the UK government stepped in to prevent that last one before anyone was injured.

It will remain to be seen what projects the new Acclaim Entertainment has in the works. Saber Interactive is developing and publishing Turok: Origins, a prequel to the Turok franchise made famous by Acclaim. Many of its other former properties, like Shadow Man and the older Turok games, have received remasters by Nightdive Studios in recent years. Hopefully we can expect some acclaimed output from the new Acclaim Entertainment in the future.