Personally, no love lost for Acclaim. At the start of the brand’s revival, Acclaim acquired a few good games, namely 2Moons and 9Dragons. I played both, and I can tell you straight in the face both are highly playable, with 9Dragons a very unique martial arts MMO during its time. However, lack of updates to their games, lack of company to players communication and buying ridiculous games like Ponystars signaled the end was near. And true enough, Playdom, a Facebook game developer, purchased it. Instead of trying to improve their current games as a start, Acclaim is now into Facebook game development as well.
Social game developer Playdom has made yet another buy, continuing a recent string of acquisitions with the purchase of Acclaim Games.
Acclaim, developer and publisher of casual, downloadable, social and online titles including the Korea-transplanted MMOs Bots and 2Moons, has been in business since 2006, but likely attracted Playdom’s attention with the success of Facebook guitar game RockFree, which it says now has more than 15 million registered users since its March 2010 launch.
Playdom also gains a foothold in Los Angeles in the studio acquisition, and says it’s looking forward to accessing the region’s development talent pool — making it likely that the company is set to continue growing. The companies did not disclose the amount the company paid in the acquisition
Playdom, known for Facebook titles Mobsters and Sorority Life, has been making acquisitions since it picked up $43 million in a Series A round of funding last November. It’s purchased or invested in purchased and invested in at least six studios: Merscom (The Crazies), Trippert Labs (Fighter Jets), Offbeat Creations (Super Farkle), Three Melons (Bola!), Green Patch (Lil Green Patch)and Argentinian firm MetroGames (Music Challenge).
Acclaim is currently working on a new Facbook game that will launch this summer, and the company’s CEO, Howard Marks, commented that “Joining forces with Playdom is a natural fit.”
Marks will continue to run the studio and serve in a senior strategic role for Playdom, while colleague Neil Malhotra will transition from Acclaim CTO to senior technical officer for the studio.
“Bringing Howard and Neil into Playdom strengthens our leadership and bolsters our position as an innovative games developer for the future,” says Playdom CEO John Pleasants. “Howard and Neil have worked together building and operating games for many years, and their pipeline of new games is strong.”
