vh5150
25th December 2004, 11:33 PM
Old news but I wanted to archive this:
http://img150.exs.cx/img150/2047/23248xs.gif
(http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzaklm020904,0,2586709.story?coll=ny-business-headlines)
Acclaim files for bankruptcy
By Monty Phan
Staff Writer
September 2, 2004
Acclaim Entertainment, the publisher of such popular 1990s video games as Mortal Kombat and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Wednesday, bringing an end to the troubled company.
The Chapter 7 filing means the company will liquidate its assets in order to pay off creditors, ceasing operations. On Friday, the company let go of the nearly 600 employees at its Glen Cove headquarters and at offices in Austin, Texas, and Manchester, England. In the filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip, Acclaim listed assets of between $10 million and $50 million and debt of more than $100 million.
Acclaim officials could not be reached for comment. The trustee in the bankruptcy, Syosset attorney Allan Mendelsohn, said he was just beginning to assess Acclaim's finances and speak with creditors.
Acclaim, once one of Long Island's largest public companies, had flirted with bankruptcy for the past two months as it tried to secure a lender to replace GMAC Commercial Finance, whose loan agreement with Acclaim expired Aug. 20 after twice being extended. Acclaim said on Aug. 20 that it was trying to secure a $65 million loan, but on Friday chief financial officer Gerard Agoglia told Glen Cove employees that negotiations had failed, former employees said.
Although the filing took place Wednesday, the documents show that the company's board of directors agreed to file for bankruptcy last Thursday.
Known for the bloody and controversial Mortal Kombat -- which sold more than 5 million copies -- and the shooting game Turok, Acclaim enjoyed success on such older video game systems as the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64. From 1990 to 1995, sales quadrupled from about $140 million to about $560 million, and in 1996 it employed 1,200 worldwide.
But Acclaim was never able to carry that success over to the newest generation of consoles, such as the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox, misfiring with a poorly received sequel to Turok and BMX XXX, a controversial game that featured actual footage of topless strippers. On Monday, Acclaim's stock, which had failed to close above $1 for two straight days since December 2002, was delisted by Nasdaq and was trading on the Pink Sheets at about 5 cents before the filing.
"Their balance sheet has been upside down for a long time," said John Taylor, an analyst who covers the video game industry for Oregon-based Arcadia Investment. "They've been in cash-conserve mode for a long time."
Still unknown is what will happen with Acclaim's upcoming games. The company has a current campaign for the street racing game Juiced, saying it was to be released Tuesday. Other anticipated games, such as 100 Bullets and Red Star, were to come out this fall. Sometimes, analysts said, other companies will buy the games and release them.
Acclaim might have stayed afloat if it had been able to release Juiced, a game that had good buzz, but it likely needed the loan to pay for its manufacturing and packaging, which failed to happen, said Michael Pachter, a video game industry analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles.
"It shouldn't have gone as far as running out of cash," Pachter said. "It's surprising to me. I know these guys. I don't think they're bad people. I just don't. What probably happened was that during the long, drawn-out negotiations they were running out of cash and the lender got scared. It's a shame."
The company also was plagued by shareholder lawsuits. In 1997, Acclaim faced a bevy of suits stemming in part from its accounting related to the more than half-billion dollars in 1995 sales.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
When not racing in Wipeout I drop in XG3 and XGRA. I thought they polished it up real good with XGRA.
But makes me wonder:
Will this racer series be dead as well for good?
Who picked up the rights?
http://img150.exs.cx/img150/2047/23248xs.gif
(http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzaklm020904,0,2586709.story?coll=ny-business-headlines)
Acclaim files for bankruptcy
By Monty Phan
Staff Writer
September 2, 2004
Acclaim Entertainment, the publisher of such popular 1990s video games as Mortal Kombat and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Wednesday, bringing an end to the troubled company.
The Chapter 7 filing means the company will liquidate its assets in order to pay off creditors, ceasing operations. On Friday, the company let go of the nearly 600 employees at its Glen Cove headquarters and at offices in Austin, Texas, and Manchester, England. In the filing with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Central Islip, Acclaim listed assets of between $10 million and $50 million and debt of more than $100 million.
Acclaim officials could not be reached for comment. The trustee in the bankruptcy, Syosset attorney Allan Mendelsohn, said he was just beginning to assess Acclaim's finances and speak with creditors.
Acclaim, once one of Long Island's largest public companies, had flirted with bankruptcy for the past two months as it tried to secure a lender to replace GMAC Commercial Finance, whose loan agreement with Acclaim expired Aug. 20 after twice being extended. Acclaim said on Aug. 20 that it was trying to secure a $65 million loan, but on Friday chief financial officer Gerard Agoglia told Glen Cove employees that negotiations had failed, former employees said.
Although the filing took place Wednesday, the documents show that the company's board of directors agreed to file for bankruptcy last Thursday.
Known for the bloody and controversial Mortal Kombat -- which sold more than 5 million copies -- and the shooting game Turok, Acclaim enjoyed success on such older video game systems as the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64. From 1990 to 1995, sales quadrupled from about $140 million to about $560 million, and in 1996 it employed 1,200 worldwide.
But Acclaim was never able to carry that success over to the newest generation of consoles, such as the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Xbox, misfiring with a poorly received sequel to Turok and BMX XXX, a controversial game that featured actual footage of topless strippers. On Monday, Acclaim's stock, which had failed to close above $1 for two straight days since December 2002, was delisted by Nasdaq and was trading on the Pink Sheets at about 5 cents before the filing.
"Their balance sheet has been upside down for a long time," said John Taylor, an analyst who covers the video game industry for Oregon-based Arcadia Investment. "They've been in cash-conserve mode for a long time."
Still unknown is what will happen with Acclaim's upcoming games. The company has a current campaign for the street racing game Juiced, saying it was to be released Tuesday. Other anticipated games, such as 100 Bullets and Red Star, were to come out this fall. Sometimes, analysts said, other companies will buy the games and release them.
Acclaim might have stayed afloat if it had been able to release Juiced, a game that had good buzz, but it likely needed the loan to pay for its manufacturing and packaging, which failed to happen, said Michael Pachter, a video game industry analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles.
"It shouldn't have gone as far as running out of cash," Pachter said. "It's surprising to me. I know these guys. I don't think they're bad people. I just don't. What probably happened was that during the long, drawn-out negotiations they were running out of cash and the lender got scared. It's a shame."
The company also was plagued by shareholder lawsuits. In 1997, Acclaim faced a bevy of suits stemming in part from its accounting related to the more than half-billion dollars in 1995 sales.
Copyright © 2004, Newsday, Inc.
When not racing in Wipeout I drop in XG3 and XGRA. I thought they polished it up real good with XGRA.
But makes me wonder:
Will this racer series be dead as well for good?
Who picked up the rights?