Playdom To Acclaim: It's Not You, It's Me

Posted on August 27, 2010 by Scott Jennings| 20 Comments

After purchasing Acclaim 3 months ago, Playdom shuts down everything they run… um… somewhat abruptly.

We regret to inform you that all Acclaim games will no longer be in service effective August 26, 2010

ACCLAIM COINS

OTHER GAMES


Check out other Playdom games at http://www.facebook.com/Playdom

Probably the most abrupt studio closing in quite a while.

If you’re a 9Dragons player your strategy for porting your game account to the new owners? Um… screenshots.

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  • http://Website J.

    It was kind of like that for the previous Acclaim, too.

  • http://stabbedup.blogspot.com/ Stabs

    Lol at

    “Check out other Playdom games at”

    Sorry we are screwing you but if you’d like to buy another of our products where we haven’t screwed our customers yet click here…

  • http://www.antipwn.com/blog IainC

    That response on the GamersFirst forum though is top class. Really nice to see a team step up to the plate when stuff like this drops in your lap – speaking as someone who worked through a similar experience some time ago I know just how bad it can be when the previous operator decides not to co-operate.

  • http://Website Aufero

    I wonder exactly how much of this was Disney deciding to prune Playdom’s purchases with a machete now that they’re the sole owners.

  • http://Website Mark

    I don’t know much about all this, but why did they purchase Acclaim if they are shutting down everything? It reminds me of EA buying Kesmai and then killing it.

  • http://geldonsgaming.blogspot.com/ geldonyetich

    As of December 2007, the company had 5 million registered accounts and 500,000 active players across all games[2].(Wikipedia)

    How Acclaim/Playdom manage to screw up milking that cash cow so badly they decided to put it to slaughter is beyond me.

    If you’re a 9Dragons player your strategy for porting your game account to the new owners? Um… screenshots.

    Got a level 10 character want and a level 110 character? Time to put those Photoshop skills to the test!

  • http://www.tamibaribeau.com Cuppycake

    Note, the studio isn’t closing. The studio is staying open, but they’re just making social games now.

    Acclaim wasn’t purchased for these games, they were purchased for their ability to make social games. If the games were doing well they wouldn’t have been put to rest.

  • http://Website Joe

    Holy shit, that was quick.

    This is back to the old days of “SHUT UP LITTLE MAN AND PAY YOUR $10, DADDY NEEDS A NEW PORSCHE” quick.

    …Wow.

  • http://Website isildur


    Mark:

    I don’t know much about all this, but why did they purchase Acclaim if they are shutting down everything? It reminds me of EA buying Kesmai and then killing it.

    Your reminder of this was like picking a scab off a partly-healed injury.

  • http://Website gyrus

    I wonder if The Chronicles of Spellborn will ever see the light of day again?

    I played it and it wasn’t too bad. Had all the basic elements of a good MMO – IMHO just needed a bit of love by few good devs.
    It was certainly closer to being a good MMO than many that have survived it.

  • http://Website Ingmar

    Alas poor PonyStars?

  • http://Website Ingmar

    PonyStars survives in the hands of their French overlords, THANK GOD!

  • http://Website Freakazoid

    Oh hey, I played 9dragons for a little while! What a grindy piece of shit. I liked being a shaolin monk but I couldn’t put up with the grind past… level 30 or so? And there were about 100 levels. Maybe if the game had more solo quest content instead of EQ style group grinds I would have overlooked gameguard’s bullshit a little longer as well.

  • http://Website AJT


    Mark:

    I don’t know much about all this, but why did they purchase Acclaim if they are shutting down everything? It reminds me of EA buying Kesmai and then killing it.

    Best bet? They purchased it for next to nothing, and once they actually got a hold of it they saw the real books, and realized it was worth even less. and would make them more money as a tax write down than any attempts at an actual continuing business.

  • http://Website PowerSpec3

    Isn’t against years-old anti-trust laws to just buy a competitor and just fire everyone and close it down?

  • http://geldonsgaming.blogspot.com/ geldonyetich


    PowerSpec3:

    Isn’t against years-old anti-trust laws to just buy a competitor and just fire everyone and close it down?

    If so, some of the biggest names in gaming, such as EA and Activision, have some explaining to do.

  • http://Website JuJutsu


    PowerSpec3:

    Isn’t against years-old anti-trust laws to just buy a competitor and just fire everyone and close it down?

    The short answer is no. If the justice dept. thinks that it will adversely affect competition in an industry [typically by increasing concentration] they can take action. This is small potatoes in the broader scheme of things.

  • http://Website Ashendarei

    sad news … at least the developers aren’t out a job (that’s SOMETHING at least) but social games…..

    REALLY?

    /ugh

  • http://Website reci

    i know not everyone here will share my opinion but i loved to play dance!online and even when it wasnt updated, it didnt robbed the fun i had with some friends. It was a great game, the support sucked, since they started over with plenty new games instead of concentrate of just a few.

    so the only thing i can say, thx n also i wish everyone from acclaim all the best and the chance for a new start, even when it is somewhere else.

  • http://Website crito

    Thanks for bringing back the links Scott!