Acclaim to limit/drop GAMECUBE support

[Jacob Marley]

I'm so surprised no one has posted this yet! Don't you guys follow business developments?

Anyways, I saw this while reading today's offerings on the definitive news site, www.reuters.com

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LOS ANGELES, June 23 (Reuters) - Video game publisher Acclaim Entertainment Inc. (NasdaqSC:AKLM - News) said on Monday it would limit support for Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) third-place GameCube console to games already in progress and older brands, ruling out new games in new franchises for the platform.

"We don't foresee launching any new brands on GameCube," Acclaim spokesman Alan Lewis told Reuters.

The decision was the latest blow for Nintendo, which has seen publishers blame shortfalls on slack GameCube sales and in some cases cancel in-progress titles on fears they would not sell well enough to justify the investment.

The GameCube had an installed base through May of about 4.2 million units in North America, according to analysts, compared with 5.4 million for Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) Xbox and 17.7 million units for Sony Corp.'s (Tokyo:6758.T - News) PlayStation 2.

Lewis said games already in progress for the GameCube would come out as planned, and the company would continue to consider new games for the console based on older properties.

The GameCube debuted in 2001 and has sharply underperformed Nintendo's expectations.

While sales were boosted earlier this year by the launch of a new game in the popular "Zelda" series, the console is still locked firmly in third in the United States, and publishers have started to scale back support for it, particularly in genres like sports.

Acclaim shares were off 5 percent at 79 cents on Nasdaq. Earlier this month, the company's longtime chief executive, Gregory Fischbach, resigned and was replaced by Rod Cousens, who had been president of the company.

[goaliefrk]

Yes! Fuck Acclaim! I hate them! Please drop software for the XBOX too!

[Zhao]

I'm so surprised no one has posted this yet! Don't you guys follow business developments?

Anyways, I saw this while reading today's offerings on the definitive news site, www.reuters.com

---------------

LOS ANGELES, June 23 (Reuters) - Video game publisher Acclaim Entertainment Inc. (NasdaqSC:AKLM - News) said on Monday it would limit support for Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s (7974.OS) third-place GameCube console to games already in progress and older brands, ruling out new games in new franchises for the platform.

"We don't foresee launching any new brands on GameCube," Acclaim spokesman Alan Lewis told Reuters.

The decision was the latest blow for Nintendo, which has seen publishers blame shortfalls on slack GameCube sales and in some cases cancel in-progress titles on fears they would not sell well enough to justify the investment.

The GameCube had an installed base through May of about 4.2 million units in North America, according to analysts, compared with 5.4 million for Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) Xbox and 17.7 million units for Sony Corp.'s (Tokyo:6758.T - News) PlayStation 2.

Lewis said games already in progress for the GameCube would come out as planned, and the company would continue to consider new games for the console based on older properties.

The GameCube debuted in 2001 and has sharply underperformed Nintendo's expectations.

While sales were boosted earlier this year by the launch of a new game in the popular "Zelda" series, the console is still locked firmly in third in the United States, and publishers have started to scale back support for it, particularly in genres like sports.

Acclaim shares were off 5 percent at 79 cents on Nasdaq. Earlier this month, the company's longtime chief executive, Gregory Fischbach, resigned and was replaced by Rod Cousens, who had been president of the company.

This is going to be a big shocker for Nintendo in the long run. They have lost about 15 3rd party developers to date and continue a landslide with sales of GC. Without support from major companies such as Acclaim in this case or any other large publisher/developer such as EA, Activision, etc can cause extreme damage to a consoles future.

[Jacob Marley]

Well, it's not like they won't release any more games for the GameCube however. Acclaim states that while they won't bring out or develop new brands for the cube, they'll still publish Cube games on older, successful properties as well as finishing up any "in progress" titles.

So, perhaps the Burnout series will live on for the Gamecube!

[ChaiOgawa]

At this point it doesnt seem as thougha good investment for a third party developer to get involved with the gamecube.

[Zhao]

Any major company who makes a decision like this to stop development of any new brands to a console doesnt show a bright future for any console.

[Jacob Marley]

Any major company who makes a decision like this to stop development of any new brands to a console doesnt show a bright future for any console.

Of course, but it doesn't appear that all support will be dropped in the near term, which I wanted to clarify based on the way I worded my forum topic subject.

[goaliefrk]

What games did Acclaim make besides the god awful BMX XXX?

[kenshiro]

Oh boo hoo...no more Acclaim support. I'm gonna really miss more Turok games.....NOT.

[Andy]

heh... I was going to say the same thing as Kenshiro. Akklaim has done nothing but dissapoint for a long time now. I did like the original Turok on N64 though. :o

[goaliefrk]

I didn't.