Iguana Entertainment

Last updated

Iguana Entertainment
FormerlyIguana Entertainment (1991–1999)
Acclaim Studios Austin (1999–2004)
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Video games
Founded1991 in Santa Clara, California, U.S.
Founder Jeff Spangenberg
DefunctAugust 27, 2004;19 years ago (2004-08-27)
Fate Dissolved
Headquarters
Austin, Texas
,
U.S.
Parent Acclaim Entertainment (1995–2004)

Iguana Entertainment, later known as Acclaim Studios Austin, was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg, previously lead designer for Punk Development, and originally located in Santa Clara, California. Iguana found first success with Aero the Acro-Bat , moved to Austin and acquired Optimus Software (later Iguana UK) in 1993. Iguana was acquired by Acclaim Entertainment in January 1995 and received another sub-studio, Iguana West (formerly Sculptured Software) in October that year. Spangenberg was fired from his position in July 1998 and filed a lawsuit on breach of contract the following October. Iguana was rebranded Acclaim Studios Austin in May 1999, and the studio was closed down in August 2004, followed by the Chapter 7 bankruptcy of its parent in September 2004.

Contents

History

Prior to founding Iguana Entertainment, Jeff Spangenberg, a self-taught programmer who skipped college to pursue a programming career, [1] [2] served as lead designer for Punk Development, the development team of publisher RazorSoft. [3] In 1991, Spangenberg founded his own company in Santa Clara, California, and hired 20 staff, including friends of his. [1] [2] Initially, the company did not have a name; Jay Moon, who served as development support manager for the company, explained that Spangenberg held two pet iguanas, named Spike and Killer, wherefore the team settled on "Iguana Entertainment", with Spike and Killer serving as mascots for the company. [2] In 1992, Several Punk Development employees joined Iguana when the partnership between Punk and RazorSoft dissolved, [3] and Iguana hired further staff in 1993 through funding provided by publishers Sunsoft and Acclaim Entertainment. [1]

Because of the high cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area for Spangenberg and his employees, the company decided to move their headquarters. [1] [2] Their first choice was Seattle, Washington, which was also the location of Nintendo of America, but getting to know Texas' expanding technology industry, several Iguana staff traveled to Austin in May 1993 to investigate the relocation possibilities in the area. [1] [2] The team returned with videotape of the city's Sixth Street entertainment district. [1] [2] All but one employee agreed to move to Austin, and the relocation was completed shortly after. [1] [2] Later that year, Iguana achieved its first success with Aero the Acro-Bat and used profits generated from the game's sales to acquire Stockton-on-Tees-based [4] developer Optimus Software, which was rebranded Iguana UK. [5]

On December 21, 1994, Acclaim announced that they had agreed to acquire Iguana. [6] The deal was completed on January 4, 1995, [7] with US$5 million paid in cash and additional, undisclosed payments made in stock. [8] In October 1995, Acclaim additionally acquired Salt Lake City-based Sculptured Software for $30 million in stock, [5] which became part of Iguana under the name Iguana West in December 1997. [9] [10]

Spangenberg was fired from Iguana on July 8, 1998, [2] and several undisclosed management changes at the studio were announced by Acclaim later the same month. [11] Additionally, the company was placed under Acclaim Studios, a new, decentralized management for Acclaim's development studios led by former Iguana employee Darrin Stubbington. [11] In October that year, Spangenberg filed a lawsuit against Acclaim, Acclaim co-founder Greg Fischbach, and Iguana for breach of contract and fraud. [2] [12] The suit, handled as "Jeffery Spangenberg vs. Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., Iguana Entertainment, Inc., and Gregory Fischbach", alleged that Fischbach urged Spangenberg to purchase Acclaim shares worth $25,000 in February 1998, and convinced him to keep them just shortly before Spangenberg was relieved of his position, resulting in his loss of stock options. [2] [12] Spangenberg founded a new development company, Retro Studios, on October 1, 1999. [13]

In May 1999, Acclaim Studios announced that they would unify all development studios owned by the company under the same branding; as part of this move, Iguana, Iguana UK and Iguana West became Acclaim Studios Austin, Acclaim Studios Teesside and Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City, respectively. [14] When Acclaim's agreement with GMAC Commercial Finance, their primary lender, expired on August 20, 2004, [15] the company closed all of its facilities, including Acclaim Studios Austin, on August 27, [16] of which the Austin and New York studios saw all employees let go. [17] Acclaim itself filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy with the United States bankruptcy court in Central Islip, New York on September 1. [18] [19]

The "Iguana Entertainment" name was reused by brothers Jason and Darren Falcus, who had founded Optimus Software in February 1988, [4] when they created a studio of the same name in 2009. [20] That studio was acquired by and incorporated into Team17 in December 2011. [5] [20]

Games

As Iguana Entertainment
YearTitlePlatform(s)
1992Super High Impact Sega Genesis
1993 Aero the Acro-Bat Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
1994 Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel
Aero the Acro-Bat 2
The Pirates of Dark Water Sega Genesis
NBA Jam Sega CD, Sega Game Gear, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Side Pocket Super Nintendo Entertainment System
1995 Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
NBA Jam Tournament Edition PlayStation, Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
NFL Quarterback Club Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
NFL Quarterback Club 96 Microsoft Windows, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
1996 College Slam Game Boy, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo Entertainment System
NFL Quarterback Club 97 PlayStation, Sega Saturn
Batman Forever: The Arcade Game
1997 All-Star Baseball '97 featuring Frank Thomas
Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64
NFL Quarterback Club 98 Nintendo 64
1998 NHL Breakaway 98
All-Star Baseball 99
Iggy's Reckin' Balls
NFL Quarterback Club 99
NHL Breakaway 99
NBA Jam 99
South Park Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, PlayStation
Turok 2: Seeds of Evil Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64
1999 All-Star Baseball 2000 Nintendo 64
As Acclaim Studios Austin
YearTitlePlatform(s)
1999 South Park: Chef's Luv Shack Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, PlayStation
Turok: Rage Wars Nintendo 64
NFL Quarterback Club 2000 Nintendo 64, Dreamcast
2000 Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Nintendo 64
2001 All-Star Baseball 2002 GameCube, PlayStation 2
NFL QB Club 2002
2002 All-Star Baseball 2003 GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
Turok: Evolution GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
2003 Vexx GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox
All-Star Baseball 2004
NBA Jam PlayStation 2, Xbox
2004 All-Star Baseball 2005
Showdown: Legends of Wrestling
Cancelled The Red Star
100 Bullets

Related Research Articles

Sierra Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 by Ken and Roberta Williams. The company is known for pioneering the graphic adventure game genre, including the first such game, Mystery House. It is known for its graphical adventure game series King's Quest, Space Quest, Police Quest, Gabriel Knight, Leisure Suit Larry, and Quest for Glory, and as the original publisher of Valve's Half-Life series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interplay Entertainment</span> American video game developer and publisher

Interplay Entertainment Corp. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Los Angeles. The company was founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by developers Brian Fargo, Jay Patel, Troy Worrell, and Rebecca Heineman, as well as investor Chris Wells. As a developer, Interplay is best known as the creator of the Fallout series and as a publisher for the Baldur's Gate and Descent series.

Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game publisher based in Glen Cove, New York. Originally formed by Greg Fischbach, Robert Holmes and Jim Scoroposki out of an Oyster Bay storefront in 1987, the company established a worldwide development team through a series of acquisitions in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After poor financial returns in their 2003 fiscal year, Acclaim filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in September 2004. Properties owned by Acclaim were subsequently auctioned off to various parties.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Take-Two Interactive</span> American video game holding company

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993.

<i>Turok: Dinosaur Hunter</i> 1997 video game

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is a first-person shooter video game developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Acclaim for the Nintendo 64 console and Microsoft Windows. It was released in 1997 in North America and Europe. Turok is an adaptation of the Valiant Comics comic book series of the same name. The player controls Turok, a Native American warrior, who must stop the evil Campaigner from conquering the universe with an ancient and powerful weapon.

Retro Studios, Inc. is an American video game developer and subsidiary of Nintendo based in Austin, Texas. The studio is best known for its work on the Metroid Prime and Donkey Kong Country series, and has contributed to several other Nintendo-developed projects, such as Mario Kart 7.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Surreal Software</span> American video game developer

Surreal Software was an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, known for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Suffering and Drakan series. Surreal Software employed over 130 designers, artists, and programmers. Surreal was acquired by Warner Bros. Games during the bankruptcy of Midway Games in July 2009. After a significant layoff in January 2011, the remaining employees were integrated into WBG's Kirkland offices, along with developers Monolith and Snowblind.

<i>Worms 3D</i> 2003 video game

Worms 3D is a 3D artillery turn-based tactical game in the Worms series. It was developed by Team17. The game was the first in the series to be in 3D and also featured several new weapons. Additionally, some of the weapons operations are substantially different from previous Worms titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acclaim Studios Manchester</span> British video game developer

Acclaim Studios Manchester was a British video game developer based in Manchester, England. The company was established in 1985 by Richard Kay. They were primarily known for their video games based on movie and comic licences like Marvel Comics, Cutthroat Island , Disney's Beauty and the Beast and the original titles Plok, Solstice, and its sequel Equinox.

Foundation 9 Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game company based in Irvine, California. The company was formed in March 2005 through the merger of video game developers Backbone Entertainment and The Collective.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2K (company)</span> American video game publisher

2K is an American video game publisher based in Novato, California. The company was founded as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive in January 2005 through the 2K Games and 2K Sports sub-labels. The nascent label incorporated several development studios owned by Take-Two, including Visual Concepts and Kush Games, which had been acquired the day before. Originally based in New York City, 2K moved to Novato in 2007. A third label, 2K Play, was added in September 2007. 2K is governed by David Ismailer as president and Phil Dixon as chief operating officer. It operates a motion capture studio in Petaluma, California.

Midway Studios Austin was a video game developer established by former Acclaim Studios Austin employees, founded as Inevitable Entertainment in 2000 and acquired by Midway Games in 2004. Responsible for developing Area 51 and its 2007 sequel BlackSite: Area 51.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PopTop Software</span> American video game developer

PopTop Software Inc. was an American video game developer based in Fenton, Missouri. The company was founded in 1993 by Phil Steinmeyer, acquired by Take-Two Interactive in July 2000, became part of the 2K label in January 2005, and was closed down in March 2006. It was known for its construction and management simulation games.

Jeffery Spangenberg is a retired video game producer and entrepreneur who founded video game developers Punk Development, Iguana Entertainment, Retro Studios, and Topheavy Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vivendi Games</span> Defunct American video game company

Vivendi Games was an American video game publisher and holding company based in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1996 as CUC Software, the publishing subsidiary of CUC International, after the latter acquired video game companies Davidson & Associates and Sierra On-Line. Between 1997 and 2001, the company switched parents and names multiple times before ending up organized under Vivendi Universal. On July 10, 2008, Vivendi Games merged with Activision to create Activision Blizzard.

VIS Entertainment Limited was a British video game developer based in Edinburgh. Chris van der Kuyl and Peter Baillie established the company in 1996. In 2003, VIS Entertainment faced financial struggles and closed its studios in London and on the Isle of Wight, while downsizing its VIS iTV joint venture. After BAM! Entertainment acquired the studio in May 2004, VIS Entertainment was placed into administration April 2005, subsequently being liquidated and dissolved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outrage Games</span> Video game developer

Outrage Games was an American video game developer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in December 1997 by Matt Toschlog as part of the split-up of Parallax Software, the company developed Descent 3 and Alter Echo (2003). The company was acquired by THQ in April 2002 and shut down in 2003.

Team17 Group plc is a British video game developer and publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish developer Team 7. At the time, the two companies consisted of and were led by Michael Robinson, Martyn Brown and Debbie Bestwick, and Andreas Tadic, Rico Holmes and Peter Tuleby, respectively. Bestwick later became Team17's chief executive officer until 1 January 2024. After their first game, Full Contact (1991) for the Amiga, the studio followed up with multiple number-one releases on that platform and saw major success with Andy Davidson's Worms in 1995, the resulting franchise of which still remains as the company's primary development output, having developed over 20 entries in it.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 IGN Staff (October 19, 2000). "Making Games Fun Again". ign.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "A Retrospective: The Story of Retro Studios". ign.com. December 17, 2004. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  3. 1 2 "Techno Cop – Hardcore Gaming 101". www.hardcoregaming101.net. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Falcus Brothers Complete 15 Years in Business – Timeline Event". spong.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Caoili, Eric (December 13, 2011). "Worms Studio Team17 Amps Up Social Strategy With Iguana Acquisition". gamasutra.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Acclaim to Buy Iguana" . The New York Times. Bloomberg News. December 21, 1994. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  7. ↑ Mills, Allyne; Harnett, Dan (January 4, 1995). "Acclaim completes acquisition of Iguana Entertainment". The Free Library . Archived from the original on May 28, 2015. Retrieved July 27, 2019.
  8. ↑ "The End Game: How Top Developers Sold Their Studios – Part One". gamasutra.com. March 3, 2004. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  9. ↑ IGN Staff (December 16, 1997). "Iguana Breaks the Ice". ign.com. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  10. ↑ IGN Staff (April 1, 1999). "Breaking into the Industry Vol. 5". ign.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  11. 1 2 "Computer game-maker shifts personnel". www.bizjournals.com. July 30, 1998. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  12. 1 2 Dial, Marla (October 4, 1998). "Iguana founder sues after firing". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  13. ↑ Dial, Marla (November 30, 1998). "Iguana founder goes Retro with new company". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Acclaim Studios Evolves into a Single Worldwide Entity; Internal Development Cornerstone of Product Success. – Free Online Library". Business Wire . Berkshire Hathaway. May 12, 1999. Archived from the original on August 5, 2018. Retrieved June 28, 2019– via thefreelibrary.com.
  15. ↑ "Acclaim's assets to go on the auction block". www.bizjournals.com. December 8, 2004. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  16. ↑ Perry, Douglass C. (August 27, 2004). "Acclaim Closes Offices". ign.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  17. ↑ Feldman, Curt (August 31, 2004). "Acclaim shutters offices, staffers ushered off premises". gamespot.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  18. ↑ Feldman, Curt (September 1, 2004). "Acclaim bankruptcy now official". gamespot.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  19. ↑ Carless, Simon (September 2004). "Gamasutra – The Art & Business of Making Games". www.gamasutra.com. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
  20. 1 2 "Team17 hires Iguana Entertainment founders". gamesindustry.biz. December 13, 2011. Retrieved August 11, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.