Playdom buys Acclaim

Social gaming outfit Playdom has acquired Acclaim Games as part of its ongoing expansion operation.

The move continues Playdom’s aggressive takeover strategy, which has in recent months seen the Californian group acquire Three Melons, Offbeat Creations, Green Patch and Trippert Labs.

Acclaim will now join that fleet of studios, and will still be managed by its current CEO, though now alongside Playdom chief technical officer Neil Malhotra.

The Acclaim brand enjoyed much success in the nineties, and even the early noughties, after publishing a string of popular titles.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy was the eventual fate of the publisher, though the brand was revived back in 2006 under the guidance of publishing exec Howard Marks, who steered the company as its CEO.

Since that renewal, Acclaim has enjoyed popularity as an online destination for free-to-play games and MMOS. It now boasts 15 million registered users.

Now Marks, having dragged Acclaim back to profitability, says that integrating with Playdom “is a natural fit."

He adds: “Both companies share the vision of connecting people globally through quality social games.

“Our deep expertise in building multiplayer online games and Playdom’s vast player community will help us bring out the next generation of social games."

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.