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Formerly | Accolade, Inc. (1984–1999) |
---|---|
Company type | Subsidiary |
Industry | Video games |
Founded | November 1984 |
Founders | |
Defunct | September 2000 |
Fate | Acquired and consolidated |
Headquarters | , US |
Area served | North America |
Products |
|
Parent | Infogrames (1999–2000) |
Accolade, Inc. (renamed as Infogrames North America, Inc. in 1999) was an American video game developer and publisher based in San Jose, California. The company was founded as Accolade in November 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead, who had previously co-founded Activision in October 1979. The company became known for numerous sports franchises, including HardBall!, Jack Nicklaus, and Test Drive.
By the early 1990s, Accolade published acclaimed games such as Star Control and Bubsy. But the company faced the financial strain of a lawsuit with Sega, even after winning the case on appeal. Accolade was transformed under new investors and new management, who focused on existing franchises in the hope of securing the company's future. Into the late 1990s, they experienced a mix of successes and challenges. The release of Bubsy 3D was undermined by technical issues, and Jack Nicklaus 5 was considered a commercial disappointment, despite positive reviews. Still, games such as Star Control 3 and Deadlock were considered modest successes, while Test Drive 4 and Test Drive: Off Road experienced strong sales.
Infogrames Entertainment SA purchased Accolade in 1999, as part of the European company's strategy to become more global. Infogrames transformed Accolade into a subsidiary called "Infogrames North America" and continued operating for just over a year. By 2000, the subsidiary was consolidated into one Infogrames brand, marking the end of Infogrames North America as a separate company, and what was left of Accolade as an entity. In the years that followed, Infogrames rebranded under a revived Atari trademark, before declaring bankruptcy in 2013. The Accolade brand was later revived in 2018, when their former assets were acquired by Hong Kong-based holding company Billionsoft, leading to new Bubsy games published by Tommo.
History
Origins (1984–1985)
Accolade was founded in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead; both had previously worked at Atari.[1] Miller and Whitehead believed that Atari undervalued its coding team, leading them to leave the company and start Activision in 1979.[2] Activision became the first third-party game developer, and one of the few game companies to survive the video game crash of 1983, though they still posted $18 million dollars in losses the following year.[1] After a large devaluation of their stock, Miller and Whitehead left Activision to form Accolade.[2][3]
Accolade was founded and operated in San Jose, California.[4] Whitehead and Miller saw an opportunity to develop games for home computers such as the Commodore 64, allowing their new company to diversify into a market that Activision had not yet explored.[1] This would also allow Accolade to take advantage of floppy disks as a new technology, which were less expensive to manufacture than cartridges, and did not require licensing fees to be paid to the console companies.[5] Whitehead and Miller were unable to attract investment in the video game climate of the time, leading them to self-fund their new venture. The pair hired CEO Tom Frisina to handle managerial duties and began to each work on their own launch titles.[6] They also hired Mimi Doggett, a veteran visual artist from Atari, to compete with other developers on graphical detail.[5]
When you’ve achieved so much success on a specific game system, it’s hard to let go of it. We saw a new market, a new challenge, and some better hardware… we wanted to move forward.
— Alan Miller[1]
Their goal for their first titles was to think beyond the gaming medium and draw inspiration from other popular entertainment, including television and film.[6] Miller's first project was Law of the West, a High Noon inspired western that mixed gunfights with adventure game elements, pioneering a choice of dialogue options that later became common in other games.[1] At the same time, Whitehead had previously seen success with the sports games Home Run and Football on the Atari 2600, which led to the baseball game HardBall! as his Accolade debut.[1] The game was the first to emulate the "behind the pitcher" viewpoint seen on television, and introduced new features such as coach-mode and player data.[6] It became one of Accolade's best selling games on the Commodore 64[7] and was considered a commercial blockbuster at the time.[8]
Success in sports and publishing (1985–1990)
Accolade aimed to balance their roles as both a developer and publisher. Miller recalled that "we tried to have about half of the original titles done by employee developers and half done by external development groups." External groups would port the games to other hardware so that Accolade could focus more energy on original titles.[6] One of their first third-party games was SunDog: Frozen Legacy by FTL Games.[5] Accolade recruited Mike Lorenzen from Activision to create the science fiction game Psi 5 Trading Company,[5] drawing inspiration from Star Trek.[6] Other early successes included boxing game Fight Night,[7] developed by Canadian developer Artech Digital Entertainment.[6] Artech also created the flight simulator The Dam Busters inspired by the classic war film, which led to another flight simulator called Ace of Aces.[5] Ace of Aces became one of Accolade's most successful games,[7] selling 500,000 units after a development cost of less than $80,000.[5] As a publisher, Accolade partnered with peers such as U.S. Gold to distribute their games in Europe, before later switching to Electronic Arts, who would eventually become Accolade's biggest domestic competitor.[5]
Between 1985 and 1986, Accolade's revenues grew from $1.5 million to $5 million, thanks to titles such as Ace of Aces, a golf game called Mean 18, and a driving game called Test Drive.[9] Test Drive was created by Distinctive Software, another developer from Canada who had previously ported Accolade's games to other computer systems.[6] The game pioneered the concept of driving exotic cars at the risk of being chased by the police[5] and became one of Accolade's longest lasting and most successful series.[6] In 1987, Frisina left as CEO and went on to found Three-Sixty Pacific.[10] Miller briefly took over as CEO until Allan Epstein was hired to lead the company in May 1988.[11][12]
![A photo of professional golfer Jack Nicklaus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/28/JackNicklaus2006MastersPar3.jpg/220px-JackNicklaus2006MastersPar3.jpg)
Accolade continued to earn a strong reputation as a publisher and developer of sports games.[5] As a publisher, their baseball game Hardball went on to become a consistent and prolific series,[13] with later entries created by outside developers such as Chris Taylor.[14] This allowed Whitehead time to develop original titles such as the American football game 4th & Inches, while the company published Steve Cartwright's basketball game Fast Break, as well as Artech's tennis game, Serve & Volley.[5] Most notably, Accolade's biggest success would be in golf.[5] Their golf game Mean 18, developed by Rex Bradford, went on to become the Jack Nicklaus series of games.[6] These games pioneered the "three-click" system seen in most golf games,[5] where the player times their button presses to control their backswing, downswing, and follow-through.[15] Accolade was able to outsell other golf games thanks to the Jack Nicklaus license.[5] By 1990, Accolade released Test Drive III: The Passion,[16] developing the game in-house as the first game in the series with 3D polygon graphics.[5]
Console and legal challenges (1990–1993)
At the turn of the decade, Accolade began to diversify their strategy. The company explored other game genres, developing their own graphic adventure game engine to compete with LucasArts and Sierra.[6] Infocom alumni Mike Berlyn created the adventure game Altered Destiny, while Activision veteran Steve Cartwright created the Les Manley series.[6] Around this time, Accolade also gained notoriety as the publisher of the Star Control series of games, created by Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford.[5] Released in 1990 and 1992 respectively, both games received numerous awards.[17] Journalists have listed Star Control among their best games of all time,[18] with Star Control II earning even more "best game" rankings through the 1990s,[19] 2000s,[20] and 2010s.[21] Because Accolade had focused their success around sports games, they accidentally placed a sticker on the box of Star Control II calling it the "Best Sports Game" of 1992.[22][23]
![A screenshot of the message "PRODUCED BY OR UNDER LICENSE FROM SEGA ENTERPRISES LTD."](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2e/Sega-TMSS-Trademark-Security-System-screenshot.png/220px-Sega-TMSS-Trademark-Security-System-screenshot.png)
Accolade also saw the rise of a new generation of gaming consoles, and sought to shift towards a market they had previously abandoned.[5] In 1990, Accolade CEO Allan Epstein expressed his opinion that the growing console market was both an opportunity and a challenge, since both the technology and audience were different from that of the computer.[24]
The company soon released several games for the Sega Genesis by reverse-engineering the console's boot-protection.[5] Sega sued Accolade for doing this without their authorization, winning an initial injunction that forced Accolade to remove all Genesis products from store shelves. Accolade, however, won on appeal, setting one of the most important precedents on reverse engineering in software law. Accolade later reached an out of court settlement with Sega that allowed Accolade to continue building their own Genesis cartridges but as an official licensee.[25] One of the conditions of the settlement was that Accolade would develop several games exclusive to Sega consoles, as a way for Sega to maintain an advantage over their rivals.[5]
As Accolade rushed to develop the exclusive games promised to Sega, the company saw the departure of co-founder Bob Whitehead, who felt their games were slipping in quality and that the game industry had become tiresome.[5] CEO Allan Epstein also left in 1991, and Alan Miller once again became the Chief Executive.[26] As the company changed leadership, Accolade published another breakthrough hit with the platform game Bubsy, created by Infocom veteran Mike Berlyn.[5] The Bubsy series of games would eventually be released on consoles for Sega, Nintendo, Atari Jaguar, and eventually PlayStation.[5] Accolade also tried to replicate its advantageous golf license in other sports, including their association football game Pelé! and American football game Mike Ditka Power Football.[5]
The lawsuit with Sega continued to have serious long-term effects for Accolade.[27] Despite succeeding at the Court of Appeals and negotiating an agreement with Sega, the lower court's injunction had interrupted Accolade's sales and development for several months in 1992. Alan Miller estimated that "the commercial damage associated with this injunction ultimately proved to be somewhere around $15 to $25 million",[25] leading the company to report major losses in 1993.[27]
New leadership (1994–1999)
Accolade hired a new CEO in 1994, recruiting the former head of FAO Schwarz, Peter Harris, to help them attract much-needed investment.[27] Alan Miller initially stayed on as chairman and head of product development, but quit the company later in the year to work in medical software, marking the end of the founders' influence.[5][27] Harris led the company's efforts to build a new management team and secure new financing from Time Warner, before leaving to become CEO of the San Francisco 49ers in 1995.[28]
Accolade president Jim Barnett became the new CEO, and largely focused their strategy on extending existing franchises.[5] Barnett earned the praise of the company's board of directors for increasing sales.[29] However, the second and third instalments of the Bubsy series were commercial disappointments, leading Accolade to ask series creator Mike Berlyn to return as the next game's producer.[30] Berlyn worked on Bubsy 3D with a new team, but the 3D technology proved to be a challenge, and Accolade insisted on releasing the game on time.[31] Upon release, the game's technical issues hurt the reputation of the Bubsy series, as well as that of Accolade as a company.[5]
Accolade asked Ford and Reiche to make a third Star Control game at the same budget as Star Control II, which they turned down to pursue other projects.[32] Instead, the publisher licensed Reiche and Ford's copyrighted character designs to make Star Control 3 with a different development team.[33][34] The third edition was not as celebrated as the first two games, with reviewers noting the change in developer.[35][36][37] Still, the 1996 release of Star Control 3 was a modest commercial success for Accolade as a publisher, as was the release of Deadlock that same year.[38] Moreover, Test Drive 4 and Test Drive: Off Road sold well on both PC and the Sony PlayStation, with more than 850,000 and 500,000 sales respectively, making it the top-selling racing series at the time.[39] Jack Nicklaus 5 received positive reviews, but was ultimately a commercial disappointment.[40]
With Accolade experiencing mixed success, Electronic Arts decided to invest in the company in 1997 and agreed to take over their distribution.[41] Accolade planned to preview several upcoming 1998 titles at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, with entries in major series such as HardBall 6, Test Drive 5, Test Drive: Off Road 2, and Star Control 4, as well as two original titles: Redline and Big Air Snowboarding.[39] By the end of the year, Accolade released their sequels to Test Drive as scheduled, while cancelling their plans for a fourth Star Control game.[42][43] Pitbull Syndicate completed development on Big Air, which was released at the start of 1999 after a delay.[44] Development was also completed on Redline, and the driving-and-shooting game was published by Accolade in April.[45]
Acquisition and fate (1999–2000)
Accolade was purchased by French publisher Infogrames in April 1999, as part of the European company's strategy to gain a distribution network in North America.[46] Infogrames paid $50 million to acquire Accolade's workforce of 145 employees, their sports franchises such as Test Drive and Hardball, and Accolade's licensing deals with brands such as Major League Baseball.[47] They retained CEO Jim Barnett to lead a new subsidiary company that became Infogrames North America, combining Accolade's workforce with an Infogrames office of 29 employees.[48] As a result, major franchises such as Test Drive 6 were published under the name Infogrames North America starting in 1999.[49] What followed was a series of acquisitions and consolidations, when Infogrames purchased GT Interactive and renamed it Infogrames Inc.[50] By 2000, Infogrames merged Infogrames North America into Infogrames Inc.[51][52] This marked the end of Infogrames North America as a separate company, and what was left of Accolade as an entity.
Later, Infogrames acquired the Atari brand from Hasbro Interactive in 2001, and slowly re-branded their properties under Atari SA through the decade.[53][50] Atari/Infogrames declared bankruptcy in 2013, with Tommo purchasing the Accolade trademark and several related assets.[54] In June 2017, Hong Kong-based holding company Billionsoft announced that it had acquired the Accolade trademark, and, together with developer Black Forest Games and publisher Tommo, announced it would resurrect several Accolade franchises, starting with the Bubsy series.[55][56]
List of games
Game | Release | Developer | Publisher |
---|---|---|---|
SunDog: Frozen Legacy[57] | 1984 (Apple II) | FTL Games | Accolade |
HardBall![8] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Fight Night[7] |
|
Sydney Development Corporation | Accolade |
Law of the West[1] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
The Dam Busters[58] | 1985 (Apple II, DOS) | Sydney Development Corporation | Accolade |
Psi-5 Trading Company[59] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Mean 18[60] |
|
Microsmiths | Accolade |
Killed Until Dead[61] |
|
Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
Ace of Aces[62] |
|
Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
Accolade Comics[63] | 1987 (Apple II, C64) | Distinctive Software | Accolade |
The Train: Escape to Normandy[64] |
|
Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
4th & Inches[65] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Pinball Wizard[66] |
|
ERE Informatique | Accolade |
Mini-Putt[67] |
|
Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
Apollo 18: Mission to the Moon[68] |
|
Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
Power at Sea[64] | 1988 (C64) | Distinctive Software | Accolade |
Test Drive[8] |
|
Distinctive Software | Accolade |
Rack 'Em[69] | 1988 (DOS) | Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
Serve & Volley[70] | 1988 (Apple II, Apple IIGS, C64, DOS) | Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
Fast Break[71] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Grand Prix Circuit[72] |
|
Distinctive Software | Accolade |
Card Sharks[73] | 1988 (C64) | Accolade | Accolade |
TKO[74] |
|
Accolade | Electronic Arts |
Bubble Ghost[75] | 1988 (Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIGS, C64, DOS) | ERE Informatique | Accolade |
Jack Nicklaus' Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf[76] |
|
Sculptured Software | Accolade |
Steel Thunder[77] | 1988 (C64, DOS) | Accolade | Accolade |
Hardball II[78] |
|
Distinctive Software | Accolade |
Test Drive II: The Duel[79] |
|
Distinctive Software | Accolade |
Blue Angels: Formation Flight Simulation[80] |
|
Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
Day of the Viper[81] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Don't Go Alone[82] | 1989 (DOS) | Sterling Silver Software | Accolade |
The Cycles: International Grand Prix Racing[83] |
|
Distinctive Software | Accolade |
The Third Courier[84] |
|
Manley & Associates | Accolade |
Bar Games[85] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Strike Aces[86] | 1990 (Amiga, DOS) | Vektor Grafix | Accolade |
Test Drive III: The Passion[16] | 1990 (DOS) | Accolade | Accolade |
Gunboat[87] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Heat Wave[88] | 1990 (Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS) | Artech Digital Entertainment | Accolade |
Ishido: The Way of Stones[89] | 1990 (Amiga, DOS, Genesis, MacOS) | Publishing International | Accolade |
The Game of Harmony[90] |
|
The Assembly Line | Accolade |
Altered Destiny[91] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Stratego[92] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Jack Nicklaus' Unlimited Golf & Course Design[93] | 1990 (Amiga, DOS) | Sculptured Software | Accolade |
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark[94] |
|
Horror Soft | Accolade |
Les Manley in: Search for the King[95] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Star Control[96] |
|
Toys for Bob | Accolade |
The Games: Winter Challenge[97] | 1991 (DOS) | MindSpan | Accolade |
Les Manley in: Lost in L.A.[98] | 1991 (DOS) | Accolade | Accolade |
The Cardinal of the Kremlin[99] | 1991 | Capstone Software | Accolade |
Turrican[100] | 1991 (GB, Genesis, TG-16) | Rainbow Arts | Accolade |
Elvira II: The Jaws of Cerberus[101] |
|
Horror Soft | Accolade |
Hoverforce[102] | 1991 (DOS) | Astral Software | Accolade |
Mike Ditka Power Football[103] | 1991 (DOS, Genesis) | Accolade | Accolade |
The Games: Summer Challenge[103] |
|
MindSpan | Accolade |
Jack Nicklaus Golf & Course Design: Signature Edition[104] | 1992 (DOS) | Sculptured Software | Accolade |
Waxworks[105] |
|
Horror Soft | Accolade |
Snoopy's Game Club[106] | 1992 (DOS) | Accolade | Accolade |
Universal Soldier[107] | 1992 (GB, Genesis) | The Code Monkeys | Accolade |
Grand Prix Unlimited[108] | 1992 (DOS) | Accolade | Accolade |
Zyconix[109] | 1992 (Amiga, DOS) | Miracle Games | Accolade |
HardBall III[110] |
|
MindSpan | Accolade |
Star Control II[111] |
|
Toys for Bob | Accolade |
WarpSpeed[112] |
|
Accolade | Accolade |
Speed Racer in The Challenge of Racer X[113] | 1993 (DOS) | Accolade | Accolade |
Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind[114] | 1993 (Genesis, SNES) | Accolade | Accolade |
Pelé![115] | 1993 (Genesis) | Radical Entertainment | Accolade |
Unnecessary Roughness[80] | 1993 (DOS) | Accolade | Accolade |
Unnecessary Roughness '95[116] | 1994 (DOS, Genesis) | Accolade | Accolade |
Ballz[117] | 1994 (Genesis, SNES, 3DO) | PF Magic | Accolade |
Battle Isle 2200[118] | 1994 (DOS) | Blue Byte | Accolade |
Bubsy II[119] | 1994 (GB, Genesis, SNES) | Accolade, Images Software (GB) | Accolade |
Cyclemania[120] | 1994 (DOS) | Compro Games | Accolade |
Barkley Shut Up and Jam![121] | 1994 (Genesis, SNES) | Accolade | Accolade |
Brett Hull Hockey '95[122] |
|
Radical Entertainment | Accolade |
HardBall IV[123] | 1994 (DOS, Genesis) | MindSpan | Accolade |
Pelé II: World Tournament Soccer[103] | 1994 (Genesis) | Radical Entertainment | Accolade |
Zero Tolerance[124] | 1994 (Genesis) | Technopop | Accolade |
Combat Cars[103] | 1994 (Genesis) | Accolade | Accolade |
Speed Racer in My Most Dangerous Adventures[125] | 1994 (SNES) | Radical Entertainment | Accolade |
HardBall 5[126] |
|
MindSpan | Accolade |
Barkley Shut Up and Jam! 2[127] | 1995 (Genesis) | Accolade | Accolade |
Unnecessary Roughness '96[128] | 1995 (DOS) | Accolade | Accolade |
Star Control 3[129] | 1996 (DOS) | Legend Entertainment | Accolade |
Eradicator[130] |
|
Accolade | Accolade (DOS), Night Dive Studios |
Deadlock: Planetary Conquest[38] |
|
Accolade | Accolade, MacSoft (MacOS) |
PO'ed[131] | 1996 (PS1) | Any Channel | Accolade |
Pitball[132] | 1996 (PS1) | Warner Interactive Entertainment | Accolade |
Bubsy 3D[133] | 1996 (PS1) | Eidetic | Accolade |
Test Drive: Off-Road[134] | 1997 (DOS, PS1) | Elite Systems (DOS), Motivetime Ltd. | Accolade |
Jack Nicklaus 4[135] | 1997 (Windows) | Cinematronics, LLC | Accolade |
Jack Nicklaus 5[136] | 1997 (Windows 3.x) | Eclipse Entertainment | Accolade |
Test Drive 4[137] | 1997 (PS1, Windows) | Pitbull Syndicate Limited | Accolade |
Deadlock II: Shrine Wars[138] | 1998 (Windows) | Cyberlore Studios | Accolade |
Test Drive 5[139] | 1998 (PS1, Windows) | Pitbull Syndicate Limited | Accolade |
Test Drive: Off-Road 2 | 1998 (PS1, Windows) | Accolade | Accolade |
HardBall 6[140] | 1998 (Windows) | MindSpan | Accolade |
Big Air[44] | 1998 (PS1) | Pitbull Syndicate Limited | Accolade |
Redline[45] | 1999 (Windows) | Beyond Games | Accolade |
Slave Zero[141] | 1999 (Dreamcast, Windows) | Infogrames North America | Infogrames North America |
Test Drive 6[49] | 1999 (Dreamcast, Game Boy Color, PS1, Windows) | Pitbull Syndicate Limited | Infogrames North America |
Test Drive: Off-Road 3[142] | 1999 (Windows) | Infogrames North America | Infogrames North America |
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