Difference between revisions of "Accolade"

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{{Company
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{{CompanyBob
 
| logo=Accolade_logo.png
 
| logo=Accolade_logo.png
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| width=
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| founded=1986-06-10{{ref|1=https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01533288-3776761}}
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| founded=1984
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| defunct= 2002-02-08{{ref|1=https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01533288-7050133}}
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| defunct=
 
 
| tseries=T-119
 
| tseries=T-119
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| mergedwith=
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| mergedwith= [[GT Interactive Software|Infogrames, Inc.]] (2000)
 
| mergedinto=[[Infogrames]] (1999)
 
| mergedinto=[[Infogrames]] (1999)
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| headquarters=San Jose, California, USA
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| headquarters=550 S. Winchester Blvd., San Jose, California, 95128, United States{{magref|egrn|8|20}}{{fileref|SummerCES1991 Directory.pdf|page=128}}
 
}}
 
}}
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'''Accolade, Inc.''' was formed in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. The name was chosen mostly on the basis that their former place of employment, [[Activision]], was based on an alphabetically higher name than [[Atari]] (which both of them worked at before co-founding Activision), and they wanted their name to be above Activision.  
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'''Accolade, Inc.''' (Later known as '''Infogrames North America, Inc.''') was formed in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. The name was chosen mostly on the basis that their former place of employment, [[Activision]], was based on an alphabetically higher name than [[Atari, Inc. (1972–1984)|Atari]] (which both of them worked at before co-founding Activision), and they wanted their name to be above Activision.  
  
 
The company originally produced games for the home microcomputer market, but as the popularity of those systems waned, Accolade focused on PC and console development, including the NES, [[Mega Drive]], SNES and [[PlayStation]]  during those systems' popularity. All of Accolade's initial titles were developed in-house, but being a publisher as well as a developer, Accolade began to publish titles produced by other developers as well. By the mid-1990s, most of Accolade software development was done by third-party developers.
 
The company originally produced games for the home microcomputer market, but as the popularity of those systems waned, Accolade focused on PC and console development, including the NES, [[Mega Drive]], SNES and [[PlayStation]]  during those systems' popularity. All of Accolade's initial titles were developed in-house, but being a publisher as well as a developer, Accolade began to publish titles produced by other developers as well. By the mid-1990s, most of Accolade software development was done by third-party developers.
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In October 1991, Accolade was [[SEGA vs. Accolade|served with a lawsuit regarding copyright infringement]] that eventually led to the concept of [[reverse engineering]] for interoperability purposes. [[Sega]] wanted to keep a hold on their consoles, and wanted all its games exclusive to Sega. Unwilling to conform to single platform use, Accolade engineers researched through reverse engineering on a way to produce titles for the Sega platform. Sega sued Accolade over the practice and won an initial injunction, forcing Accolade to remove all Genesis product from store shelves. Accolade, however, won on appeal and reached an out of court settlement with Sega that allowed Accolade to continue building their own Genesis cartridges but as an official licensee — however, Accolade still continued to produce unlicensed games (primarily those co-published with [[Ballistic]]).
 
In October 1991, Accolade was [[SEGA vs. Accolade|served with a lawsuit regarding copyright infringement]] that eventually led to the concept of [[reverse engineering]] for interoperability purposes. [[Sega]] wanted to keep a hold on their consoles, and wanted all its games exclusive to Sega. Unwilling to conform to single platform use, Accolade engineers researched through reverse engineering on a way to produce titles for the Sega platform. Sega sued Accolade over the practice and won an initial injunction, forcing Accolade to remove all Genesis product from store shelves. Accolade, however, won on appeal and reached an out of court settlement with Sega that allowed Accolade to continue building their own Genesis cartridges but as an official licensee — however, Accolade still continued to produce unlicensed games (primarily those co-published with [[Ballistic]]).
  
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Accolade did well in its early years, but by the 1990s, Accolade's sales suffered and management was forced to enact several rounds of lay-offs. Accolade was the entry point for [[Infogrames]]' North America expansion and was merged with Infogrames' other operations and moved to Los Angeles. All of Accolade's assets are now owned by Atari, SA (née Infogrames). Many employees from the time of the acquisition still work for Atari.
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Accolade did well in its early years, but by the 1990s, Accolade's sales suffered and management was forced to enact several rounds of lay-offs. Accolade was the entry point for [[Infogrames]]' North America expansion. The company was later renamed to '''Infogrames North America, Inc.''' and published Infogrames' games for the US market from then on. In 2000 Infogrames North America merged with '''[[GT Interactive Software|Infogrames, Inc.]]''' and therefore Infogrames North America were folded into the latter.
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In 2013, Tommo, Inc. acquired almost all of Accolade's properties from Atari during the bankruptcy sale, and the Accolade brand name now lives on in the hands of Tommo and publisher Billionsoft.
  
 
==Softography==
 
==Softography==
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:''Games marked with an asterisk (*) are unlicensed. At the moment, this is evaluated solely by text in the ROM — however examples like ''[[Super Off Road]]'' have the text left over but are in fact licensed by Sega according to text on the cartridge label. If a scan of the cart is made and it says licensed by Sega, then the game is, in fact, licensed, despite what the ROM says.''
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{{CompanyHistoryAll|Accolade|Infogrames North America}}
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{{multicol|
 
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===[[Mega Drive]]===
 
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* ''[[Ishido: The Way of Stones]]'' (1990) *
 
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* ''[[HardBall!]]'' (1991) *
 
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* ''[[Mike Ditka Power Football]]'' (1991) *
 
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* ''[[Onslaught]]'' (1991) *
 
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* ''[[Star Control]]'' (1991) *
 
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* ''[[Turrican]]'' (1991) *
 
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* ''[[The Duel: Test Drive II]]'' (1992) *
 
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* ''[[Universal Soldier]]'' (1992) *
 
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* ''[[Double Dragon]]'' (1993) *
 
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* ''[[WarpSpeed]]'' (1993) *
 
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* ''[[Super Off Road]]'' (1993) *
 
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* ''[[Winter Challenge]]'' (1992) *
 
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* ''[[Summer Challenge]]'' (1993)
 
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* ''[[Al Michaels Announces HardBall III]]'' (1993)
 
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* ''[[Jack Nicklaus' Power Challenge Golf]]'' (1993)
 
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* ''[[Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind]]'' (1993)
 
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* ''[[Pelé!]]'' (1993)
 
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* ''[[Gods]]'' (1993)
 
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* ''[[Ballz 3D]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[Barkley Shut Up and Jam!]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[Brett Hull Hockey 95]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[Bubsy II]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[Combat Cars]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[HardBall '94]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[Pelé II: World Tournament Soccer]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[Unnecessary Roughness '95]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[Zero Tolerance]]'' (1994)
 
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* ''[[Barkley Shut Up and Jam 2]]'' (1995)
 
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* ''[[HardBall '95]]'' (1995)
 
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*''[[Matrix Prime]]'' (unreleased)
 
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*''[[Speed Racer in The Challenge of Racer X]]'' (unreleased)
 
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*''[[Unnecessary Roughness]]'' (unreleased)
 
−
|cols=3}}
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
 +
{{NECRetro}}
 
<references />
 
<references />
  
 
[[Category:Third-party software developers]]
 
[[Category:Third-party software developers]]

Revision as of 07:54, 19 October 2022

https://retrocdn.net/images/a/a5/Accolade_logo.png

Accolade logo.png
Accolade
Founded: 1986-06-10[1]
Defunct: 2002-02-08[2]
T-series code: T-119
Merged with: Infogrames, Inc. (2000)
Merged into: Infogrames (1999)
Headquarters:
550 S. Winchester Blvd., San Jose, California, 95128, United States[3][4]

Accolade, Inc. (Later known as Infogrames North America, Inc.) was formed in 1984 by Alan Miller and Bob Whitehead. The name was chosen mostly on the basis that their former place of employment, Activision, was based on an alphabetically higher name than Atari (which both of them worked at before co-founding Activision), and they wanted their name to be above Activision.

The company originally produced games for the home microcomputer market, but as the popularity of those systems waned, Accolade focused on PC and console development, including the NES, Mega Drive, SNES and PlayStation during those systems' popularity. All of Accolade's initial titles were developed in-house, but being a publisher as well as a developer, Accolade began to publish titles produced by other developers as well. By the mid-1990s, most of Accolade software development was done by third-party developers.

In October 1991, Accolade was served with a lawsuit regarding copyright infringement that eventually led to the concept of reverse engineering for interoperability purposes. Sega wanted to keep a hold on their consoles, and wanted all its games exclusive to Sega. Unwilling to conform to single platform use, Accolade engineers researched through reverse engineering on a way to produce titles for the Sega platform. Sega sued Accolade over the practice and won an initial injunction, forcing Accolade to remove all Genesis product from store shelves. Accolade, however, won on appeal and reached an out of court settlement with Sega that allowed Accolade to continue building their own Genesis cartridges but as an official licensee — however, Accolade still continued to produce unlicensed games (primarily those co-published with Ballistic).

Accolade did well in its early years, but by the 1990s, Accolade's sales suffered and management was forced to enact several rounds of lay-offs. Accolade was the entry point for Infogrames' North America expansion. The company was later renamed to Infogrames North America, Inc. and published Infogrames' games for the US market from then on. In 2000 Infogrames North America merged with Infogrames, Inc. and therefore Infogrames North America were folded into the latter.

In 2013, Tommo, Inc. acquired almost all of Accolade's properties from Atari during the bankruptcy sale, and the Accolade brand name now lives on in the hands of Tommo and publisher Billionsoft.

Softography

Mega Drive

Saturn

Dreamcast

References

Necretro-round.svg
NEC Retro has more information related to Accolade
  1. ↑ https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01533288-3776761
  2. ↑ https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=01533288-7050133
  3. ↑ Electronic Gaming Retail News, "January 1992" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 20
  4. ↑ Summer CES Directory, page 128
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