The long con: -Name your baby "Turok." -Wait for Burnout 2 fans to speed by and toss Baby Turok into traffic. -Sell Baby Turok's grave as cross-bloodvertising-deadvertising space. -P-... Profit?
Every time there's a quote from Shaun White it sounds like he's trying to explain the punchline to a stupid joke that no one laughed at because he thinks they just didn't get it
If anyone wants to question as to how Acclaim managed to get possession to Valiant Comics, I would like to inform them that around that time, Valiant was reeling from the extra-horrid trainwreck that was Deathmate, Valiant's big crossover comic with Image Comics. While Valiant upheld their end of the deal with the event, Image was completely irresponsible with their deal (chiefly one Rob Liefeld) and delayed it so hard that everyone lost interest in it. Preorders were canceled after people lost their patience, and that meant that there were all these unsold copies clogging up comic book stores. And in case anyone asks, yes, Valiant did recover from this crapfest...and Acclaim...eventually.
A little addendum, as I forgot about this: The Valiant of today kinda lost ownership of all the Gold Key IPs (Chiefly Magnus: Robot Fighter and Turok) and are now owned by someone else, while they managed to keep stuff like Shadowman and X-O Manowar, and then make new stuff (Probably most egregiously Faith the plus-sized superheroine no I'm not joking).
HAHAHA Classic Rob draw horrible and apparently rushed comics but still get them out late I have never read valiant comics since it is hard to get them in Mexico but some like Manowar look interesting on the other hand Youngblood was stupidly easy to see on the bargain bin on the few comic shops there were. Not to offend the fans of Image but comics like Spawn and the Walking dead are the few good comics they have in terms of drawings
@@MrRuano825 The new, post-2012 Valiant is pretty incredible for the most part. I really like the 2017 X-O Manowar series by Matt Kindt, it is epic. The Delinquents series from 2014 is still the funniest comic book I've ever read. Valiant does amazing stuff, especially considering how low their sales are
Ah cmon, we all know our graves will all have "Install Raid Shadow Legends for free and get an epic champion and 50000 silver" inscribed on them. They were just ahead of the time.
Man, I still miss Acclaim, ironically. I grew up near their main New York office, and got called in often for consumer feedback. They actually had an idea for something like a Doom/Bioshock hybrid during the GameCube/PS2 era. I wonder how that would’ve panned out if they had developed the game.
Remember when Bethesda said that if a baby born on Skyrims release date was named Dovahkiin, the parents would get free Bethesda games for life, and then someone actually unironically did it?
@@realbattleonfilm8299 in Bethesda's defense, they themselves thought it was so stupid no one would go through with it. But it still does not change the fact they came up with such a screwy campaign.
I like the ticket example the most. Were they really going to foot tickets that would likely cost 10 times the price of the game just to promote the game, especially considering there was no guarantee that said game would be purchased?
They also tried to promote the PS2 release of Virtua Tennis 2 (published on behalf of SEGA in Europe) by training pigeons (that would also have the Virtua Tennis logo painted on) to fly into Wimbledon during the Tennis Championship, this never went anywhere though.
"OK, listen guys, I had a fantastic idea for our cooking game. Foodvertising. Just stuff yourself with food, and we'll pay your medical bills. It's genius." But really, if there's a name for ever they made, it would be Badvertising.
That basically happened, it's called the FF14 Chinese Fat Chocobo Challenge, where you have to eat 4 family KFC meals in one sitting by yourself to get the mount.
My mom used to work for Acclaim as a executive assistant. It was definitely not a well run company from what she's told me. We lived in the same town as their headquarters, Glen Cove, and I'd get free games from them (..yay?).
To quote Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park): "Your scientists (marketing team in this case) were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should." It's unfortunate however because of this we may never see another Turok game ever again. Especially because a Turok 2 was in the works that was a sequel to the 2006 reboot.
They say all press is good press, how about press that never ends up happening because of how dumb it was? Now where are these titles now? Either dead like Turok and Burnout, nonexistent like Gladiator and Shadowman, or... Doing great like Mortal Kombat. Also, Valiant survived them, only to die years later, then get that Bloodshot Vin Diesel movie
Did a piece on this in a video a few years ago, you should have seen the shit their PR team planned to do, but was rejected. Mainly as it was highly illegal.
Hey Larry, love you channel. What video is the one you mention? I thought it would be "5 Shocking Marketing Stunts That Backfired" but Acclaim is not mentioned there and I can't find any other video that seems that would cover this topic.
If I remember, didn't someone actually change their name to Turok? I am sure it was a chap from Norwich who did, and they did a big feature about it on Gamer. TV.
Interesting history of Acclaim. Before it became a video game publisher, it was IJE where they owned the infamous children’s record label called Kid Stuff Records. The label ran from 1976 through 1986 where they put out a series of soundalike albums, children’s audio books, read-along books, and a series of licensed based characters including Strawberry Shortcake, Fat Albert, Pink Panther, Care Bears, and others. By 1986, IJE closed down, and the rest of the original Kid Stuff catalogue went to Acclaim and reissued many of the original albums outside of the video game publisher.
I heard about "Deadvertisement" in a gamer magazine, I cannot remember if it was Game Informer or some other gaming magazine I was subscribed to since at the time, I had subscriptions to pretty much every gaming magazine in existence it seemed. I thought it was crazy but I had no idea they pulled weirder stunts!
This is great. I love to recall old game companies. Unlike today's companies, these ones could actually die from doing something stupid. P.S. Matt, do a video on Psygnosis sometime.
I actually thought about the "deadvertising" thing and decided that I love video games so much that I personally wouldn't mind a video game being advertised on my grave, but only if it were a sequel to a game like Mass Effect that I really, really loved in life (yes, even if it were like Andromeda) or made by a well respected studio responsible for releasing many games that I liked. If someone advertised Shadowman or a similarly terrible game I had no interest in on my grave, I'd come back and haunt those responsible.
I lived about a half hour away from Acclaim's office in Long Island, NY. I remember wanting to get a job in game development and work for Acclaim. I was a dumb child.
I miss Acclaim. I didn't like everything they published but they had some really good games, with Xtreme-G being my favorite. It's so sad the company that bought the rights to it, never released another entry in the series.
i was hoping to hear something about Re-volt. it was a great rc racing game by acclaim, you can still play it today and it looks good and its hella fun. i wonder what the marketing for it was. great videos!
Actually, in most countries they *do* have to ask you why you change your name, for legal reasons... Also, as someone who see a lot of names of a lot of people in their daily job I can confirm that yes, parents actually do name their children after fictional characters sometimes, often even with fitting last names.
Acclaim: We need to promote a new game. Shaun White: "BRO! THE FUTURE IS BLOODVERTISING!!!" Acclaim: "Um... okay?" [next game] Acclaim: "We need to promote a new game." Shaun White: "BROOOOOO!!! BLOODVERTISING IS DEAD! THE FUTURE IS DEADVERTISING!!!!" Acclaim: "Um... I guess.... sure..." [next game] Acclaim: "We need to promote a new game." Shaun White: "BROOOOOOOOOOO!!!!-" Acclaim: "We're going to stop you right there, Shaun."
Call me crazy, but I would actually love having an ad space on my gravestone. It would be fucking hilarious, and I wouldn't care anyway since, you know, dead.
Somebody I know that do stuff with moving said that some old Russian dude that own a warehouse in Brooklyn have a Acclaim dev kit and computers that They work on games on and didn't know what it was and still have it in his warehouse but I don't know where the location is the warehouse but being that he's Russian is probably near Coney Island and plus the reason he probably got it because Acclaim was in Long Island I believe they had a whole studio I think
Could you do a video on Resident Evil's insane marketing stunts? Let's just say a picture of a bloody bathtub in a magazine ad is just the start of their antics!
Aclliam bought and burnt Valiant comics to the ground it's a shame. Luckily they were brought back to much avail a few years back. I really recommend X-O Manowar, Harbinger and Bloodshot!
Most gaming companies would advertise their games in magazines, on TV and online. Acclaim on the other hand... They just do crap like this. It's no wonder they got the shaft.
The long con:
-Name your baby "Turok."
-Wait for Burnout 2 fans to speed by and toss Baby Turok into traffic.
-Sell Baby Turok's grave as cross-bloodvertising-deadvertising space.
-P-... Profit?
To speed by and slip on the congealed roadside bloodvertising - (ya know, make it look like an accident...)
😉
Brilliant!
I work in marketing and am shocked that such a profitable loophole exists. Bravo.
Like it's taken straight from an It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia episode 😂
Shadowman here with Raid: Shadow Legends.
Raid: Shadowman Legends
Raid: Shadow Leg Ends
Raid: Shadow Legendmen
Raid: Shader Leggings
Rape: Shadow Preggers
Acclaim's marketing never left the 80's because of the clear copious amounts of cocaine they were clearly snorting.
I remmeber when acclaim was a top company on nes.
There's no such thing as bad press, they say.
So, why isn't Acclaim hosting advertisments on the company's own tombstone?
I'd wager the only reason they didn't is because they had nothing left to sell.
Every time there's a quote from Shaun White it sounds like he's trying to explain the punchline to a stupid joke that no one laughed at because he thinks they just didn't get it
If anyone wants to question as to how Acclaim managed to get possession to Valiant Comics, I would like to inform them that around that time, Valiant was reeling from the extra-horrid trainwreck that was Deathmate, Valiant's big crossover comic with Image Comics. While Valiant upheld their end of the deal with the event, Image was completely irresponsible with their deal (chiefly one Rob Liefeld) and delayed it so hard that everyone lost interest in it. Preorders were canceled after people lost their patience, and that meant that there were all these unsold copies clogging up comic book stores.
And in case anyone asks, yes, Valiant did recover from this crapfest...and Acclaim...eventually.
A little addendum, as I forgot about this: The Valiant of today kinda lost ownership of all the Gold Key IPs (Chiefly Magnus: Robot Fighter and Turok) and are now owned by someone else, while they managed to keep stuff like Shadowman and X-O Manowar, and then make new stuff (Probably most egregiously Faith the plus-sized superheroine no I'm not joking).
HAHAHA Classic Rob draw horrible and apparently rushed comics but still get them out late
I have never read valiant comics since it is hard to get them in Mexico but some like Manowar look interesting on the other hand Youngblood was stupidly easy to see on the bargain bin on the few comic shops there were. Not to offend the fans of Image but comics like Spawn and the Walking dead are the few good comics they have in terms of drawings
@@MrRuano825 The new, post-2012 Valiant is pretty incredible for the most part. I really like the 2017 X-O Manowar series by Matt Kindt, it is epic. The Delinquents series from 2014 is still the funniest comic book I've ever read. Valiant does amazing stuff, especially considering how low their sales are
Ah cmon, we all know our graves will all have "Install Raid Shadow Legends for free and get an epic champion and 50000 silver" inscribed on them. They were just ahead of the time.
Once we do That, we are a confirmed dystopia.
=))
QR-codes on tombstones
The grave thing is so incomprehensibly tasteless that my brain still has trouble processing it as reality.
I always thought it was Aklaim. That font is confusing.
Wait it isn't?
I never understood as "Acclaim" anyway until this video.
Holy shiz... me too. Is this one of those Mandela effects the kids always talk about?
Man, I still miss Acclaim, ironically. I grew up near their main New York office, and got called in often for consumer feedback. They actually had an idea for something like a Doom/Bioshock hybrid during the GameCube/PS2 era. I wonder how that would’ve panned out if they had developed the game.
Bioshock before Bioshock? Interesting, but in what way?
I really enjoyed this. No witty comment section punchline. Just found it a great watch.
TY!
Remember when Bethesda said that if a baby born on Skyrims release date was named Dovahkiin, the parents would get free Bethesda games for life, and then someone actually unironically did it?
Forreal?
@@realbattleonfilm8299 in Bethesda's defense, they themselves thought it was so stupid no one would go through with it. But it still does not change the fact they came up with such a screwy campaign.
The idea of Bethesda thinking something "too stupid" fills me with laughter
The kid's actually doing surprisingly well for himself, too. He's a genuine cool kid who loves the Elder Scrolls universe.
Dovahkiin would be a cool name to have, certainly unique.
Acclaim’s marketing team was on some good coke, but As a marketing student I love this marketing garbage, makes for great examples in exams
I like the ticket example the most. Were they really going to foot tickets that would likely cost 10 times the price of the game just to promote the game, especially considering there was no guarantee that said game would be purchased?
You mean cheap, baaaad coke :))
Wish they were still around today, honestly. I can only imagine their marketing on Twitter would be the most cringey, soulless shit on the internet.
8:41 "JAYSUS!" infecting Matt with Irish colloquialisms, I'm so proud!
Im gunna cum ohhh jayysis
Was pleasantly surprised to hear a Jaysus 😆
Jaysus caught me off guard.big respect from Ireland.
OSW!
They also tried to promote the PS2 release of Virtua Tennis 2 (published on behalf of SEGA in Europe) by training pigeons (that would also have the Virtua Tennis logo painted on) to fly into Wimbledon during the Tennis Championship, this never went anywhere though.
Yo these video game documentaries are actually amazing. Great to listen to when you're just grinding RPGs on your Switch.
And thought EA causing fake protests for Dante's inferno was crazy, Acclaim takes the Cake for such madness!
Oh God I totally forgot about that!
Acclaim on ShadowMan 2econd Coming: Am I really going to defile these graves for money? Of course I am!
"OK, listen guys, I had a fantastic idea for our cooking game. Foodvertising. Just stuff yourself with food, and we'll pay your medical bills. It's genius."
But really, if there's a name for ever they made, it would be Badvertising.
That basically happened, it's called the FF14 Chinese Fat Chocobo Challenge, where you have to eat 4 family KFC meals in one sitting by yourself to get the mount.
My mom used to work for Acclaim as a executive assistant. It was definitely not a well run company from what she's told me. We lived in the same town as their headquarters, Glen Cove, and I'd get free games from them (..yay?).
Getting free games from them, must have been a dream came true?
@@SocietateaAscendenta Monkey's paw.
That tombstone story sounds like it came straight from outer worlds.
Even if someone got their speeding fines paid, they'd still have points on their license, putting them closer to getting banned from driving...
I can't believe you labelled the two roleplayers in the infamous "KH Parking lot fight" as "unscrupulous characters"
7:40 I laugh everytime I see that clip from Speed Racer!
To quote Ian Malcolm (Jurassic Park): "Your scientists (marketing team in this case) were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
It's unfortunate however because of this we may never see another Turok game ever again. Especially because a Turok 2 was in the works that was a sequel to the 2006 reboot.
So, does Acclaim have a tombstone? I feel a need for some ironic retribution.
They say all press is good press, how about press that never ends up happening because of how dumb it was? Now where are these titles now? Either dead like Turok and Burnout, nonexistent like Gladiator and Shadowman, or... Doing great like Mortal Kombat. Also, Valiant survived them, only to die years later, then get that Bloodshot Vin Diesel movie
I’ve heard you mention this in conversation for years and it’s cracked me up every time. I’m glad you’re finally doing an episode about it
I named my dead baby Turok Shadowman and all I got was covered in bloodvertising
Are you ok Matt? It sounds like you're battling a cold in this video.
This is good information I never knew. Can't wait for the next one.
I was. Doesn't mean I can stop recording, unfortunately.
@@MattMcMuscles that real dedication my Dood. Still take some time to rest and eat some soup man.
Matt McMuscles
That just makes you stronger. You'll gain more strength after being sick
Did a piece on this in a video a few years ago, you should have seen the shit their PR team planned to do, but was rejected. Mainly as it was highly illegal.
Oh shit, I'mma check that out. Thanks Larry!
Hey Larry, love you channel.
What video is the one you mention? I thought it would be "5 Shocking Marketing Stunts That Backfired" but Acclaim is not mentioned there and I can't find any other video that seems that would cover this topic.
If I remember, didn't someone actually change their name to Turok? I am sure it was a chap from Norwich who did, and they did a big feature about it on Gamer. TV.
After years, Matt finally puts the entire history of bloodvertising turok shadowman babies in a video. We've come so far
I absolutely love the small bit with Zero in this, and it was an excellent accessory to the horrifying knowledge I have now gained about Acclaim.
Interesting history of Acclaim. Before it became a video game publisher, it was IJE where they owned the infamous children’s record label called Kid Stuff Records. The label ran from 1976 through 1986 where they put out a series of soundalike albums, children’s audio books, read-along books, and a series of licensed based characters including Strawberry Shortcake, Fat Albert, Pink Panther, Care Bears, and others. By 1986, IJE closed down, and the rest of the original Kid Stuff catalogue went to Acclaim and reissued many of the original albums outside of the video game publisher.
When you said "...harebrained schemes..." plural i was like ok but my god.
I've been waiting for this episode my whole life.
Haha. Did the Shaun White ads caught on with you?
I heard about "Deadvertisement" in a gamer magazine, I cannot remember if it was Game Informer or some other gaming magazine I was subscribed to since at the time, I had subscriptions to pretty much every gaming magazine in existence it seemed. I thought it was crazy but I had no idea they pulled weirder stunts!
This is the most bananas thing I've ever seen. I thought the Ubisoft episode was insane but this one gets the gold.
gotta say, whoever thought not firing that guy was as crazy as the guy itself
And here I was just waiting for a "Turok Shadowbaby" line throughout the whole video. Still, wonderful work Matt!
Acclaim: Too many bantz, too little of worth.
To be fair I would quite happily have the first Shadow Man on my grave, still probably my favourite game of all time.
This is great. I love to recall old game companies. Unlike today's companies, these ones could actually die from doing something stupid.
P.S. Matt, do a video on Psygnosis sometime.
lol you just had to include DSP's "forgot webcam was on" face at 0:30
Shadow Man Two-Econd Coming.
Putting ads on tombstones, sounds like a great way fro some politicians, to reach the constituents who get them elected.
Hahhaha.
Good one!
Actually, something like this happened in my country!!
Matt your videos are great. Keep them coming .
I actually thought about the "deadvertising" thing and decided that I love video games so much that I personally wouldn't mind a video game being advertised on my grave, but only if it were a sequel to a game like Mass Effect that I really, really loved in life (yes, even if it were like Andromeda) or made by a well respected studio responsible for releasing many games that I liked. If someone advertised Shadowman or a similarly terrible game I had no interest in on my grave, I'd come back and haunt those responsible.
I lived about a half hour away from Acclaim's office in Long Island, NY. I remember wanting to get a job in game development and work for Acclaim.
I was a dumb child.
Acclaim: We're making a game about nuclear war how in Britain do we promote it?
Acclaim marketing team: Let's nuke London!!
Do I smell a Turok Evolution Wha Happened episode?
i love this series!! keep up the rad work, matt!
This is truly interesting for history of gaming . You earned my subscribe
Great sleuth work, as always. Also 11:40 made my day, just look at dem lil legionaries go!
With the opening line, thank you for putting acclaim in its place 😤
i wish my parents named me turok
I miss Acclaim. I didn't like everything they published but they had some really good games, with Xtreme-G being my favorite.
It's so sad the company that bought the rights to it, never released another entry in the series.
i was hoping to hear something about Re-volt. it was a great rc racing game by acclaim, you can still play it today and it looks good and its hella fun. i wonder what the marketing for it was. great videos!
"we can't condone condoning" that sounds like a totally british thing to say
I legit forgot this company existed until watching this video.
More of these please
Clearly Aklaim's alignment is Chaotic Neutral
...Or Chaotic Dumb. Take your pick
Actually, in most countries they *do* have to ask you why you change your name, for legal reasons...
Also, as someone who see a lot of names of a lot of people in their daily job I can confirm that yes, parents actually do name their children after fictional characters sometimes, often even with fitting last names.
We need more advertising like this
I’m just saying, if you wanna throw an “I...am TUROK!” on my grave, well that’d be ok with me.
Bruh you just had to have DSP in there. LUL.
Dovahkiin the baby was born on 11/11 2011 he's 11 years old right now...slow skyrim music plays...
Acclaim: We need to promote a new game.
Shaun White: "BRO! THE FUTURE IS BLOODVERTISING!!!"
Acclaim: "Um... okay?"
[next game]
Acclaim: "We need to promote a new game."
Shaun White: "BROOOOOO!!! BLOODVERTISING IS DEAD! THE FUTURE IS DEADVERTISING!!!!"
Acclaim: "Um... I guess.... sure..."
[next game]
Acclaim: "We need to promote a new game."
Shaun White: "BROOOOOOOOOOO!!!!-"
Acclaim: "We're going to stop you right there, Shaun."
This is what happens when psychopathy is an asset to corporate success.
Call me crazy, but I would actually love having an ad space on my gravestone. It would be fucking hilarious, and I wouldn't care anyway since, you know, dead.
Flashy Gitz. Nice WarHam reference :)
Using controversy as advertising, if done well, works great despite the hit to reputation. Acclaim just did it in the worst ways possible.
Jesus, wtf were they thinking. Still prefer that to marketing lootboxes to kids I think.
love it great work Matt.
Red Star was their send off ,I think.That game was actually pretty good.
Somebody I know that do stuff with moving said that some old Russian dude that own a warehouse in Brooklyn have a Acclaim dev kit and computers that They work on games on and didn't know what it was and still have it in his warehouse but I don't know where the location is the warehouse but being that he's Russian is probably near Coney Island and plus the reason he probably got it because Acclaim was in Long Island I believe they had a whole studio I think
4:30-4:40 This needs to become a member right NOW.
Could you do a video on Resident Evil's insane marketing stunts?
Let's just say a picture of a bloody bathtub in a magazine ad is just the start of their antics!
5:24
The enraged child in me pauses video to rant for a few minutes.
Bruh that marketing necromancer bit got me tearing up
Now I want "Shadowman 2 was fucking dope" on my tombstone.
Sean White should have stopped stealing from Steve-O's stash after the first failed marketing attempt, but he persisted.
OOOOh, so i¡t was Deadevrtising.
guess I owe someone an apology.
And here I thought naming your child after a direction on a compass was strange. Hi, my name is Turok 'the gladiator' Shadowman jr.
Aclliam bought and burnt Valiant comics to the ground it's a shame. Luckily they were brought back to much avail a few years back. I really recommend X-O Manowar, Harbinger and Bloodshot!
This is a good upload time
I was just watching the Demon's souls stream where Matt is fucking cracking up whenever he hears Shadowman.
What the metaphysical heck were they thinking.
Jesus, these are some pretty stupid advertising campaigns. Especially the blood one, you’d think there would be some lawsuit after that mess...
Sean White is the Jack Skellington of advertising
Most gaming companies would advertise their games in magazines, on TV and online.
Acclaim on the other hand... They just do crap like this. It's no wonder they got the shaft.
Marketing Necromancer Shawn White 😂
Moronic Marketing Maestros had me. 🤣😂
Wait....there was a Shadowman sequel?!?!
Wow Acclaim are .....unpleasent.
Shadow Man 2 would make for a great AVGN Halloween episode if nothing else but for this controversial marketing tactic pulled to promote it.
How did these people keep their jobs long enough to goof up like this 3 times?
You forgot to mention another of their "classics" - BMX XXX.
ua-cam.com/video/2FTLpEbYYVE/v-deo.html