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One of the better known publishing names in games is no more once again for the second time inside a decade. Acclaim, which restarted as a free-to-play MMO after its first incarnation as a PC-console game publisher went bankrupt, is now also no more. The official Acclaim web site is now a bare-bones affair, stating that the MMO games under its watch are no longer available.

The first version of Acclaim started in 1987 as a PC and console publisher. It grew to become one of the largest US game publishers in the 1990s with a string of successful titles such as the Turok first person shooter series. However the first years of the 2000 decade saw a number of Acclaim games become critical and sales bombs. In 2004 the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shut down entirely.

In 2006 the Acclaim name was used to launch an all new game publisher, this time with the theme of free-to-play MMO titles. The company managed to get well known game designer Dave Perry as its creative director for a while. In May 2010 the social networking game company Playdom acquired Acclaim and its games. However in July Disney acquired Playdom and apparently decided to shut down support for Acclaim's games. With the exception of the title 9Dragons, which will soon be published in the US by GamesFirst, none of Acclaim's games will apparently stay online.

[Via Massively]

A fantasy MMO that was years in development is closing down its servers by the end of the month. Our sister site Games.com reports that The Chronicles of Spellborn will shut down its US servers "at the end of the month" according to a rep from the game's publisher Playdom.

Developed by the Dutch-based Spellborn Interational, the game used Unreal Engine 2 as its graphical basis. After several years in development the game launched in April 2009 with Acclaim as its US publisher. However the developer shut down in mid-2009 and Acclaim then announced the game would turn into a free-to-play MMO title. Acclaim was purchased by Playdom earlier in 2010 and then Playdom itself was acquired by Disney in late July for well over $700 million. It looks like the new owners at Disney don't want to deal with this game anymore.

The second coming of Acclaim is now entering a new phase. This week the casual game publisher Playdom announced it has acquired the free-to-play MMO publisher and will now join Playdom's many development studios. Specific financial terms were not disclosed. Howard Marks, the now former CEO of Acclaim, will now run the studio for Playdom.

The new Acclaim was first launched in 2006 following the shut down of the original Acclaim company which published a number of well known PC and console titles before filing for bankrupcy in 2004. The new Acclaim developed and published a number of free-to-play games including 2Moons, 9Dragons and The Chronicles of Spellborn. At one time Acclaim had famed game designer Dave Perry as its chief creative officer. Perry has since left Acclaim to be the CEO of Gaikai, the upcoming PC game streaming service.