Iguana Entertainment

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Iguana Entertainment
company_
fate = Bankrupt
successor =
foundation = August 14, 1991
defunct = 2004
location = Austin, Texas USA
industry = computer and video game industry
key_people = "Founders":
Jeff Spangenberg, CEO & President
Beth Spangenberg, CFO
Darrin Stubbington, VP Matt Stubbington, Art Director
J. Moon, Business Development Manager
John Carlsen
"Iguana UK":
Darren Falcus, Jason Falcus
"Others":
Russell Byrd, Mike Daubert, Craig Galley, Cyrus Lum
products = video games for Nintendo, Sega, Sony video game consoles
num_employees =
parent = Acclaim Entertainment
subsid = Iguana UK, Acclaim Studios Teesside

Iguana Entertainment, renamed Acclaim Studios Austin after 1999, was a video game developer operating from 1991 to 2004 in Santa Clara, California, Sunnyvale, California, Austin, Texas and Teesside, England. They were best known for developing the "", "NBA Jam", "NFL Quarterback Club", and "South Park" video games.

Company history

Iguana Entertainment was first incorporated in Sunnyvale, California on August 14, 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg. Other Iguana Entertainment founders include Mary Beth Campbell (later Mrs. Beth Spangenberg), John Carlsen, James Moon (known to most as J. Moon), and brothers Darrin Stubbington and Matt Stubbington.

"Punk" roots

Prior to incorporating Iguana Entertainment, Mr. Spangenberg had run Punk Development. Based in Sunnyvale, Punk Development was the product development arm of RazorSoft, Inc., an Oklahoma-based video game distributor. All of the Iguana founders named above (with the possible exception of Ms. Campbell) and many early employees of Iguana Entertainment worked for Punk Development.

Punk Development was originally called Team Design until a conflict arose with another local firm having the same name. According to rumor, the other Team Design had complained of young "punks" hijacking its name.

Origins of the "Killer" Iguana brand

President Jeff Spangenberg kept his pet iguanas, "Killer" (the oldest), "Spike" and "Squirt" (the baby) in a large tank in the lobbies of the Punk and Iguana offices. When RazorSoft closed the Punk Development office, the Iguana name was selected, and Matt Stubbington painted on canvas the original company logotype, which included a portrait of the original "Killer".

Clients

Iguana Entertainment's major clients included Acclaim Entertainment and SunSoft.

Move to Texas

In September 1993, Iguana Entertainment moved to Austin, Texas, becoming Austin's second-largest developer of computer games, smaller only than Origin Systems, which was already part of Electronic Arts. Iguana Entertainment became a Texas corporation on December 10, 1993.

The original pet iguanas could not be easily moved between states and were given away. Once in Texas, a new tank and iguanas were added to the lobby. Cyrus Lum created an updated company logotype (featuring a portrait of the new iguana named "Killer") and animation that appears in many Iguana games.

Mergers

Also in 1993, the company acquired Optimus Software Ltd of Teesside, England which became Iguana UK. Iguana UK proved a valuable resource, both for "porting" arcade games including NBA Jam to home video game consoles and for recruiting and preparing employees for transfer to the US office.

In 1995, owners Jeff and Beth Spangenberg sold Iguana Entertainment to its largest customer, Acclaim Entertainment for $25MM ($13MM cash, the balance in Acclaim Entertainment stock) and the stipulation that Iguana Entertainment would retain its own independence; in the following years, the two Iguana studios became Acclaim Studios Austin and Acclaim Studios Teesside (AST).

Financial trouble

During its 1995 spending spree, Acclaim Entertainment also purchased Sculptured Software in Salt Lake City, Utah (until then, the largest independent video game developer in North America) and Lazer-Tron (a maker of coin-operated redemption games), and formed Acclaim Coin-Operated Entertainment despite the well-documented (even at the time) shrinking of the coin-operated game industry. By suddenly overextending itself financially in 1995, Acclaim Entertainment's stock value quickly dropped about 90%, which alienated its merger partners and signaling to many the beginning of the end.

Rolling studio heads

Following the Iguana-Acclaim merger, Jeff and Beth Spangenberg left the company, starting a procession of new studio heads at Acclaim Studios Austin.

pin-off companies

Also following the Iguana-Acclaim merger, several Iguana Entertainment employees founded their own Austin-area companies:
* President Jeff Spangenberg founded Retro Studios (now part of Nintendo) in 1998.
* Directors Russell Byrd, Cyrus Lum and Craig Galley formed Inevitable Entertainment, which is now part of Midway Games.
* "Turok" lead programmer Rob Cohen founded Edge of Reality.
* Animator Mike Daubert founded [http://www.theanimationfarm.com The Animation Farm] .
* Art director Matt Stubbington founded Big Sesh Studios and co-founded the [http://www.geminischool.com Gemini School of Visual Arts and Communication] in 2003.
* Tools engineer John Carlsen founded [http://www.oddgods.com Syncopated Systems] in 2004.
* Software engineer John Nagle founded [http://www.nagleresearch.com Nagle Research, Inc.] in June 2003. In 2007, fellow Iguana programmer Andy Thyssen became a full partner in the business.

Closure of Iguana UK

In 2000, Jason and Darren Falcus left to form Atomic Planet Entertainment Ltd., Acclaim Entertainment made a sharp cut in the number of employees at Acclaim Studios Teesside, which was finally closed in 2002, with many staff being relocated to Acclaim Studios Cheltenham.

Bankruptcy and liquidation

When parent company Acclaim Entertainment went bankrupt in September 2004, most employees of Acclaim Studios Austin found out when they showed up for work but the building's manager had locked them out of their offices. Acclaim Studios Austin was closed and subsequently liquidated.

ystems targeted

Iguana Entertainment developed games for:
* Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and Nintendo 64 (N64)
* Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Titan
* Sony PlayStation (PS1)

In addition, Iguana Entertainment created its own proprietary software and hardware tools for:
* Atari Jaguar
* Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
* Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Sega Titan
* Sony PlayStation

Games developed

During its 13-year history, Iguana Entertainment developed many games under both the Iguana Entertainment name (for both US and UK studios) and the Acclaim Studios Austin name.

As Iguana Entertainment (US)

*"Aero the Acro-Bat" (SunSoft 1993: Super NES, Sega Genesis; 2002: GBA)
*"" (Acclaim 1996: Sega Titan (arcade), Sega Saturn)
*"College Slam" (Acclaim 1996: Super NES, Sega Genesis)
*"Iggy's Reckin' Balls" (Acclaim: Nintendo 64)
*"Machines"
*"NFL Quarterback Club '96" (Acclaim 1995: Super NES, Sega Genesis)
*"NFL Quarterback Club '97" (Acclaim 1996)
*"NFL Quarterback Club '98" (Acclaim 1997)
*"NFL Quarterback Club '99" (Acclaim 1998)
*"Re-Volt" (Acclaim, 1999)
*"Side Pocket"
*"South Park"
*"" (Acclaim 1997: Nintendo 64)
*"" (Acclaim 1998)
*"WWF War Zone" (Acclaim 1998)
*"WWF Attitude"
*"Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel" (SunSoft 1994: Super NES, Sega Genesis)

As Acclaim Studios Austin

*"100 Bullets" (cancelled)
*"All-Star Baseball"
*"NFL QB Club 2002"
*"The Red Star" (cancelled)
*""
*""
*""
*""
*"Vexx"

As Iguana UK/Acclaim Studios Teesside

*"NBA Jam" (on SNES)
*"NBA Jam '99"
*"NBA Jam Tournament Edition"
*"Frank Thomas Big Hurt Baseball"
*"Forsaken"
*"Shadow Man"
*""

ee also

* Acclaim Entertainment
* Electronic Arts
* Optimus Software Ltd/Iguana UK/Acclaim Studios Teesside
* Retro Studios
* SunSoft
* Turok

References

* "Minutes of Organizational Meeting of Iguana Entertainment Incorporated -- A California Corporation" (August 14, 1991)
* "Articles of Merger of Domestic and Foreign Corporations" (December 10, 1993)

External links

* [http://www.mobygames.com/company/iguana-entertainment-inc MobyGames article on Iguana Entertainment]
* [http://www.secinfo.com/dr4ur.a9f.htm Acclaim Entertainment Inc · S-3 · On 6/2/95] (on SEC Info.com)

pin-offs

* [http://www.theanimationfarm.com The Animation Farm]
* [http://www.bigseshstudios.com Big Sesh Studios]
* [http://www.geminischool.com Gemini School of Visual Arts and Communication]
* [http://www.midway.com Midway] (Austin studio formerly Inevitable Entertainment)
* [http://www.retrostudios.com Retro Studios]
* [http://www.oddgods.com Syncopated Software (oddgods.com)]
* [http://www.nagleresearch.com Nagle Research, Inc.]