Iguana Entertainment, later known as Acclaim Studios Austin, was an American

video game developer A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...

based in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. The company was founded in 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg, previously lead designer for Punk Development, and originally located in

Santa Clara, California Santa Clara ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "Clare of Assisi, Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities and towns i ...

. Iguana found first success with ''

Aero the Acro-Bat ''Aero the Acro-Bat'' is a 1993 video game developed by Iguana Entertainment and published by Sunsoft. It was released for both the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis. Aero the Acro-Bat, a red anthropomorphic bat, was created by ...

'', moved to Austin and acquired Optimus Software (later Iguana UK) in 1993. Iguana was acquired by Acclaim Entertainment in January 1995 and received another sub-studio, Iguana West (formerly Sculptured Software) in October that year. Spangenberg was fired from his position in July 1998 and filed a lawsuit on

breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...

the following October. Iguana was rebranded Acclaim Studios Austin in May 1999, and the studio was closed down in August 2004, followed by the

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 U.S. Code is the bankruptcy code that governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. This is in contrast to bankruptcy under Chapter 11 and Chapter 13, which govern the process of ''re ...

of its parent in September 2004.

History

Prior to founding Iguana Entertainment, Jeff Spangenberg, a self-taught programmer who skipped college to pursue a programming career, served as lead designer for Punk Development, the development team of publisher RazorSoft. In 1991, Spangenberg founded his own company in

, and hired 20 staff, including friends of his. Initially, the company did not have a name; Jay Moon, who served as development support manager for the company, explained that Spangenberg held two pet

iguana ''Iguana'' (, ) is a genus of herbivorous lizards that are native to tropical areas of Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. The genus was first described by Austrian naturalist Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti, J.N. Laurenti in ...

s, named Spike and Killer, wherefore the team settled on "Iguana Entertainment", with Spike and Killer serving as mascots for the company. In 1992, Several Punk Development employees joined Iguana when the partnership between Punk and RazorSoft dissolved, and Iguana hired further staff in 1993 through funding provided by publishers

Sunsoft , is a Japanese electronics manufacturer, video game developer and publisher. They are known for their video games under the brand name Sunsoft. History In April 1971, Sun Electronics Corporation (alternatively called Sun Denshi) was founded i ...

and Acclaim Entertainment. Because of the high cost of living in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

for Spangenberg and his employees, the company decided to move their headquarters. Their first choice was

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

, which was also the location of Nintendo of America, but getting to know

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

' expanding technology industry, several Iguana staff traveled to Austin in May 1993 to investigate the relocation possibilities in the area. The team returned with videotape of the city's Sixth Street entertainment district. All but one employee agreed to move to Austin, and the relocation was completed shortly after. Later that year, Iguana achieved its first success with ''

'' and used profits generated from the game's sales to acquire

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

-based developer Optimus Software, which was rebranded Iguana UK. On December 21, 1994, Acclaim announced that they had agreed to acquire Iguana. The deal was completed on January 4, 1995, with paid in cash and additional, undisclosed payments made in stock. In October 1995, Acclaim additionally acquired

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

-based Sculptured Software for in stock, which became part of Iguana under the name Iguana West in December 1997. Spangenberg was fired from Iguana on July 8, 1998, and several undisclosed management changes at the studio were announced by Acclaim later the same month. Additionally, the company was placed under Acclaim Studios, a new, decentralized management for Acclaim's development studios led by former Iguana employee Darrin Stubbington. In October that year, Spangenberg filed a lawsuit against Acclaim, Acclaim co-founder Greg Fischbach, and Iguana for

and

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

. The suit, handled as "Jeffery Spangenberg vs. Acclaim Entertainment, Inc., Iguana Entertainment, Inc., and Gregory Fischbach", alleged that Fischbach urged Spangenberg to purchase Acclaim shares worth in February 1998, and convinced him to keep them just shortly before Spangenberg was relieved of his position, resulting in his loss of stock options. Spangenberg founded a new development company, Retro Studios, on October 1, 1999. In May 1999, Acclaim Studios announced that they would unify all development studios owned by the company under the same branding; as part of this move, Iguana, Iguana UK and Iguana West became Acclaim Studios Austin, Acclaim Studios Teesside and Acclaim Studios Salt Lake City, respectively. When Acclaim's agreement with GMAC Commercial Finance, their primary lender, expired on August 20, 2004, the company closed all of its facilities, including Acclaim Studios Austin, on August 27, of which the Austin and New York studios saw all employees let go. Acclaim itself filed for

with the

United States bankruptcy court United States bankruptcy courts are courts created under Article I of the United States Constitution. The current system of bankruptcy courts was created by the United States Congress in 1978, effective April 1, 1984. United States bankruptcy ...

in Central Islip, New York on September 1. The "Iguana Entertainment" name was reused by brothers Jason and Darren Falcus, who had founded Optimus Software in February 1988, when they created a studio of the same name in 2009. That studio was acquired by and incorporated into

Team17 Team 17 Digital Limited (Team17) is a British video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Wakefield, England. The venture was created in December 1990 through the merger of British publisher 17-Bit Software and Swedish dev ...

in December 2011.

Games

References

{{Authority control Lizard mascots Video game development companies Video game companies established in 1991 Video game companies disestablished in 2004 Defunct video game companies of the United States Video game companies based in Texas Defunct companies based in Texas Companies based in Austin, Texas 1991 establishments in California 2004 disestablishments in California