Crisis deepens at Acclaim; staff salaries unpaid

The situation at struggling publisher Acclaim took a turn for the worse this morning, as staff at the firm's UK offices reported that their salaries have not been paid - and those at the Manchester studio were allegedly sent home.

Earlier this week, the company confirmed that its credit facility with GMAC Commercial Finance has expired without a deal being struck with a new lender, despite two separate extensions which were granted by GMAC.

This morning, sources at the company told GamesIndustry.biz that staff at the UK studios in Cheltenham and Manchester have not been paid their salaries - and that while the Cheltenham studio remains open, employees in Manchester have been told to go home.

It's not clear as yet whether this represents official redundancies being made. A few days ago, staff at the firm's development studio in Austin, Texas were also told to go home after the company's landlords locked them out of the building for defaulting on rent payments.

Acclaim was delisted from the NASDAQ Small Cap stock exchange earlier this week for failing to meet the minimum market capitalisation figure required by the market; the the time, the company pledged to appeal the delisting and expressed hope that it would meet the index requirements shortly after filing its next 10-Q results statement, which is now overdue.

The publisher could not be contacted for any official comment at the time of going to press, but according to staff there, a statement from the US headquarters of the firm is expected this afternoon.