
In 1987, LJN expanded beyond manufacturing toys and started publishing video games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Toys Ltd they could make the toys based on their movies without having to contract a toy manufacture thus generating more revenue from the sale of merchandise of its film properties. Toys Ltd for approximately $67 million to strengthen their brand by expanding their portfolio. In 1985, MCA Inc., a subsidiary of Universal City Studios, acquired L.J.N.
#LJN NES GAMES SERIES#
They manufactured the Wrestling Superstars line from 1984 through 1989, releasing a series of unique wrestling figures each year for six consecutive years.
#LJN NES GAMES LICENSE#
Their license deal to manufactured wrestlers based on WWF’s Superstars was their most successful toy line and outside of publishing video games is what the company is best known for. This method worked very well for the newly formed company and they continued this approach throughout the 1980s securing rights to popular properties such as E.T., Magnum P.I., Michael Jackson, Indiana Jones, Gremlins, and the WWF. They once again secured licenses for already successful franchises to use in conjunction with their ability to manufacture toys instead of creating something original and having to market it from scratch themselves. Their toy car line “Road Stars” recreated vehicles found in television shows, cartoons, and comic books. After securing some revenue and building a name for themselves based off the release of their action figure line, the toy company began creating a line of small toy cars called “Road Stars”. In 1974 the toy manufacture began releasing action figures based on the television shows “The Rookies”, “Emergency!”, and “S.W.A.T.”. Lewis in reverse.įriedman was able to secure licensing agreements with a few television production companies in the mid 1970s and began manufacturing action figures based off various television shows. When he registered his business, he used LJN, the initials of his former employer Norman J. Lewis Associates to start his own business. Friedman used the funds he made while working for his former employer, Norman J. The publisher was a division of LJN Toys Ltd, an American toy company founded by Jack Friedman in 1970.
#LJN NES GAMES MOVIE#
They began publishing games based on movie franchises then branched out to acquire the rights to publish sports games using the MLB, NBA and WWF properties. The publisher primarily focused on publishing licensed based games to capitalize on already successful franchises, a strategy that worked well for them in the toy industry. In 2000, LJN made a return in name only when Acclaim used the brand to publish Spirit of Speed 1937, a title for the Dreamcast.LJN was an American video game publisher that began publishing games in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. LJN, along with the Flying Edge and Arena Entertainment labels (the latter two published Acclaim's games for Sega consoles) were folded into Acclaim in 1994. There is no game known to have been developed by LJN themselves even though many of their video games, especially the pre-Acclaim ones, did not disclose the developer. Even after Nintendo dropped its rule in the early 1990s, LJN published several titles for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Other companies that utilized such tactics included Konami with their division Ultra however, unlike Ultra, which was just a brand name of Konami, LJN was operated as a legally-independent company with separate headquarters. As a result, companies like Acclaim used separate divisions such as LJN to produce more products than Nintendo would have allowed. During the 8-bit gaming era, Nintendo, as a form of quality control and to prevent flooding the market with product, regulated the number of titles an individual publisher could license for the NES each year. In late 1988, Acclaim Entertainment acquired LJN from MCA/Universal.Īcclaim got rid of LJN's toy division and refocused LJN solely on publishing video games, while keeping the same direction - movies and cartoons. LJN ventured for the first time into the video game market and published several titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System, often based on popular franchises such as movie and cartoon licenses. In 1986, LJN was acquired by MCA through their Universal subsidiary. Lewis Associates, a toy company where Friedman was employed in the 1960s before leaving to form LJN. The name was inspired by reversing the initials of Norman J. LJN was founded in 1970 by Jack Friedman (who would go on to found video game publisher THQ and toy company Jakks Pacific). They created many toy lines and published video games that were based on popular movies, television shows, and celebrities. LJN was an American toy company and video game publisher in operation from 1970 to 1994. You can help Codex Gamicus by expanding it.
