realtime-worlds posts

What comes around apparently goes around for APB Reloaded. The first person shooter MMO started its life in Scotland at developer Realtime Worlds only to have both the game and the developer shut down operations a few months after APB went live back in 2010. Now the team behind the game's upcoming revival, GamersFirst, has decided to open up a new development studio in Scotland.

The BBC reports that GamersFirst's subsidiary Reloaded Productions will open the new studio in Edinburgh with 22 people hired at first. Realtime Worlds was based in Dundee and when it shut down last fall it caused 250 people to lose its jobs. Meanwhile the revival of APB Reloaded is still in closed beta testing with an open beta to start later this year.

APB Reloaded is still not in its closed beta phase but for the first time the game's official blog site has released some screenshots showing a little taste of what the upcoming revival of the FPS MMO will look like. As you can see from the above screenshot the game doesn't look all that different from the original game from the now defunct Realtime Worlds.

However this week's blog does go over some of the changes in the game that players can expect when closed beta starts up at its new owner GamersFirst (hopefully around the end of February). Besides the previously announced Punkbuster anti-cheat program, the closed beta will also have some balance changes for the game's weapons. Look for some changes in the game's progression and some other tweaks as well.

The US PC-video game trade group the Entertainment Software Association has confirmed to Big Download that it has added two new companies as members. Both the graphics chip company Nvidia and the MMO game publisher Perfect World Entertainment are now listed as members on the ESA's web site. ESA PR rep Dan Hewitt confirmed to Big Download today that Nvidia and Perfect World came aboard officially as members in the latter half in 2010.

The ESA currently shows 36 member companies on its official web site. However two of the members listed, Eidos Interactive and Realtime Worlds, are no longer active companies. Eidos merged with Square Enix in 2009 and Realtime Worlds shut down operations in 2010 following the disastrous launch and later shut down of its FPSMMO game APB.

The ESA, which owns the annual E3 trade show event as well as the Entertainment Software Ratings Board, lost a number of high profile members in 2008 including Activision, LucasArts and id Software. Hewitt told Big Download today that the ESA has a constant dialog with the industry about bringing in new members as well as perhaps bringing back older ones.

The word got leaked last week but now GamersFirst has made it official. In a press released issued this morning the free-to-play gaming web site owned by K2 Network announced that it has acquired the publishing rights and the assets to All Points Bulletin (APB), the first person shooter MMO that was first developed and released by Realtime Worlds. As many of you already know, the game was released last June but poor reviews and a lack of players forced Realtime Worlds to shut down only a few months later.

GamersFirst acquired the APB rights from Realtime Worlds' bankruptcy administrator and it will be developed by its subsidiary Reloaded Productions for a relaunch as a free-to-play online only game with micro-transaction support of in-game content. It's scheduled to go live to the public sometime in the first half of 2011. It will also get a name change to APB: Reloaded. This is not the first time that GamersFirst has taken on a game that got shut down somewhere else. Earlier this year it took over the US publishing duties of 9Dragons, a fantasy RPG that was previously run by Acclaim before it was closed down.

Big Download chatted with GamersFirst Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer Bjorn Book-Larsson on Monday morning about the APB acquisition and you can check out what we learned from him after the jump:

All Points Bulletin, or APB for short, may have found a new home. According to GamesIndustry.biz (free registration required) the defunct first person shooter MMO has been acquired by K2 Network, who runs a number of free-to-play MMO titles under the GamersFirst.com web site. The report, which cites unnamed sources, claims the rights to the game were purchased for a mere 1.5 million pounds. The story also states that an official announcement will be made in the next week and APB could be back online by the end of 2010.

Developed by UK-based Realtime Worlds, APB was first revealed back in 2005. Despite several years of development and months of pre-release hype, the game failed to reach a mass audience after its launch last June due to poor gameplay design and bug issues. The game shut down its servers in September and more importantly a large number of developers lost their jobs as Realtime Worlds shut down.

As we have reported earlier this month, the first person MMO All Points Bulletin is now no more as its servers were shut down by defunct game developer Realtime Worlds. The game was distributed and published by Electronic Arts and launched at the end of June which means there are some people who bought the game for $50 that now have nothing to show for it.

So what do you do? According to reports made by players of the game on Steam, players contacting EA via the customer support phone numbers asking for refunds for APB have apparently been able to get at least some compensation. One reader was given a offer for a $20 voucher and then the offer got raised to a free game from EA.

[Via Blue's News]

Developer Epic Games' was a big support of All Points Bulletin before the first person shooter MMO actually launched last June. The game itself used Epic's Unreal Engine 3 as its basis. Now a new rumor from the BBC web site seems to suggest that Epic is bidding to purchase the IP of APB.

As we reported earlier this week, the game itself is about to shut down after a poor launch (in fact the game's servers could be turned off by the time this post goes live). But the BBC story states that Epic could be in the race to purchase the APB IP. When contacted, an Epic spokesperson gave a somewhat cryptic answer, saying that Epic's VP Mark Rein (misidentified as its CEO in the article) absolutely loves ATB (sic)". The spokesperson added, "We've got our hands full of Gears of War 3, Bullet Storm and the recently announced Project Sword. If any talks like that are going on, then they would be confidential."

It looks like despite efforts to keep the game going, online reports state that the troubled first person shooter MMO All Points Bulletin will officially shut down by Friday. Gamesindustry.biz (free registration required) reports that the administrator for the game's bankrupt developer Realtime Worlds was unable to find a buyer for APB that was willing to keep the game going "as a live operation." The game's official web also states that APB " has come to a premature end." The administrator still plans to try to sell off the game's assets and IP. You can check out comments from the development team at the game's official web site including a statement from Realtime Worlds' founder Dave Jones.

Announced back in 2005, Realtime Worlds raised over $100 million from investors to develop the Unreal Engine 3-based game. Despite a ton of hype and promotions beforehand, the game's launch in June was met with poor sales and mediocre reviews and caused Realtime Worlds to enter administration in August. As we have previously reported another upcoming game from the defunct developer, Project MyWorld, is still being worked on after the game was sold off to a still unnamed US company.

Things may be coming to a head for embattled game developer Realtime Worlds. A few days ago Develop reported via unnamed sources that the company's still unreleased game Project MyWorld has been sold off to an unnamed US company. Now Develop is reporting that the rest of Realtime Worlds is close to being acquired.

A spokesperson for the developer's administrator, Begbies Traynor, is quoted as saying, ""Discussions are continuing and we are expecting to make an announcement next week." The report claims that barring a last minute issue the company's Scotland offices, its US office and the rights to the first person shooter MMO All Points Bulletin will be acquired as part of the deal with the unnamed party. The developer went into administration last August due to the lower-than-expected sales of APB.

The saga of failed game developer Realtime Worlds is apparently taking another turn. Develop reports through unnamed sources that the bankrupt developer has found a buyer for its social gaming-city simulation title Project MyWorld. The game was first announced just a few weeks before the developer went into administration in August. The buyer is said to be an US-based company but no further info on the interested party was reported. It's also not known if the new buyer will keep the 23 developers who are currently working on the game.

In the meantime, Realtime Worlds' higher profile game, the FPS MMO All Points Bulletin, is still looking for a buyer, according to the article. Despite the administrator saying that the game has about 130,000 registered players there doesn't seem to be as much interest from potential buys.