APB Is Dead; Long Live APB

[Greg Tito]

APB Is Dead; Long Live APB

The servers for Realtime Worlds' APB closed in September, but the recently updated patch notes indicate that the game may be resurrected.

The cops and robbers MMO, APB, launched on June 29th in North America but, by August 17th, Realtime Worlds had filed for administration, a concept similar to American bankruptcy. Faced with no money to pay the bills, Realtime Worlds shut down the APB servers [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103539-APB-Comes-to-a-Premature-End] on September 16th. Rumors swirled that Epic Games would buy the game because cofounder and VP Mark Rein was a friend of Realtime Worlds founder Dave Jones. We hadn't heard anything for a few weeks, but the "patch notes" for the game was updated today with the first good news regarding APB that we've heard in a while.

"It's looking like there might be light at the end of the tunnel for APB," the notes read. "The end of the administration process is apparently close and there appears to be a buyer for the game."

That's all that we have to go on, but it seems that the APB servers may indeed get switched on at some point. All we can do is speculate as to which company is buying the game, but it may be that switching off the servers was the only option. Of the short list of six interested parties, a representative from the administration firm said that none were "comfortable with buying it as a live operation."

Sometimes you have to take a step back to make a giant leap forward. In other words, maybe APB had to die before it could rise again.

Source: Gamesindustry.biz [http://apb-eu.dnsalias.org/PatchNotes/]

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[JUMBO PALACE]

Why would another developer buy APB? It failed the first time for a reason didn't it?

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Seems like a bad idea. Why do you think the game failed in the first place?

 

[mjc0961]

Yeah that's what I'd do, go buy a failed game.

Well good luck to whoever bought it.

 

[Korias]

Except it's not a failed game. It's a WIP Game. It shouldn't have been released with the bugs it had but there's no reason why it can't be fixed with a few changes to the mechanics.

And the Character Creator technology is worth big money... that's reason alone to buy it.

 

[Tharwen]

Well... if they market it well, they could get more subscribers again. There'll also be the attraction of trying to protect the game from going down again.

They could give some sort of in-game medal or trophy to people who bought it first time around too.

 

[-Samurai-]

Except it's not a failed game. It's a WIP Game. It shouldn't have been released with the bugs it had but there's no reason why it can't be fixed with a few changes to the mechanics.

And the Character Creator technology is worth big money... that's reason alone to buy it.

Exactly. And with a competent team behind it, it could turn out much better than people think.

 

[Veritasiness]

I never played it, but saw it and thought it looked decent. Really impossible to tell, though.

This must be a real slap in the face to people who bought it expecting a perpetual MMO (or who find a copy in a bargain bin tomorrow, I saw an article about that), but let's face it: Most of us only play a game once or twice anyway, and unless it's a massive game or a really good one, we get maybe 40 hours of gameplay out of it. You can get more than that in six weeks, and APB didn't have much in it to start - APB was more than likely being ignored by the majority of people who'd bought it to try.

 

[Woodsey]

I still can't believe they released it as it was even after all the beta testing.

 

[Fiend Dragon]

Yay! For all it's flaws, that game was damn fun to play and I am cautiously optimistic for it's revival.

Except it's not a failed game. It's a WIP Game. It shouldn't have been released with the bugs it had but there's no reason why it can't be fixed with a few changes to the mechanics.

And the Character Creator technology is worth big money... that's reason alone to buy it.

Exactly. And with a competent team behind it, it could turn out much better than people think.

Exactly so. It had a lot of potential and with a fresh start I think it could still be great. The customization is far too good to just throw away.

 

[Paularius]

The game its self wasnt a fail but the developers behind it were.

It was released with too little content and the much needed game fixes (Matchmaking and upgrade balancing) got sidelinded for trivial things like extra ingame hats and minor bugs.

Not to mention that they admited that all the information that players gathered in the beta was just egnored and they released the game as it was anyway.

Add to it that they didnt even bother to add decent protection to the game leaving it open to every aimbot available.

 

[Pielikey]

If it wasn't subscription based I would buy it. I understand why it's subscription based, but I don't have a job as of now so I can't really afford it. I loved it during the like 5 hour beta, though.

 

[darkmushroomm]

I loved this game, it may have been bug ridden and unbalanced but I loved it unconditionally.

 

[luckycharms8282]

Looks like a decent game. Id try it out if I had the time

 

[Tsaba]

it's a fun game, it has so much potential there, someone just needs to bring that potential out.

 

[WanderingFool]

I thought it looked promising, the only problem I saw was that it just didnt have that much to do it seemed. Not to mention I still didnt get the fucking fees system...

 

[sooperman]

"none were 'comfortable with buying it as a live operation.'"

Oh, I see what the problem was; people wanted to buy the concept of the game, not the game itself. The license had ought to warrant an impressive finished if it can be polished, though.

 

[binvjoh]

Well that's cool for the people who bought the game. Must have stung a bit not getting to play it more than a couple of months.

Hopefully APB will land in the hands of someone who can take good care of it.

 

[Greg Tito]

Sounds like a plan, what killed it the first time was the economical hole RTW caused by spending a hundred millions and not getting them back soon enough.

Of course, game-wise the game needed to grow faster, and lots of things, but the core was established and it needed time to grow, time that RTW couldn't afford.