Writing on the game's official site, community manager Ben Bateman said the APB journey is about to come to a premature end. "Today we are sad to announce that, despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running, APB is coming to a close. It's been a pleasure working on APB and with all its players. Together we were building an absolutely amazing game, and for that, we thank you. You guys are awesome!"
After a five year development cycle that reportedly rang up nearly $100 million in costs, APB launched in late June and received a dismal critical and commercial response. Shortly after, Realtime Worlds announced it would restructure to fully support the game and laid off a number of employees. Rumors immediately began to circulate the company was sinking fast.
In August, the company announced it had become insolvent and administrators were appointed to try to save it. Administrators managed to find a buyer for Realtime's only other asset, in-development social gaming hub Project MyWorld, but it appears that capital went immediately to creditors with nothing left over for APB.
It's unclear yet if Realtime Worlds, which once employed more than 200 people and was Scotland's largest game studio, will be shuddered with APB, but because the MMO was the company's only remaining revenue source, it's highly likely the studio is officially kaput.
Realtime Worlds' Producer Ben Abbott posted: "I had the great pleasure of working with some extremely talented people in both the Dundee and Boulder office, and for the longest time APB was our lives. It is truly sad that it ended this way ... but when you aim for the stars, you sometimes fall on your face."
Sharkey says: A sad story. The company had a ton of talent and a ton of EA's money at its disposal and it somehow managed to turn out a clunker. It will be interesting to see what Realtime's co-founder, David Jones, one of the creators of Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown, does -- or at least tries to do -- next.
