Rumor: Realtime Worlds lays off staff, puts APB up for sale [Updated]

Off-topic: Might want to fix the typo in the opening sentence.

On-topic: This is truly depressing news. I hope everyone lands on their feet and that this is not the end of the studio, especially considering that APB has great promise (I really love some of the features, especially being able to get credit for selling virtual designs) but there is a long, long way to go before it's realised. That might be part of the problem, who knows.

Geez, depressorama lately with the MMO news.

This is pretty depressing. I picked it up last month because some friends were giving it a go. We had/have a ton of fun, and the game feels pretty stable and all... but we can also see they need to push out new features and content for it to sustain for much longer. There isn't a whole lot to do at this juncture, but we had our fingers crossed that they might implement larger battleground/instanced style fights (maybe 20 on 20 for an objective, etc), among other features.

I figured the game would go for 6 months till the numbers were this low... but nope... there are very few playing now, even on weekends :(

Can't really say I'm surprised. Realtime Worlds had lofty goals, but the execution wasn't up to par IMO.

Holy Cow that was fast wasn't it? I truly feel bad for the people losing there jobs here if this is all true.

As a person who completely passed on the opportunity to play this game in the beta and buy it while boxed and ready to go i don't have much say in the matter, But i never saw this game taking off after hearing news that they would force you to listen to adds while zoning.

The words skeleton crew/staff in conjunction with any MMO I play would Frankly scare the crap out of me, as its normally a look into the future sign of doom and gloom. Having a game not die is great, but it living in the shell of its former self for years on end is far worse IMO, I'm looking at you Vanguard and Matrix online (R.I.P)

In closing I hope everything continues to stay heads up out of water for the APB Team and for those who might have lost there jobs, and those that already have I wish you all the best of luck.

This is a shame, but I'm not surprised. The game was absolutely great, IMO, but a lot of people had issues with the patcher, there were some intense balance issues, and, most crippling, I heard reports of people actually being unable to buy game time; their order just would not be processed. The game literally could not make any money.

I really hoped they would've been able to fix the issues the game had before it was too late, but it looks pretty grim.

APB or its company not doing well is no surprise.

What surprises me is the rumor that it cost $100 million to make. Someone deserves to be fired if that's true.

As for the statement: "APB is still going strong and we fully intend to support 100%."

... ... ... uh huh.

And you're a jackass. Happy because a bunch of people lost their jobs??
Tell me where the frak is the fun in that.

And not, it isn't only crappy games closing down. Just this week there's been news that Chronicles of Spellborn and Earth Eternal will be closing down and APB is also sinking.

Did the MMO bubble just burst?

No one's mentioned that they essentially ignored the hacking. Hard to say how prevalent it is, but not having any anti-hack in place really is bad for PR. Alienates players who aren't "teh hardkor" in a big way.

Pretty much a result of giving the people a subpar game. Not suprised at all.

Aww, I'm sure you're just remembering what the doctor told your parents, minus the game part.

It's obvious this destruction of the company was not entirely affected by the success of APB. APB just came out a month ago. The company must have been in bad shape before the release and hoped the success of the game would keep the company financially afloat.

It really sucks. It's just incredibly lousy of a situation for a game that shows purpose and promise to possibly be canned because the company who makes it can't stay in business.

What's lame is that if a big wig company were behind this game, they could make the game as lousy as they wanted to, and the game could live on for years. But a company developed by a smaller company that shows promise can't stay afloat to continue improving their game.

Here's hoping another company with plenty of financial income can buy the game and give it the attention it needs.