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APB To Close Mere Months After Launch
APB, the action MMO created by Realtime Worlds and launched at the end of June, will soon be closing its doors. The game was very expensive to make, and news of the studio's financial difficulties has been circulating in the wake of disappointing sales numbers and reviews. Today, less than three months after the servers went live, community officer Ben Bateman announced that service will be discontinued shortly. One of the developers said, "In every way APB was a dichotomy. I have witnessed the project alter from a fragile and delicate entity used to show the world the depth of our vision through to the sturdy beast we released to the public. There were the unusual errors and crashes which are to be expected, but it worked. Once in the hands of our community I have never seen something elicit such a polarization of people. It was dismissed as overhyped and broken or else taken to heart to be loved and cherished, buoyed on by a fanaticism I was proud to have played a part in bringing to the world."
And APB ... wasn't. Tried it out at PAX and the play wasn't terrible; It was just never clear why you were playing. If you wanted to play a FPS, you'd probably just have bought a FPS and used the XBox Live sub you already had.
I wonder how many times consumers will have to get burned before they stop buying MMOs.
Was Max Bialystock a silent partner in this venture? If so, it appears he found a working vehicle for his plan.