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APB To Close Mere Months After Launch

Posted by Soulskill on from the ran-out-of-gas dept.

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."

11 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Cheating was rampant by grasshoppa · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I loved the game, but cheating was rampant from day 1. After a couple weeks, I couldn't tolerate it anymore, as it literally seemed that you HAD to cheat to complete your missions.

    It was fun otherwise, and was looking forward to coming back to it in a year ( after they got the cheating under control ).

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
    1. Re:Cheating was rampant by mdm-adph · · Score: 5, Funny

      I think you're missing the deeper gameplay mechanics obviously secretly built-into a game based around a life of crime...

      --
      It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
    2. Re:Cheating was rampant by Frigga's+Ring · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Depends on what you mean by cheating. The match making system drove me up the wall. I only lost against people 5x my rating because they out-geared me. But that's all I was pitted against because they purposely lowered their rank (rating determines your gear, rank determines who you fight, rating goes up as you play, rank goes up or down if you win or lose) to they could fight newbies.

      And honestly, the weapons and cars are all that changed. At rank 1, you were robbing stores and stealing cars. At rank 500 you were robbing the same stores and stealing the same cars. The game failed because it was hollow gameplay.

  2. Again?! by Boona · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hellgate London (with Founders), Tabula Rasa and now APB ... The next time I purchase an MMO I'll let you guys know ahead of time so you know that it will fail.

  3. I'm shocked by Locke2005 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I am so surprised they didn't make any money, mostly because I have never heard of "APB"... was their entire marketing plan built around word of mouth advertising?

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:I'm shocked by Chad+Birch · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, their entire marketing plan was to hide as much of the game as possible until release, and then ban everyone from reviewing it until a week after it came out.

      Seems like it was a ridiculously mismanaged project, there's a good series of articles on a former employee's blog here: Where Realtime Worlds Went Wrong

      --
      Sturgeon was an optimist.
  4. APB == All Points Bulletin? by commodore64_love · · Score: 3, Insightful

    (sidles over to the article)

    TFA doesn't say WTF APB means either. Apollonius Christ. ROTF man I hate abbreviations (IMHO). LOL ;-)

    --
    "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
  5. Realtime Worlds Points... by ceriphim · · Score: 3, Insightful

    From the website:

    Realtime Worlds Points are a virtual currency that you can buy, right here, for cash. You can spend these RTW Points on lots of cool stuff, including gametime. It costs 280 Points for a 20 hour chunk (which never expires), and just 400 Points gets you unlimited access for 30 days.

    Guess that "never expires" part isn't entirely accurate now. Or, if it is, not useful.

    Just for giggles I clicked on "Purchase 400 Points" and got a server error...

    Adios APB!

  6. Woah, math by Locke2005 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think you mean $5,000,000 per year, which is much less than the $48 million a year some have suggested they were pulling in.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  7. Re:Woah, economics by Haffner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Probably the executive level guys did the math, and found out that between maintenance staff and servers, there wasn't a whole lot of extra cash that could go towards paying their 200k+ salaries, and decided it would be better to give themselves a nice bonus than to continue with the game.

    --
    "Going to war without the French is like going deer hunting without your accordion." ~General Norman Schwarzkopf
  8. Full acountability by psyph3r · · Score: 4, Insightful

    At least they can't blame this one on piracy.