APB'sutter dissolution is now complete, but the story has yet to conclude for developer RealTime Worlds. The one-two punch of tepid reviews and lackluster software sales proved too much for APB, but a former technical lead at RTW believes the issues started much earlier, which they should've addressed much sooner, before it was way too late.
In frank blog postings which shed light on the underlying problems at RTW, "just another ex-game developer" Luke Halliwell conceded that RTW's complacency played a large part in ultimately bringing down APB. The studio was still basking in the warm glow it earned over the success of its first project, Crackdown, and the $100 million investment it managed to score for its future projects like APB. This complacency was further compounded by the ability of RTW founder Dave Jones to convince staff that things really were going to be all right.
"The complacency showed through in so many ways. We were complacent about game design, papering over APB's obvious shortcomings and telling ourselves it would somehow come together at the last minute before release (an argument that was strengthened by the experience of seeing Crackdown do just that)."We were complacent about business planning, deciding to spend all our investment getting APB to launch, assuming that we would sell zillions of copies and over-spending on server hardware.
"I'm pretty sure it was a big part of us raising $100m. It also obviously contributed to our complacency. If anything ever reached crisis point, Dave was always, always able to convince people that everything would be ok. I think at times this prevented us from actually taking problems as seriously as we should have."
Restructuring firm Begbies Traynor, which has assumed administration of the studio following APB's uninspiring performance at retail, confirms that pretty much the rest of the remaining fifty employees at RTW's Dundee studio were let go following APB's server shutdown. Apparently they couldn't find a buyer willing to rescue the financially beleaguered studio. Develop reports that just seven temporary workers are still on hand for APB's cleanup, and things are unclear still for RTW's satellite offices in the US.
In the meantime, Begbies Traynor explains that it should be possible for APB customers to seek refunds for their now defunct software purchase, though they will want to check with the retailer they originally purchased the title from to see they have further details. That's just for the price of admission alone, though it appears that players will be able to get reimbursement for any actual game time they purchased as part of a subscription by speaking to APB admin.
Just because no one is currently in the market for RTW itself doesn't mean APB is still not up for grabs. The BBC writes that Epic Games at some point had taken a shine to the project, not least because it leverages Epic's Unreal Engine; they even cite Epic VP Mark Rein as someone who "absolutely loves APB". The writeup couldn't confirm anything on Epic's part, other than the fact that the developer is simply too busy with other projects at the moment to say anything either way about APB.
Source:Luke Halliwell's Weblog
Alternate Source:Develop
Section:PC Games
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