Realtime worlds lays off staff may be looking to sell APB

Ortzilla

It appears things may not be going well at Realtime Worlds, the developer that garnered a lot of positive attention after making the first Crackdown in 2007 -- and has garnered quite a bit of negative attention since releasing APB back in June. VG247 reports that, according to those ubiquitous "anonymous sources," Realtime Worlds has laid off the team behind the recently revealed Project: MyWorld, and they may even be looking to sell APB entirely.

"The MyWorld team has been completely laid off," one source claimed. "As many as 60 may have gone, but there's a rumor they may be trying to sell the team as a smaller entity. I don't know the exact figure."

Project: MyWorld is planned to be a virtual recreation of (presumably) the Earth, or at least its major cities, and it's described by Realtime Worlds with the rhetorical question, "What would it look like if Nintendo built Google Earth?" Realtime says this has been their "dream" project since the studio's beginning, with some of its technology already having been used in both Crackdown and APB. So if the entire staff behind it has indeed been laid off (which, we remind you, hasn't been confirmed), then that would certainly be surprising.

But perhaps even more surprising: VG247 also reports a rumor is circulating that Realtime Worlds may be trying to sell off APB, the MMO with an urban city setting they released only months ago. The game received quite a few negative reviews, with our own reviewer concluding the game felt "woefully underdeveloped, and ultimately unfinished." Even still, VG247 reports that Realtime Worlds has evidently spent more than $100 million on the project to date.

Realtime Worlds has not commented on any of these rumors, so again, nothing's been confirmed yet. We'll have more as this develops.

 

source: http://www.1up.com/news/rumor-realtime-worlds-lays-off

Cacaphony

Geez... that was fast. LOL.  Could be unfortunate for those that enjoy the game though.

gamerman98

actually they aren't selling APB....not even close and here's the newest update to that story.

 

http://www.massively.com/2010/08/13/rumor-realtime-worlds-lays-off-staff-puts-apb-up-for-sale/

gamerman98

---

Originally posted by Lobotomist
Ok.
I dont want to say "I told you so" but did i damn told you so ?
 
In fact there was number of fanboys that called my concerns about future of APB, trolling. And I challenged them to call me a troll again in 6 months when the game will shut down. ( Well I admit I was a bit wrong. Even I could not predict the game will hit the rock bottom this fast. )
 
I would just want to see them dare to reply on this post....
So who is troll now ? Who was trolling when he said "Please,dont buy this game. It can not succed with subscription system. You will be sorry and your money wasted."
Bet you wish you listened to me than ....

---

You kinda spoke too soon....APB isn't going anywhere...all they did was take the team from the Myworld project and put them on to APB. They have every resource focused on making the game better

mmoguy43

I agree its not doing extremely well and I think everyone knew this would happen, even fanboys. So the usual thing happens, they cut most of the staff that made the game and kept the devs that can be used to gradually fix and improve the game. Just because staff are layed off doesn't mean the game is going to shutdown. Its will probably be like Vanguard how it had major lay offs but will stick around for quite some time even if it doesn't do well.

 [Mod Edit]

eyeswideopen

Originally posted by mmoguy43

I agree its not doing extremely well and I think everyone knew this would happen, even fanboys. So the usual thing happens, they cut most of the staff that made the game and kept the devs that can be used to gradually fix and improve the game. Just because staff are layed off doesn't mean the game is going to shutdown. Its will probably be like Vanguard how it had major lay offs but will stick around for quite some time even if it doesn't do well.

 

and for the record I have Lob ^ blocked because he is a known troller.

Difference is, SOE has very deep pockets and a menagerie of successful games running. They can pull what it takes to run Vanguard straight out of the sub fees and count the rest as a write off on their taxes.

Realtime Worlds don't have that luxury. Realtime gets to pull the bandwidth, server hosting, employee pay, etc., etc., out of whatever people have paid into the cash shop and the few people who actually buy a months time or a block of time from RT and not by using points from the auction house or whatever they call it.

Also, keep in mind that if they are in the process of shopping it around and/or have actually found a sucker, er... I mean buyer....for APB, they won't announce it until after it's already been settled and the cash exchanged. Actually coming out and saying "We're selling APB" would potentially cost them money overnight just from people leaving the "sinking ship". Also, if they already have a buyer, then they end up in a legal blackout where they can't tell you "Hey, we sold APB" until the last day.

I've seen this in other mmos that have been sold by bankrupt developers, Ryzom being a good example.

So right now, it's either being sold and they're hiding it; or it was just a media mistake. At this point, neither one would surprise me.

Tazlor

well i'm just surprised it happened this fast.  i've never played the game, but i knew it wouldn't do to well.  the huge emphesis on character customization pretty much screamed fail.  now if they had made barbie and ken doll fashion world, it would have worked well, but i think you focus on the shooter part of a shooter game.

Vhaln

Originally posted by eyeswideopen

Originally posted by mmoguy43

I agree its not doing extremely well and I think everyone knew this would happen, even fanboys. So the usual thing happens, they cut most of the staff that made the game and kept the devs that can be used to gradually fix and improve the game. Just because staff are layed off doesn't mean the game is going to shutdown. Its will probably be like Vanguard how it had major lay offs but will stick around for quite some time even if it doesn't do well.

 

and for the record I have Lob ^ blocked because he is a known troller.

Difference is, SOE has very deep pockets and a menagerie of successful games running. They can pull what it takes to run Vanguard straight out of the sub fees and count the rest as a write off on their taxes.

Realtime Worlds don't have that luxury. Realtime gets to pull the bandwidth, server hosting, employee pay, etc., etc., out of whatever people have paid into the cash shop and the few people who actually buy a months time or a block of time from RT and not by using points from the auction house or whatever they call it.

Also, keep in mind that if they are in the process of shopping it around and/or have actually found a sucker, er... I mean buyer....for APB, they won't announce it until after it's already been settled and the cash exchanged. Actually coming out and saying "We're selling APB" would potentially cost them money overnight just from people leaving the "sinking ship". Also, if they already have a buyer, then they end up in a legal blackout where they can't tell you "Hey, we sold APB" until the last day.

I've seen this in other mmos that have been sold by bankrupt developers, Ryzom being a good example.

So right now, it's either being sold and they're hiding it; or it was just a media mistake. At this point, neither one would surprise me.

 

Except, isn't EA the publisher?  Or does that not mean they run the servers and everything?

 

eyeswideopen

Originally posted by Vhaln

Originally posted by eyeswideopen

Originally posted by mmoguy43

I agree its not doing extremely well and I think everyone knew this would happen, even fanboys. So the usual thing happens, they cut most of the staff that made the game and kept the devs that can be used to gradually fix and improve the game. Just because staff are layed off doesn't mean the game is going to shutdown. Its will probably be like Vanguard how it had major lay offs but will stick around for quite some time even if it doesn't do well.

 

and for the record I have Lob ^ blocked because he is a known troller.

Difference is, SOE has very deep pockets and a menagerie of successful games running. They can pull what it takes to run Vanguard straight out of the sub fees and count the rest as a write off on their taxes.

Realtime Worlds don't have that luxury. Realtime gets to pull the bandwidth, server hosting, employee pay, etc., etc., out of whatever people have paid into the cash shop and the few people who actually buy a months time or a block of time from RT and not by using points from the auction house or whatever they call it.

Also, keep in mind that if they are in the process of shopping it around and/or have actually found a sucker, er... I mean buyer....for APB, they won't announce it until after it's already been settled and the cash exchanged. Actually coming out and saying "We're selling APB" would potentially cost them money overnight just from people leaving the "sinking ship". Also, if they already have a buyer, then they end up in a legal blackout where they can't tell you "Hey, we sold APB" until the last day.

I've seen this in other mmos that have been sold by bankrupt developers, Ryzom being a good example.

So right now, it's either being sold and they're hiding it; or it was just a media mistake. At this point, neither one would surprise me.

 

Except, isn't EA the publisher?  Or does that not mean they run the servers and everything?

 

When's the last time you've seen EA prop up a game that wasn't making them any money? True, EA would be the ones with the servers, but the payment for the use of those servers comes out of APB's monthly revenue.

No profits for APB, no profit for EA.

Nesrie

Originally posted by mmoguy43

I agree its not doing extremely well and I think everyone knew this would happen, even fanboys. So the usual thing happens, they cut most of the staff that made the game and kept the devs that can be used to gradually fix and improve the game. Just because staff are layed off doesn't mean the game is going to shutdown. Its will probably be like Vanguard how it had major lay offs but will stick around for quite some time even if it doesn't do well.

 

and for the record I have Lob ^ blocked because he is a known troller.

 Not being able to handle a disagreement is not something to brag about.

 

It's too bad about APB. They had one of the best character creators I've seen in awhile. But the rest of the game didn't interest me at all.

mmoguy43

Originally posted by Nesrie

Originally posted by mmoguy43

I agree its not doing extremely well and I think everyone knew this would happen, even fanboys. So the usual thing happens, they cut most of the staff that made the game and kept the devs that can be used to gradually fix and improve the game. Just because staff are layed off doesn't mean the game is going to shutdown. Its will probably be like Vanguard how it had major lay offs but will stick around for quite some time even if it doesn't do well.

 

and for the record I have Lob ^ blocked because he is a known troller.

 Not being able to handle a disagreement is not something to brag about.

 

It's too bad about APB. They had one of the best character creators I've seen in awhile. But the rest of the game didn't interest me at all.

 

oh I didn't block him from what he said recently but something months ago or longer I can't remember what it was. But do you blame me for wanting to filter out some of the constant unnecesary negativity?

 

At this point APB can die for all I care. I got more than month's worth of enjoyment and still enough RTW to play free whenever.

Realbigdeal

What a shame.

Even small company as AV are still alive and will never die. Darkfall is the game t hey have.

Even SV is still alive and will still live much longer. Name of the game, Mortal online.

 

Difference between APB and both darkfall and mortal online, is the player base.

APB dont know on what player base they should focus on. They tried to appeal to all type of gamers. Even girl gamers(the reason it was so wrong). There is no freedom. You cannot kill players that are grey. You have to wait for your mission in order to start playing and its only 4 vs 4. 800 players in one district. WOW!!! But you only play with 8 players out of 800. Thats mean, 792 are left. Battlefield and Mag are 100 time more massive then that and they are not even MMO's. Even GTA 4 online is more massive. Question we ask our self, what is the point after all???

Lobotomist

It was all about subscription

APB + no subscription = Succes

APB + subscription = Closed

Beachcomber

Local newspaper take on things

 

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Dundee/article/3851/realtime-worlds-announces-60-redundancies.html

Honeymoon69

no open pvp and hacks killed this game and thats what happen when they have no experience with mmo.  Instead of working on APB they have 60 ppl working on their next title lol.

 

dhayes68

They shouldn't have marketed it as mmorpg

Lithdov

This game was a great concept; the customization, user-generated content, and matchmaking system were truly unique. Unfortunately, the core gameplay is horrible. It plays like a budget third-person shooter from the 90's. It really is such a shame that such a great concept was wasted on horrible gameplay. If the combat, driving, and mission structure were actually decent, I think more people would be willing to forgive the lack of variety in content, but it's not. I haven't touched it since the first week it came out.

Realbigdeal

Originally posted by Lithdov

This game was a great concept; the customization, user-generated content, and matchmaking system were truly unique. Unfortunately, the core gameplay is horrible. It plays like a budget third-person shooter from the 90's. It really is such a shame that such a great concept was wasted on horrible gameplay. If the combat, driving, and mission structure were actually decent, I think more people would be willing to forgive the lack of variety in content, but it's not. I haven't touched it since the first week it came out.

Marketing system was not unique since you got taken in a Second world type of district. This was so wrong. It would had been better if i could simply get in a store in a Combat district to buy my stuff while players outside are fighting.

Matchmaking system was the worst thing ever and what what we call MMO.

I would give APB a chance if it was team FFA rather then match making that contain only 8 players. Like i explain, 800 players in one district, but you only play with 8 of them at time. This game is not an MMO. Its only Multiplayer online. Nothing else.

eyeswideopen

Originally posted by dhayes68

They shouldn't have marketed it as mmorpg

We have a winner!!!!

SuperDonk

How did APB cost 100 Million to make?

Mikeha

I tried the beta and only lasted for a couple of days. Game should have been Free To Play from release.