APB dev blames demise on "complacency"

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 17 September, 2010

$100m and Crackdown's success caused it.

A high-ranking member of the development team that created $100 million catastrophe APB has blamed its demise – and Realtime Worlds' – on complacency.

In a series of fascinating and frank blog posts Luke Halliwell, who was a technical lead at RTW before it slipped into administration following lacklustre sales of APB, went in-depth on the studio's problems.

"Complacency did stray into arrogance at times," Halliwell wrote.

"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.

"When we were told we were being made redundant, we were told something along the lines of 'the market is just so bad right now ... We could never have predicted this ... Even our worst sales projections were so much higher than this'. I think that was supposed to be consolation but it was just complacent, and dumb."

APB received 6/10 from Eurogamer's July review.

Yesterday administrator Begbies Traynor confirmed industry speculation that the 'plug is about to be pulled' on the game after failing to attract a buyer, leaving those who purchased a copy out in the cold.

"It's a gross generalisation to say the whole company was complacent," Halliwell continued.

"It's deeply unfair to a few pockets of incredibly passionate, hungry developers that worked their socks off and created some amazing stuff – like APB's character customisation system, and its super-reliable back-end software, to name just a couple (apologies to all the other good examples of work I missed). Sadly, it was not enough to overcome the problems.

"The investment and Crackdown's success were obviously contributors to complacency."

Halliwell claimed Realtime Worlds founder and GTA and Lemmings creator Dave Jones had "his own reality distortion field" that convinced members of staff of APB's success.

"The Reality Distortion Field was a double-edged sword for us.

"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."

Reports this morning suggest Gears of War developer Epic Games may buy the luckless online game.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (35) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • a8a #1 2 years ago

    It looks a lot like someone just found the link to this blog in the comments thread for the earlier APB related news post. I know I did!

  • rivuzu #2 2 years ago

    I bought APB. I played APB. I enjoyed APB.

    For all of a week.

    The game was never worth the hype - such little as there was - that was put into it.
    From the Optimisation issue with Realtek sound, weapon balance, matchmaking, community, sense of purpose to even the RMT points function used, the game was flawed.

    But I did find myself falling into the niche of loving certain aspects of it - such as the graphics designer. I remember recreating exactly the Skullcandy logo for use in the game, and the Portal "Cake" symbol. I also have some wonderful memories of blowing shit up and winning the game by taking out the entire opposing team of Enforcers on a dispatch.

    If Epic did ever buy this up, they'd need to overhaul the issues before I returned though. APB was my trial of love and patience, and it lost.

  • Crea #3 2 years ago

    Just to clarify, Luke wasn't *the* technical lead, he was *a* technical lead, though one of the most senior. He was in charge of the common technology team that built shared tech for MyWorld and APB, and moved onto the APB team towards the end to help with technical management.

  • wyp100 #4 2 years ago

    @Crea - thanks for the heads up.

  • CaptainQuint #5 2 years ago

    Well, here's hoping they've learned from their mistakes and will do things more carefully on their next game.

    Oh wait...

  • Ryze #6 2 years ago

    Loving the Zavvi link on this page.

    £24.95!
    Edited by Ryze at 17/09/10 @ 14:14

  • 5lectro #7 2 years ago

    complacency complacency complacency

  • T3TSUO #8 2 years ago

    At one point I was interested in APB when I was told it was free to play. It fell off my radar until launch day approached then I was told I would have to pay to play.
    They lost my interest right there. Need to offer substantial more in terms of in game quantity than what was offered if you want peoples cash every day to play.
    Activision take notes.

  • Eraysor #9 2 years ago

    There were a lot of problems with APB. One of the most irritating was the 32-bit low graphics limit, which was completely nonsensical for a PC that can play Crysis on high settings.

  • Avaloner #10 2 years ago

    I just cannot understand how these things happen. It's quite easy to avoid really. When you have something playable bring in a group of passionate gamers, have them play your demo and they will tell you exactly what they think of it with no strings attached. From all the media I saw it was relatively easy to predict that this game was not going anywhere.

  • wizlon #11 2 years ago

    I'd love to have $100m to spend on making a game. $75 in my bank account and then just create a peggle clone with the rest and retire to the moon!

  • Drpwnage #12 2 years ago

    Even excluding hindsight, you have to wonder at the decisions taken by an experienced management team, of all the games they could have developed, producing and operating a profitable, sub-based, large budget MMO is massively risky. Recent history is littered with failures.

  • darkmorgado #13 2 years ago

    Haha! Someone's been reading the comments section on the other story.

    Come on, EG! Give us all a job!

  • schnide #14 2 years ago

    When I saw this headline, I knew it would be the same story from the comments thread.

    So either EG lifted it from there and didn't give credit, or this site is slower off the mark that it's readers.

  • stevetuck #15 2 years ago

    Im fairly sure crackdowns success was due to the halo 3 multi-player beta that came with it... i remember there being 10000000000000000's in gamestation the week after it ended

  • BobsUncle #16 2 years ago

    I agree with Luke. For the short time I worked there (many years ago during pre-production) I definitely got the impression from management that they thought they were untouchable because of this god like deity Dave Jones.

  • Negotiator #17 2 years ago

    I just recently posted a response to APB and RTW going under, saying it was down to Dave jones not taking this game to the xbox 360. It seems like his arrogance was the reason for this, as he thought the PC version would be a runaway success and he would take all the profits for his team. Microsoft would have had a share if he had made a 360 version, but the game would have sold millions if he had and we would be talking about a follow up. Instead we are having to read some sad news for a UK dev, because of Dave Jones greed.

  • Ryboy #18 2 years ago

    ...haha.

    ...HAHA!

    ...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHHAHAAAAAAA!

    ...MUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAMUUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAHAAARRGGGHHHHHHHHHHAHAHAHAYHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA

  • Weezer #19 2 years ago

    And your point is?

  • butler` #20 2 years ago

    I'm glad he used the word arrogance.

  • abot #21 2 years ago

    There is really only one reason for the failure of APB and RTW and that is Dave Jones. He failed on two accounts. One he failed as a businessman. Under his leadership RTW burned through £100 million and is £3 million in debt. Second he failed as a game designer by creating garbage. Yes the customization of APB is good but no one buys an MMO because of customization they buy because of gameplay and thats where he failed. The gameplay is shite.

    Epic might buy APB and Dave Jones has supposedly relocated to the US. So all of the people who worked at RTW are made redundant with no pay and Dave Jones escapes to the US unharmed without having to pay his debt to his creditors.

  • darkmorgado #22 2 years ago

    @Negotiator

    If you read the blog, he makes it clear that Dave Jones was hardly the only one to blame and that they were ALL guilty of arrogance and complacency. I find it unfair to place all of the blame on a single person - if it really was all his fault, someone would have said something a lot sooner.

  • Negotiator #23 2 years ago

    darkmorgado he runs the show, he takes the blame.

  • darkmorgado #24 2 years ago

    he runs the show, he takes the blame.

    Not when the rest of the staff are admitting they were also at fault, he doesn't.

  • darkmorgado #25 2 years ago

    Part of being a good manager is making decisions and listening to your staff.

    Part of being a good employee is knowing when to challenge those decisions in the interests of the company.

  • Negotiator #26 2 years ago

    But who has the final say, the BOSS!

  • Trikk #27 2 years ago

    Wow, this Dave Jones character sounds like a British version of Michael Scott from the Office.

  • darkmorgado #28 2 years ago

    @Negotiator

    Were you there? Did you work at Realtime Worlds?

    Because unless you were, I am far more inclined to believe the account in the blog, from a senior member of the company, who says that all the staff were to blame over your simplistic outlook.

    Just because you think you're right, doesn't mean you are - especially when the evidence contradicts you.

  • miiiguel #29 2 years ago

    /mental note: take the money and run.

  • BobsUncle #30 2 years ago

    @Trikk

    That was sarcasm, right?

    Considering Michael Scott is an American version of David Brent, from the original British Office series.

  • Nephirion #31 2 years ago

    apb wasnt much cop

  • Ziggy_badMonkey #32 2 years ago

    "he runs the show, he takes the blame"
    Totally right.
    He's the CEO & Creative Director the buck always stops there.
    It's your job to make sure your team are on the correct path and guide the companies biz dev.
    His salary would have been very very high and with that kind of money comes a level of responsabilty.
    Yes his loyal staff will defend him to the end, but you can bet the guys who put in 100 million bucks are blaming him.
    I'm also disappointed that according to reports he's turn tail and fled these shores leaving his staff up shit creek without a paddle.
    He's a very wealthy man and could have easily sorted out the last months wages from his own pocket.
    I can't believe their burn rate was over 500k a month
    I've met the guy on various occasions when he ran DMA (i was at Gremlin) and he destroyed DMA as well !
    Don't get me wrong lovely guy and very talented, but he comes from a different era.
    Something similar happened at Argonaut with Jez San, his company screwed it's staff and he went off and bought Ninja Theory and started PKR.
    Didn't matter that he could have easily have given the staff their last months wages out of his own pocket.



    Edited by Ziggy_badMonkey at 17/09/10 @ 22:01

  • onyx_elite #33 2 years ago

    Remember the classy way they sacked the team last month too?

    http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-0...

  • Moribundman #34 2 years ago

    6/10 So, better than Mafia and Mafia 2 then? They were both bloody good. Guess this is a must buy game... ;-)

  • hobojebus #35 2 years ago

    Too long in development, too little press info to get people exited about the game in time for launch and as we all predicted an awfull failure.

    Its sad for the people working for the company, but making MMO's is not the easy ticket to big money some companies think it is and if you dont bring a really polished game you'll fail to grab enough customers to keep you going and crash and burn.