Epic Games may buy APB - report

By Robert Purchese Published 17 September, 2010

Rein "absolutely loves" the game.

The APB plot thickened this morning with a new report that suggested Epic Games may buy the luckless online game.

The Gears of War maker was "one of the companies in the frame", the BBC heard from a source.

Epic's non-denial stirred the pot further.

"Mark [Rein - Epic VP] absolutely loves APB, and everyone here loved what they saw," said spokesperson Dana Cowley.

"We've got our hands full of Gears of War 3, Bulletstorm and the recently announced Project Sword. If any talks like that are going on, then they would be confidential."

Epic Games supplied the Unreal Engine 3 technology that APB was built upon. But the friendship didn't stop there: Epic's Mark Rein even demoed APB to a PAX audience last year.

APB creator and Realtime Worlds founder Dave Jones is believed to have relocated to the US. Coincidence?

A Dundee development source told Eurogamer last night: "Dave Jones and Epic is quite the talking point in town. He and Mr Rein are good chums and have worked together on many levels for years and years and years. And he's not going to raise much money/staff here in the near future."

Should the news hold water, the question will be why Epic has waited this long to make its move.

Yesterday we heard that administrators will pull the plug on APB servers within 24 hours.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (40) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • mingster #1 2 years ago

    Just buy the character designer and incorporate that into a different game.

  • riceNpea #2 2 years ago

    why did Epic wait this long? same as why people wait until 2 seconds left to bid on e-bay. hope nobody goes for it and get it cheap.

  • swisstony #3 2 years ago

    Oh isn't it all so exciting, it's all a little bit like showbusiness isn't it, or football transfer speculation.

    Or it isn't, because these people just make videogames.

  • AccidentProne #4 2 years ago

    @swisstony: Except this is a video games website, so I'd imagine there's folks here like me, that're interested in the outcome of this. Wheras I have absolutely no iterest in showbusiness or football transfers...

  • Cronan #5 2 years ago

    @swisstony

    So in what way is the demise of a company employing talented people to create games less interesting than the antics of a bunch of spit-roasting idiot sportsmen?

  • riceNpea #6 2 years ago

    @cronan

    not wishing to stick up for swisstony's stupid statement but i would have to say the spit-roasting part is more interesting : o

  • swisstony #7 2 years ago

    I think the point is, none of it is particularly interesting. People leaving jobs and joining jobs happens every day. Gamesindustry.biz perhaps.

    It's phrases like "Epic's non-denial stirred the pot further." that get my goat up. 'Stirred the pot'? are we in a soap opera?
    Edited by swisstony at 17/09/10 @ 09:15

  • cw- #8 2 years ago

    @TheDellBingo

    The game failed because it's not very good, do console gamers like poor games or something? Why would a poor PC game sell on the consoles?

  • funkyd #9 2 years ago

    It IS interesting though. If you don't like these type of articles just don't read them.

  • Eraysor #10 2 years ago

    Buy the tech at least; I think it could work very well with one of Epic's IPs.

  • Haloboy #11 2 years ago

    Ironic then that being powered by Unreal Engine 3 is one reason why I never bought the game. It was quite a punch to the face going from the stunning beauty of Crackdown via the Renderware engine to an ugly as hell city rendered with UE3.

    I still remember when Mark Rein did a virtual 'ride along' to promote APB long before release. He was absolutely shite at it so I'm curious as to exactly why he loves it so much. Still Epic possibly being interested in APB puts a much needed positive spin on things at long, long last.

  • SpaceMonkey77 #12 2 years ago

    I find it most interesting, because very rarely in the industry, do we see a games with potential rescued from the pit, by a second developer. Rockstar kind of pioneered such action with Capcom and Red Dead, and Gearbox recently done it with Duke Nukem.

    Would be nice if Epic have bagged APB. Its in their engine, all APB needs is a single player mode and its online funcitions switched to possible multiplayer/co-op stuff, and it could damn awesome (imagine it playing somethng like Gear of War, but more sandboxy, and it should be cool). Leaving it as an MMO would be suicidal, especially with no console support.

    Overall, its a positive thing, to see a kind of market for used game concepts and such being bought up, gradually developing.

    Love the APB character design by the way.

  • rojjer #13 2 years ago

    excellent! The old waiting till the 11th hour game so it can be snapped up at a rock bottom price lol - priceless

    still.. good news for all involved with APB

  • swisstony #14 2 years ago

    is it good news for all involved in apb? didn't they all get made redundant and now the creator gets a decent job out of it?

  • Dylbot #15 2 years ago

    None of this stops it from being a horrible game. I hope Epic change their minds instead of sinking even more money into it. Just let it die, please.

  • UncleLou #16 2 years ago

    Bring it out on 360 and PS3 and the thing will sell.

    I can't even tell if that's a pro or anti console post. Lower standards of console gamers? PC gamers not playing MMORPGs? Both make no sense at all.

  • andywilkie35 #17 2 years ago

    That's nice of Mark Rein - buying his mate's steaming turd of a franchise.

    I don't think I've ever been more sexually excited at computer game news! BONER!

  • cw- #18 2 years ago

    ^ My thinking exactly UncleLou

  • darkmorgado #19 2 years ago

    I don't know about you, but I for one am grateful that we have Swisstony informing us what we can and cannot find interesting. It's a huge weight off my mind now that I no longer have to form or hold my own opinion.

  • darkmorgado #20 2 years ago

    Buy the tech at least

    Wtf? Epic already own the tech. It was made with UE3. That's even mentioned in the article.

  • swisstony #21 2 years ago

    It's all in a day's work for the thought police Darkmorgado, you don't need to thank us :)

  • darkmorgado #22 2 years ago

    No problem.

    /pours neat vodka while staring mournfully at a chess set.

  • Lord_Gremlin #23 2 years ago

    @UncleLou: Trophies sell. Make it a game with 3 platinum trophies + promise trophy updates and people will go nutz.

  • schnide #24 2 years ago

    To me this just seems like a good opportunity for publicity - "oh we wanted to buy it and be the good guys, we really did, but..:

    "..it wasn't economically viable."
    "..we wouldn't have been able to do the title justice."
    "..it was someone else's fault."
    "..we didn't have the capacity to take it on."

    etc. Although I'd like to think there's some altruism behind it too.

  • Whizzo #25 2 years ago

    Wtf? Epic already own the tech.
    They own the engine it was created with they don't own customisation code, the part that even APB's harshest critics will agree was damn good.

    I could see Epic rejigging that and putting it into UE3 as part of the whole package.

  • Spekingur #26 2 years ago

    I have some hopes that if Epic buys APB that they will do a makeover. One can dream at least :p

  • swisstony #27 2 years ago

    I am of course wrong to say that this article wasn't interesting, as opposed to 'imo....'. But compared to what amounts to some speculation about a job, this

    [link url=http://lukehalliwell.wordpress.com/
    ]http://lukehalliwell.wordpress.com/
    [/link]

    is an interesting read.

  • darkmorgado #28 2 years ago

    @swisstony

    That is actually really, really interesting.

    I love this sort of stuff. It's like someone has pulled back the curtain on the industry you love and you get to see the inner workings behind it all. And more often than not there are a lot of interesting characters and relationships going on.

  • the_sas_man #29 2 years ago

    It's a smart move by Epic. They have waitied and waited before this "leak" has come out. Thye could pick it up (if they so wish) for next to nothing now we have apparoached endgame. The administrators are now merely looking at ways to cover the losses, and they will dismantle the company bit by bit if need be (even the computers will be sold off!).

    Personally, I think APB would have worked better as a single player game first with multiplayer elements in it (kinda like NFS: Hot Pursuit). Epic would do a good job on something like that.

  • kangarootoo #30 2 years ago

    @swisstony

    That is a great link. Good job.

  • Haloboy #31 2 years ago

    APB could and would have worked had it been a single player/co-op designed offering marketted at the GTAIV/Mafia 2/Saints Row 2 generation. Having to concentrate on its MMORPG leanings left it wide open to being a continued expensive endevour that could possibly always struggle to keep its head above water.

    Had they kept it simple the game could have gone on to be very succesful indeed. The PC platform has no Crackdown, crowning glory to call it's own or even something that is remotely similar (Firefall isn't even out and that's the only thing that even partially comes close). Again I think had they stuck with the Renderware engine which saw games such as the awesome Trickstyle release on both PC and console (Dreamcast!) they could have put real time and effort into crafting something that consisted of the visual flair of Crackdown teamed with the visceral fun of something different.

    Had they done this I'd have bought it, I didn't buy APB because I never bought into the single fact that it would last beyond it's first 6-12 month cycle. And I'm almost ashamed to say uh huh, I was right not to touch it.

    Epic rightly could make it work and already have all the neccesarry power and pull with gamers to take APB and make something truly amazing with it. The groundwork is done. The tech is mostly their own. The APB success story could still yet be just around the corner.
    Edited by Haloboy at 17/09/10 @ 11:26

  • kangarootoo #32 2 years ago

    @Haloboy!

    You should read that blog link. I think that the type of game APB was was the least of its worries.

  • JediMasterMalik #33 2 years ago

    He loves it? Says a lot about Rein.

  • edhe #34 2 years ago

    I'm thinking Rein's more interested in buying the rights to the custom mods they've done to the engine that will allow Epic to branch out even more. They have their own devs, People can Fly, Chair - and if they add an MMO developer then they're really quite strong.

    Having two blockbuster franchises on the main platforms, portable/xbla dev and a subscription based game all in one portfolio would allow epic to grow massively. 'Course they'd have to do something with the tech to make it worthwhile..

  • Nephirion #35 2 years ago

    Any chance of a refund EA?

  • Plewt #36 2 years ago

    Shenanigans.

  • beastmaster #37 2 years ago

    Not played this game but I remember one on the Amiga(?). Is it similar but just with MP?

    If Epic were to do something, couldn't they change the game and fix what was wrong with it & release it on consoles on PSN & XBLA? I see no reason why they couldnt perhaps iron out the flaws, reduce the scale etc.

  • abot #38 2 years ago

    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. That's bollocks.

    If Epic wants to buy APB thats fine but I don't think Dave Jones deserves another chance. He should not be allowed to be attached to the project. 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. Let the folks at Epic turn APB around on their own without Dave Jones.





    Edited by abot at 17/09/10 @ 15:52

  • Zaiz #39 2 years ago

    I really can't see Epic saving this game, it would take tons of patching to fix it from all the issues I've seen, plus the revenue stream clearly isn't well thought out. Unless Epic already has a great plan, I imagine they are just grabbing the technology.

  • dannzyx #40 2 years ago

    Guess I am on of the few who actually enjoyed the game. Still no regrets about buying this game though, If I could get my money back on any game I recently bought it wouldnt be this one, it would be MAFIA 2 aka Watch the cutscene.

    OT: Hope it gets revived, fat chance... they'll take all the 'good' parts and leave it at that.... unfortunately.