APB patch notes reveal hope

By Robert Purchese Published 25 October, 2010

"There appears to be a buyer."

The future of APB may soon be secure: a buyer has been found.

Commentary from the game's patch notes (via Massively) - retweeted by former APB community manager Ben Batemen - claimed "there might be a light at the end of the tunnel for APB".

"The end of the administration process is apparently close and there appears to be a buyer for the game," the patch notes read.

Realtime Worlds' administrator and temporary guardian of APB, Begbies Traynor, said "there is nothing I can tell you at this stage" when approached by Eurogamer with the news today.

Rumour had it in September that none other than Epic Games of Unreal Engine and Gears of War fame was sniffing around APB. A statement issued by Epic Games didn't deny it.

Realtime Worlds' fell apart in August, a month after the launch of ambitious persistent online shooter APB. Hefty investment and Crackdown-confidence gave way to complacency, former members of the Scottish developer later revealed.

And despite assurances from Begbies Traynor, APB servers were eventually turned off.

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 (14) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Eraysor #1 2 years ago

    Well, I'm glad it isn't dead, but I hope the buyer knows how much work is needed to turn this into a decent game. I'm not even sure if it's salvageable, unless they drop the subscription fees.

  • Nephirion #2 2 years ago

    My mate tells me there are still copies on sale in Game lol

  • StolenGlory #3 2 years ago

    "My mate tells me there are still copies on sale in Game lol"

    Why does that not surprise me.

    If they were any slower, they would be taking preorders for it.

  • NimbusTLD #4 2 years ago

    I'm confused as to why there'd be patch notes for a game which has supposedly been turned off?

  • dirtysteve #5 2 years ago

    Too late if you ask me.

  • sonicyoda #6 2 years ago

    After being down for a while now, reviving this will be a bit pointless, won't it? Only the hardcore will bother and I doubt anyone will want to take a dip this far down the line (that is of course if they don't lower the price). I don't want these people to lose their jobs but I don't think this buyer is going to secure those jobs for much longer.

  • Lord_Gremlin #7 2 years ago

    Seems reasonable - somebody wanted to buy this character creation system etc. to use it in a Saints Row like game. For example.

    About copies on sale - I've seen Tabula Rasa on sale for around $20 yesterday (Russia). Nobody's buying that shit, though.

  • Nozzinja #8 2 years ago

    Good news for the fans of this, wherever they are..

  • actionfitz #9 2 years ago

    Well, if they take all the assets and dump the gameplay and subscription, they could make a brand new game that isnt full of suck.
    Could even make a decent console game.

    The worst thing they could do is throw good money after bad and try to relaunch the current game as is.

  • FortysixterUK #10 2 years ago

    I suggest they launch as a free to play micro transaction based game.
    I hate it when MMOs go under.
    ( prays to god Age of Conan won't fold )

  • hardtech #11 2 years ago

    "APB is out now on PC. Got a news tip? Email news@eurogamer.net."

    False advertising?

  • hobojebus #12 2 years ago

    Who in their right mind would even consider playing this game now? If people want to carry on playing all power to them but you'll struggle to attract new players after such a trainwreck of a launch.

  • Poontash #13 2 years ago

    So is the game still playable? Don't understand what they're patching if the servers are closed. They could rebrand it as "Ghetto Sims", the character editor was all kinds of awesome.

  • rivuzu #14 2 years ago

    @hobojebus

    I will. I enjoyed APB. If it can get salvaged and perhaps upgraded beyond the initial flaws, then that'd be magic.