APB European release on 2nd July

By Robert Purchese Published 30 April, 2010

Access via subs or pay as you go.

Realtime Worlds has revealed that APB will be released on 29th June in the US and 2nd July in Europe.

The date was spotted in the FAQ section of the APB website and picked up by VG247.

The FAQ also includes the first details of APB's pay-as-you-go payment model. The game comes with 50 free hours of play; after that, players will need to top up game time by buying packs of 20 hours for £5.59.

Time in the game's social, trading and customisation district will be unlimited and free. You will also be able to trade in-game currency for game time via RTW points, a system pioneered by CCP with EVE Online.

Although Realtime has said APB wouldn't be a subscription game, it will be possible to buy "unlimited" game time packages of 30 days (effectively a monthly sub) for £8, with discounts offered to people subscribing for three and six months.

Catch up with our latest APB hands-on for an idea of what the Crackdown creator has been working so jolly hard on.

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 (20) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • iamian #1 2 years ago

    So much for the no subscription fee comments...
    Edited by iamian at 30/04/10 @ 08:53

  • erp #2 2 years ago

    Pay-as-you-go is definitely something I'd like more paid-online games to offer. Nice one Realtime.

  • Tyranix #3 2 years ago

    I can't say i'm particularly impressed by the payment plan...ah well, yet another mmo-ish game I was looking forward to becoming a 'wait until it's £10 or under' purchase.

  • Crea #4 2 years ago

    You get 50 hours of free time with the game, that's probably enough for a good chunk of people. Not too many shooters I'd play that long.

  • Stifler #5 2 years ago

    Agree with the above poster tbh. 50 hrs is a butt load of game time for someone like me. So I'm approaching this like any other game purchase.

  • chiz #6 2 years ago

    Can't really moan at 50 hours free. Most games don't come close to that amount of gameplay anyway.

  • RodHull #7 2 years ago

    Seems a pretty fair deal to me, shows a lot of confidence in the game on the part of Realtime Worlds.

  • jumpdeveraux #8 2 years ago

    I think I'll wait for the reviews (I've barely got any beta time in).

    25 quid buying online is50p an hour for the first block of time - not bad value in itself I guess but somehow I can't seem to drum up the enthusiasm.

  • cairbre1977 #9 2 years ago

    I think the pay as you go model is fair enough. If I buy twenty hours then I decide when I will use them. It could last me a week or a year depending on my usage much better than paying by the month which makes you feel like you have to play or you are wasting your money.

  • Sunyavadin #10 2 years ago

    That just killed any interest I had in this game... *sigh*

  • reelbigkris #11 2 years ago

    I've not had the chance to play the beta as much as I wanted. While I am not best pleased about a subscription style model, I can at least agree that its much easier for someone like me who'se gameplay sessions regularly change to put down money to buy the game... I'll pick this up, the 50 hours will probably end up spreading out over months at the moment.

  • Dissociative #12 2 years ago

    Don't get some of the comments. You seemed to be surprised that this is pay to play? They have said this is going to be the case all along. As for moaning about the sub/per hour cost this is easily the cheapest MMO/Shooter out there.

  • Toothball #13 2 years ago

    Sounds like a decent arrangement. Charging by the hour means you don't have to worry about your time expiring after a month or so. Having what is effectively a subscription option is good for the more obsessive too.

  • soviet_ #14 2 years ago

    I think most people won't even finish the first 50 hours. It's very repetitive unfortunately and the actual shooting mechanics aren't very good when compared to Uncharted 2 or GTA IV.

    Shame as I've been following the game for quite a while

  • reelbigkris #15 2 years ago

    @Dissociative

    I think the problem that many have (myself included) was that the develoeprs stated "there will not be a monthly subscription"... making us believe it was a free to play MMO that would probably gain some revenue through advertisements on billboards (are they doing this as well?).

    It's like going to the doctor for some results and they say "you do not have cancer... But you do have another life threatening illness"

    I'm happy with the pricing plan becase despite wanting to get into an MMO, lack of time makes a monthly subscription a complete waste of money if i can only play for an hour or two every few days.

  • darleysam #16 2 years ago

    Odd, but seems reasonable compared to most.

  • The_B #17 2 years ago

    Interesting to note how sneaky that is really. They never said there outright won't be a monthly subscription, just that it wouldn't require one. And it doesn't require a monthly one, just that you can have, if you choose.

  • Eraysor #18 2 years ago

    I really like this idea. I'm going to try playing with the 20 hour top-up and see if it lasts a month.

  • Zaiz #19 2 years ago

    I wonder why they waffled around this so hard, it doesn't seem so bad. 50 hours free is a ton for an online third person shooter, so it isn't all that bad, especially considering a bunch of the other hidden deals they are throwing in(lolz USAn taking a EUan's beta spot). I think they wanted to avoid comparing the game to other MMOs off the bat. This system, however, seems entirely fair, and it really makes me wonder what they'll do with subscription revenue. New cities? More items? 40 man drug raids for a chance of dropping an epic rare golden AK?

  • Orange #20 2 years ago

    Have to say I hate pay as you go and it's turned me off from buying the game on release. I'm a serial alt-tabber / windowed mode gamer, so I like switching between the game and other stuff while it's running. I also like playing games at my own speed and having a clock counting down my remaining time would be annoying.

    What I've played didn't convince me it would be worth subbing to either, although I'll wait for the reviews and post-release feedback to see how it's going on that front.
    Edited by Orange at 04/06/10 @ 19:52