No APB refunds, but EA offers free games
Administrators and Steam wash hands.
The administrators for Dundee developer Realtime Worlds are not offering refunds to players who bought copies of and subscriptions to its defunct online game APB, and neither is digital distribution service Steam.
Publisher EA, however, is said to be offering discount vouchers and free games to players disappointed by APB's closure after just two and a half months of service.
According to Gamasutra, administrator Begbies Traynor would only refer customers back to their point of sale. "Customers should revert to the entity from which they bought the game in respect of their entitlement to any refund," the firm said.
If that entity was Steam, you're out of luck, with the service's operator Valve simply refusing any refund. "As with most software products, we do not offer refunds or exchanges for purchases made online as outlined in the software license."
However, according to a thread on the Steam forums (via Destructoid), EA customer support is more sympathetic. Players are saying they've received $20 discount vouchers or even free games when they've approached EA with complaints.
APB's pay-as-you-go subscription method meant that players were promised 50 hours of online action gameplay with their purchase, and may have purchased additional hours in bulk before the game service was shut down.