Realtime staff sacked via PA address

The staff of Realtime Worlds were told whether they had lost their job via a PA system announcement, it has emerged.

"All the APB team – over a 100 people – were told to gather in a meeting room," a source told GamesIndustry.biz.

"And then the names of those who were being made redundant were read out over a microphone, and they had to leave the room one-by-one and collect their redundancy package."

But from the ashes of Realtime Worlds come claims that a new studio may arise - one to see social gaming project MyWorld through to a spring 2011 launch.

Administrator Begbies Taylor cited "considerable interest from potential buyers" this morning, and announced that 23 of the MyWorld team had been rehired. That's a polite way of saying 37 people (from the original team of 60) lost their jobs.

A source elaborated: "The entire MyWorld team was called in for a meeting yesterday, during which people found out who was being rehired. Afterwards, senior members of the team were told about the new deal and that it was just a matter finalising the paperwork."

Apparently, however, only one "serious" buyer has come forward for MyWorld. The plan is to keep the 23-strong team in Dundee in a deal that could be inked by the start of next week.

Realtime Worlds tumbled into administration earlier this week. APB was blamed, but the action MMO will live on and be supported by a core team until a new owner is found.

Defending APB, publisher EA said "sometimes games are too big".