APB administration firm confirms mystery buyer has picked up the rights to studio's social gaming and networking platform.
A number of developers have cut staff following the completion of their latest game this summer, but Realtime Worlds' headcount reductions were, unfortunately, different. Less than two months after shipping the tepidly received online shooter APB, the Crackdown developer announced that it had entered administration--a form of bankruptcy in Europe. Administration firm Begbies Traynor has since been attempting to find buyers for Realtime Worlds' assets.
Today, it appears as if it has found some success with Project MyWorld. GameSpot has confirmed with Realtime Worlds' administration firm that an unnamed company has purchased the rights to the studio's online social-networking and gaming platform for an undisclosed sum.
Details on the acquisition remain a mystery. Responding to GameSpot's request for comment, a Begbies Traynor representative stated that the Project MyWorld buyer demanded complete confidentiality as terms of the acquisition.
"The buyer insisted on total confidentiality, no press release, no disclosure of price paid, or name of buyer," the rep said. "Administrators had to comply or risk being sued and could only say MyWorld had been sold."
Announced in late July, Project MyWorld has been described as a mix of social gaming, social networking, and traditional gaming. According to Project MyWorld's Web site, the platform "turns the real world into a fun 3D social gaming experience. Project: MyWorld is a virtual re-creation of the real world combined with 3D gaming and social media."
After enacting sweeping layoffs at the studio, Begbies Traynor rehired 23 members of the 60-person Project MyWorld team. "MyWorld is attracting considerable interest from potential buyers…hence the fact we have been able to offer a limited number of those jobs back," the administration firm said at that time.
Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.
APB was great in theory. But in the end all it showed was that you just cant enjoy a game with immature players in the same gameworld. And shooters and immature gamers just go hand in hand. Now that doesnt mean that every gamer that plays shooters is immature. all I mean is that they attract the immature players. All in all the game only supports the 64bit windows. and the game itself wasnt anything really more then any other 3rd person multiplayer shooter.
I suspect if we want to drive cars and shot people online we will just play GTA multiplayer. GTA 5 please! :D @ blakeney San Andreas is my favorite. But if San Andreas and IV had a baby thatd be super mega awsum. I just hope I can drive the train in GTA 5...or at least ride ontop of it.
@terror_ninja I hope they do! they will do it properly too! I know the guy behind APB is the guy that made GTA1, but to be fair, the GTA's people love most are 3 upwards;)
great so that means now Realtime worlds has nothing... so the only great game they ever made was crackdown heh. APB is a joke and was a serious waste of 5 years. it should have just been scrapped or delayed longer. its not worth the money.
I wonder what Crackdown 2 would have been like if Real Time Worlds had developed it or if Microsoft didn't wait so long to pump out a sequel to it.....
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