Since Realtime Worlds entered administration on Tuesday, the big question on everyone’s mind has been: What about APB? Joint administrator Paul Dounis of Begbies Traynor has confirmed that APB will still be supported moving forward. The developer has also confirmed that new updates and improvements are still planned for the flagging MMOFPS.
"Over the last number of months, through closed beta and then [Keys To The City], we've collected a huge number of issues, complaints, suggestions and requests covering all aspects of the game. Because of the focus on getting the game stable and going through the process of launch, many of these (especially the ones requiring significant changes) may appear to have fallen through the cracks,” said APB Community Officer Neil Castle last week on the official forums. “But they didn't - they've been sitting in our rather copious 'to do' list, waiting for us to have the time to begin to address them properly. We also wanted to get a chance to contrast the feedback from new live players with the feedback from the beta community to help us draw up our hit list for the first few months.”
The newest patch for the game includes changes to matchmaking, weapon balance and vehicle handling tweaks, and improvements to voice chat. "APB will not only continue as an online service but will be improved and supported 100 percent during this restructure," said Dounis. He has also confirmed that potential buyers for the studio have already surfaced in the U.K. and U.S.
Today also brings another studio reaching out to Realtime Worlds’ ex-employees. In addition to Activision and Blitz Games Studios’ speedy efforts yesterday, Total War developer Creative Assembly and SCEE have also announced their respective recruitment day events. The Creative Assembly event will be on Friday, August 20 at the same Apex Hotel in Dundee that the other companies are using for their events. The developer notes that it is working on an “exciting new flagship Sega game” and is looking to add new members to its 160 person team.
“It’s always sad to hear that a fellow studio appears to be in trouble, particularly a U.K. based company like Realtime Worlds,” said Tim Heaton, Creative Assembly Studio Director. “Creative Assembly is keen to help, especially as we have current job vacancies. To this end, we will be running a special recruitment event in Scotland for those affected by this unfortunate news.”
SCEE’s event will also be Friday at the Apex Hotel. The company has jobs available with London Studio, Cambridge Studio, Media Molecule, Guerrilla Games, the Home Group, and more.
