APB to shut down

Realtime Worlds has announced, through administrators Begbies Traynor, that MMO APB will be shut down as no buyer emerges to pick up the game.

Realtime Worlds went into administration shortly after the launch of APB, which struggled to attract enough praise or players upon release.

More than 300 interested parties apparently approached Realtime Worlds to look at buying up the rights to the game, but that was narrowed down to a short list of just six possible buyers - none of whom were comfortable with buying the game as a live operation.

The servers are now being prepared for imminent closure, while administrators refocus on selling off the assets and IP rights that can be drawn out of the game.

APB has now been removed to the Steam store pages, though it was reported to have been on sale as late as last Friday. Realtime Worlds has also stopped selling the virtual currency that the game ran on.

Despite all the doom and gloom though, there is one ray of hope - Epic is rumoured to be looking at a last-minute deal to pick up the game and keep it running in some form.

"Mark [Rein] absolutely loves the game, everyone loves what they saw," Epic's Dana Cowley told the BBC in response to the rumours. Epic has stopped short of confirming any negotiations, claiming such discussions would be confidential, but it's known that APB lead and Realtime Worlds boss Dave Jones has moved to the US recently and is a close friend of Mark Rein.

APB didn't fare well under the scrutiny of Phill Cameron - check our APB review to find out why.

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