K2 Network buys rights to APB
Company behind GamersFirst service snaps up Realtime Worlds MMO for rumoured £1.5m
K2 Network, the company behind free-to-play service GamersFirst, has bought the APB intellectual property from defunct studio Realtime Worlds.
Sources have told GamesIndustry.biz that the publisher of War Rock and 9 Dragons paid in the region of £1.5 million for the game, with a possibility that the shooter may be up and running again before the end of the year.
An official announcement is expected to be made in the coming week. K2 Network specialises in adapting, localising and hosting Asian free-to-play games for European and the US audiences.
The plug was pulled on the ambitious MMO in September, as developer Realtime Worlds fell into administration after a poor start for the game.
After a long development period and mediocre reviews on release, Realtime began laying off staff, while another title in development, Project MyWorld, was sold off to a US firm headed by former director Ian Hetherington.
The new version of APB is now likely to adopt a free-to-play model. Originally it was a subscription game with micro-transactions, allowing users to pay for play time.
Players of GamersFirst games buy G1 Credits, a universal currency across all of their games. The service claims to have a community of over 28 million users in 160 countries.
GamersFirst declined to comment when approached by GamesIndustry.biz.
Hopefully not turning the game into " buy this weapons" and become more powerful or car etc. If I had to spend more than 5 dollars a month on the new APB to have the same fun I had in the older one I'm probably going to pass.
Thanks if you can help
Brian
I loved their great customer service when I played Sword of the New World
Visited Realtime Worlds yesterday and saw the studio, What a place! so sad its going to be totally gone soon.
Well heres to the rebirth of a £50+Million game sold for £1.5 Million (a sale like that should be illegal lol) Good luck to the new owners!
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Khaled Al-Hurby on 12th November 2010 12:47am
Oh and fix the bugs!
unless the servers are funded by some kind of subscription, they wont be upto the standard PC gamers expect. and when it comes to multi platform, i think only the PS3 will meet the requirements for the game at best
i really do miss APB, much like any gamers, i miss the community that came along with it. although free2play games usually bring out the worst kind of community.