APB to relaunch in first half of 2011

Reloaded Productions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Free2Play MMO publisher GamersFirst, has completed the acquisition of all the intellectual property rights for APB: All Points Bulletin, previously developed and owned by Realtime Worlds.

“We are obviously very happy to have concluded the sale but at the same time very much regret the loss of jobs as a result of the closure of Realtime Worlds,” said administrator Paul Dounis of Begbies Traynor. “As a consequence of the IPR asset sale all outstanding wages and holiday pay claims will be met in full. GamersFirst is a pioneer in the free-to-play space, thus it will be re-launched as a free-to-play model game rather than the previous retail model. People who previously bought the game can now look forward to playing it again once it’s back on line.”

ABP will be relaunched in the first half of 2011 under the new title, APB: Reloaded as a triple-A Free2Play title, developed by Reloaded Production using Unreal Engine 3.

“We want to take all the unique features of this title, such as its unparalleled character, weapon and car customization systems, and convert the game to a true free-to-play game,” explained Bjorn Book-Larsson, CTO and COO of GamersFirst. “We are deep into the planning and early execution stages for this next chapter of APB and we hope to share more details in the near future. In order to put ‘Gamers First’ we will also actively engage the community in many aspects of all the planned changes.”

APB couldn’t find a audience big enough to support the project back when developer Realtime Worlds was in charge, but there were glimpses of what could have been a great game.

It’s good news then that the game will be given a second lease of life, and thanks to its free-to-play model could do much better, too.