APB: Reloaded Receives Over 100,000 Beta Registrations

GamersFirst subsidiary Reloaded Productions has revealed that more than 100,000 gamers have registered to play the upcoming closed beta for the re-launch of beleaguered MMO third-person shooter All Points Bulletin. Originally developed by Dundee, Scotland-based Realtime Worlds, APB launched as a subscription-based title last June. The game met a cool reception from critics and failed to pick up a sustainable userbase, forcing Realtime Worlds to close the MMO and its offices just two months after APB's launch. Irvine, CA-based GamersFirst, which typically publishes Asian free-to-play titles like War Rock and 9Dragons, eventually purchased APB. The firm tasked Reloaded Productions with re-launching the game as APB: Reloaded with a new free-to-play business model some time in the first half of 2011. Reloaded Productions expects to launch APB's closed beta during the week of February 28 barring any significant issues. It predicts that about half of gamers who signed up for the testing phase to actually "complete the second step in the process and activate the beta accounts". The studio will continue to take closed beta applications until midnight tonight. Despite APB's lacking reputation under Realtime World's custody, Reloaded Productions CTO Book-Larsson says registrations "far exceed the number of people [we] actually expected or even needed for the first Closed Beta."