Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin To Close

Just two months after its rocky launch, Realtime Worlds' PC online crimeworld game All Points Bulletin will close, amid the heavy blows of its developer's ongoing administration. "APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end," wrote community officer Ben Bateman on the game's official message boards. "Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running, APB is coming to a close." Original Crackdown house Realtime Worlds ramped up massively in the development of APB. In May 2009, the Scottish developer said its headcount hit 250, and offices covered 34,000 square feet of space total, and in August 2009 it opened a new office in Dundee, shooting to grow to 300 employees by year end. But APB received an immediately poor critical reception, scoring just a 53 average on Metacritic alongside critical complaints that it was buggy, felt unfinished and was not compelling. Shortly thereafter came difficulties for the developer, which laid off staff just a month after launch, citing the need to shift resources to live support for the title. Another set of layoffs shortly followed, leading up to the news that the studio had to enter administration. Administrator Begbies Traynor said it hoped to find a buyer for APB and keep it live, claiming the game had 130,000 users and "healthy" player spend -- but that's clearly not to be. Realtime Worlds' second project, a social virtual environment in progress called My World, has reportedly been picked up by an anonymous U.S. buyer, but it remains unknown whether that buyer has purchased the entire project with plans of continuance, or merely the IP and build. Realtime Worlds says that its servers are still running for the time being, encouraging players to "say goodbye."