Realtime Worlds' World is Collapsing

According to widespread reports, rumors, and other statements on the Internet, it is believed that Realtime Worlds, known developer of APB and Crackdown, has entered administration (that is, bankruptcy protection) and has laid off over one hundred employees, including the entire Project: My World team.

Gaming blog Rock, Paper, Shotgun reported recently that the entire team behind Project: My World had become redundant to RTW, and the team was laid off as a result. It appears that Project: My World's unveiling, which 3RM reported not too long ago, was made in order to build interest and obtain a publisher quickly, but the mass layoffs show that it has not been a fruitful unveiling.

On the same blog in its comment section, a member known as ExRTW explained the intricacies within the development process at Realtime Worlds. Apparently, the development for APB was fairly confusing, with its creative director also being the company CEO.

But the real killer, IMO, is the business model. This was out of the team’s hands. The game has issues, but I think if you separate the business model from the game itself, it holds up at least a little better. A large scale team based shooter, in big urban environments, with unprecedented customisation and some really cool, original features. The problem was that management looked at the revenue they wanted to generate and priced accordingly, failing to realise (or care) that there are literally a dozen top quality, subscription free team based shooters. Many of which, now, have progression and persistence of some sort – for free.

....

We were well funded, hired some great engineers, designers and artists, and great QA guys. Ultimately, the senior management team must take responsibility. I think they had far too much focus on the company’s ‘strategic direction’ and not enough on day-to-day execution, which was where it really matters. And I think a huge part of the blame lies with Dave J, though I can’t emphasize enough how nice a man he is personally; ultimately APB has torpedoed the company, and it failed largely under his creative leadership.

The commenter explained that Project: My World was very much a separate product from APB, but ultimately it was APB that would be costing the company has a whole.

All of that foreboding news comes to a head today. According to Eurogamer, the company has gone into administration, a form of bankruptcy protection. The remaining developers of the company were apparently told by management to clean up and go by the end of the week; a small support team will remain to maintain APB and its servers. The senior management, meanwhile, will most likely be searching to sell off parts of its assets in order to save face before RTW closes down for good.

The fate of Realtime Worlds is resting on APB's long-term success, so if the title does not impress, it is not looking good for Realtime Worlds.

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