14 DAY TRIAL // GamerFirst, a company which styles itself as the most popular publisher of free to play MMO titles, has officially announced that its subsidiary Reloaded Productions, Inc. has acquired all the intellectual property that is associated with All Points Bulletin, the game which was initially created by Realtime Worlds Ltd.
The company has also announced that it will be relaunching the title as free to play even though its not clear how much of what players already know about APB will remain the same.
After the less than successful launch of APB Realtime Worlds went into financial trouble and the company sold the project it had under development but failed to the find another company willing to pick up and continue supporting its main product.
Restructuring specialist firm Begbies Traynor says that redoubled effort has made possible the sale to Reloaded Productions.
Joshua Hong, who is the Chief Executive Officer of GamersFirst, has said, “The acquisition of APB is an important complement to our main Free2PlayTM third-party publishing business. We believe in putting our gamers first by encouraging the community to tell us what they like or dislike and then incorporate that feedback into our evolutionary development process. The core principle is to completely eliminate all economic barriers for gamers to experience our games.”
GamersFirst says that the detailed character creation system, which initially impressed gamers when it was first shown by Realtime Worlds, will be kept, as will be the customization element which can be applied to the weapons and the cars that can be used in the MMO.
The company is also trying to keep the fan base of the original release of APB interested in the relaunch and is willing to talk to them about the changes the game experience needs in order to broaden its appeal and become successful.
It's not clear when APB will be relaunched.