14 DAY TRIAL // The second version of online role-playing game All Points Bulletin, APB: Reloaded, will see a closed beta stage start around February, according to the game's official Twitter account.
The "cops and robbers" MMO was launched last year by Realtime Worlds and published by EA, but quickly went offline, after just six weeks, due to poor response and almost no profit.
The game was then purchased by online games company K2 Network, under its GamersFirst brand.
Now, APB is set to be brought back online, in the form of APB: Reloaded, which will be managed by GamersFirst.
According to the most recent news on the game's Twitter account, it seems that the title has been polished up, so a closed beta testing stage is imminent.
"If everything goes exactly like the plan , the Closed Beta will be launched somewhere in late February," read the Twitter update.
The company also added that details about the beta stage would be unveiled later this week, and people could apply to test out the revamped MMO at a later time.
Bjorn Book-Larsson, chief operating officer of GamersFirst, revealed, after the acquisition of the title from Realtime Worlds, that APB: Reloaded would go free-to-play, with profit set to arrive from microtransactions and from players that upgrade to a Premium account.
The game will tempt serious players into upgrading to a paid account, "in order to help pay the bills, while also letting people lease weapons and perform microtransactions for other items (usually various consumables)."
Players with Free accounts will still enjoy the game, however, "We really mean it when we say that we want free players to also enjoy the experience, while giving everyone great perks for becoming premium players," Book-Larsson added.
While the original APB received lackluster support, perhaps GamersFirst will be able to fix it up and deliver a quality MMO this year.