APB Shutting Down Mere Months After Launch

Despite numerous promises for continued support, it seems like the trouble has caught up with developer Realtime Worlds' latest game. The team has revealed today that the action MMO APB is closing its doors.

In a post on the APB website (possibly only viewable if you log in), Realtime Worlds community officer Ben Bateman made the somber announcement:

"APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end. Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close. It's been a pleasure working on APB and with all its players. Together we were building an absolutely amazing game, and for that, we thank you. You guys are awesome!"

Bateman noted that the servers for the game are still up for the moment, so if you wanted to hop on for one last romp through San Paro, there is time to say goodbye.

The post also contained numerous messages from members of the APB team. Perhaps most telling is this post from Realtime Worlds creative director (and former GTA creator) Dave Jones:

"I truly wish we had the chance to continue to craft APB into the vision we had for it. It has been a long & difficult journey but ultimately rewarding to have had the chance to try something bold and different. APB holds some great memories, from the last night of the beta, to the clans and individuals who amazed us with their creativity and sense of community. I am so sorry it had to end so quickly but hopefully the good memories will stay with us all for a long time. Thanks to all the team for the years of hard work, and to the players who contributed so much."

The idea that APB still needed to be worked on, that it had a potential it wasn't near reaching, permeates all of the developer notes. Jon McKellan (credited only as "the guy who did the loading screens") said the experience of working on APB was "rewarding, frustrating, amazing, depressing, exciting, and overall, surreal" and urged players to "remember the game in a good light for what it was meant to be, not quite what it turned out to be."

Gameplay programmer Bryan Robertson said, "Of all the games I've worked on, APB was probably the one with the most potential."

I've had a couple of friends ask me my thoughts on this news specifically, and I understand where they're coming from. My APB write-up for the magazine was titled "APB is DOA." It was a reference to what I felt were the broken mechanics and technical problems in the game at launch, but now it looks much more literal.

Honestly, though, after reading through these thoughts from the developers, I'm not feeling satisfaction that my "prediction" came true. Mostly, I'm just perplexed. Obviously no developer sets out to make a bad game, but it's clear from the developer comments that the people behind APB were genuinely passionate about their vision for what APB could have been.

For an online game to only stick around for a handful of months after launching, there must have been problems in more than just the game design. The business model that had been setup must have been broken; it should have ensured that the team could continue working on the game for years after it released and could hopefully one day realize that potential.

At this point, all I can do is hope that the community that has formed around APB finds a suitable replacement and that the people who worked on it are able to work on less frustrating (or at least more successful) projects in the future.