Free-to-Play Publisher Snaps up the Rights to APB

The cops-and-robbers action MMO could be back in business by the end of the year, say insider sources.

After months in limbo, someone has finally decided that they wanted the ill-fated action MMO, APB: All Points Bulletin. K2 Network, a company that specializes in localizing Asian games for a Western audience, has snapped up the rights to the game for the relatively small amount of $1.5 million.

APB is likely to become a free-to-play game supported by microtransactions, much like the rest of K2’s titles. K2 uses a single unified currency across all its games, the G1 Credit, as part of its GamersFirst platform, and claims to have 28 million customers in more than 160 countries. Sources suggest that K2 aims to have APB back up and running as soon as it can, possibly even by the end of the year.

APB’s first run ended somewhat prematurely, as high development costs and disappointing sales crippled developer Realtime Worlds. A number of buyers were rumored to be looking at snapping up the APB property, including Gears of War creator Epic, but administrators said that none of the interested parties were comfortable buying it as a “live operation.”

Source: Games Industry