Rumor: Realtime Worlds hopes APB becomes GTA Online

by Christopher Grant { May 8th 2008 at 5:29PM }

As far as rumors go, this one isn't much of a surprise. A mysterious masked man told Eurogamer that developer Realtime Worlds recently bought the distribution rights to its forthcoming MMO All Points Bulletin (APB to you kids) with one specific goal in mind: "so that it could try and sell it to Rockstar as GTA Online."

Now, Realtime's motivation for the purchase can really only be parsed two ways: either it's going to go it alone or it'll partner with "someone else who may well be interested and have the infrastructure [to support it]." Though the founders of Realtime Worlds used to call Rockstar Games "home" – not to mention the instant similarities between APB and the money-printing franchise – the developer is opting to downplay the GTA Online link, only saying that it re-secured the license to give itself "some options."

Gallery: GDC08: All Points Bulletin

[Via X3F]

Tags: All-Points-Bulletin, APB, GTA-Online, Realtime-Worlds, Rockstar, Rumor

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

PojoMofo @ May 8th 2008 5:45PM

APB wants to be GTAIV... HOLY CRAP MEGATON!!!!!

In other news, the kid down the street playing basketball wants to be Micheal Jordan...

Benny @ May 8th 2008 7:32PM

Yay for everyone commenting without reading the article. This isn't "I wanna be like you", this is "I want your brand all over me". There's a difference.

NaeemTHM @ May 8th 2008 5:57PM

Crawling back huh? Bet you wish you never left now!

Ally @ May 8th 2008 6:06PM

Seems pretty plausible. Both Rockstar and Realtime worlds have similar roots coming from Dundee,Scotland and id imagine theres a closer "relationship" going on, if you will.

koolin @ May 8th 2008 6:06PM

Please god no.

Adam @ May 8th 2008 6:23PM

What am I seeing here?! Does nobody else think this would be outstanding? That APB presentation at GDC was sweet and I, like everybody else, love the GTA series.

I would pay to play this. Plain and simple.

Schmobu @ May 8th 2008 11:13PM

but there is one massive flaw with this game, as crooks you can do whatever destroy people and shoot whatever you want, but as cops you have to protect people, thus it would be hard to not hit pedestrians while chasing people and not accidentally shooting them during a gun battle, online games are all about balanced gameplay and this makes all gameplay unbalanced.

despite what I said above it is definetly a good idea for a game, one that nearly every kid no matter what demographic would want to play, I mean name one person who wasn't gay or a girl that didn't play cops and robbers with they're friends when they was a kid eh.

Lone Starr @ May 8th 2008 6:32PM

This could add some depth to GTA multiplayer if true (I like GTA IV's multiplayer, but I think there are some slight balancing issues).

ThornedVenom (Harley Quinn Defense Force) @ May 8th 2008 6:46PM

Oh dear, the endless looting.

Benny @ May 8th 2008 7:10PM

I can't really see Rockstar going for it.

Unless of course Take Two make an executive decision on the basis that a near-future GTA release would send stock prices soaring again...

jynxycat @ May 8th 2008 7:26PM

This game is being released too late behind GTA to really matter. People may try it, but basically everything it wants to do, GTA is doing right now.

tmacairjordan87 @ May 8th 2008 8:49PM

Pretty much exactly what I was going to say, well said. When people got excited for APB back when that presentation was done, we knew nothing about GTA 4's multiplayer. Now we know that it's more or less what APB is trying to be just not the size of an MMO.

estomped @ May 8th 2008 7:37PM

Well, since Realtime World was founded by the creator of GTA, I'd say go for it. It could be a pretty sweet combination.

Ed @ May 8th 2008 11:06PM

This isn't the same APB that was on Atari Lynx, is it?

princeofshapeir @ May 9th 2008 12:03AM

This should have the GTA name. Crackdown was basically GTA2 in 3D, and the creators of GTA were working on a GTA Online concept before the release of GTA3 (and I guess they split off from R* around that time). Whatever the name may be, its at least in spirit, the MMO version of GTA.