ABP Closing

The APB: All Points Bulletin Website has word that the online open-world crime game is going offline, less than three months since launch, oddly calling this "the end of an era," and gamely calling the troubled run of the flagship game from troubled developer Realtime Worlds "a fantastic journey" (thanks Drannos). "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," says Community Officer Ben 'APBMonkey' Bateman. "The servers are still up, so join the party and say goodbye!" Here's more from Realtime Worlds founder David 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.
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Re: ABP Closing
Sep 17, 2010, 16:44
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Re: ABP Closing Sep 17, 2010, 16:44
Sep 17, 2010, 16:44
 
Beamer wrote on Sep 17, 2010, 13:05:
So how is this NOT about greed? How is it not about greed when a game sells 2 MILLION copies, and the dev is extremely disappointed and bitches and moans about it for months on end?

Wanting to be profitable isn't greed. It's survival.

No, I'm sorry. I just don't buy that. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make a profit (and again, there's nothing wrong with wanting to make a billion dollars per game, as long as you don't act surprised that your customers think that you're a giant greedy asshole out to pilfer every last fucking penny from them. Aka, Bobby cocktick,) but there IS something wrong if you need to sell 2 million copies just to survive.

I understand that dev budgets have gone up, because newer hardware is more difficult and time-consuming to program for, but the industry feels that they NEED to spend 50-100 million dollars per game, and then bitches when that game doesn't make its money back.

And the weird thing is, the MOVIE industry, of all things, has already long since figured out that not every movie they make can be profitable. They fund plenty of movies where at best they'll lose a few million bucks, knowing they'll make it back on their summer blockbusters. And they do so to keep interest in their product high. Why can't the game industry figure this out? why does every game HAVE to make 100 million dollars in profit, or else there HAS to be have been something wrong with the CUSTOMER? What kind of fucking logic is that?

What game was it where EA bitched that they couldn't understand it hold sold so poorly, since "they had spent so much money on marketing it."

No mention of making sure it was a GOOD game. No mention of anything. We spent X on marketing, we SHOULD have made X times 2 in revenue, and we didn't. There's something wrong with the customer. Fucking pirates!

It's that bullshit attitude that's fucking ruining what was once a great industry. It's greed. Pure and simple. They ALL want to be the next MW2. At the cost of everything else.

That's what you want us to give and take with? Fuck that.

I'll gladly support a dev like Stardock (despite their two latest blunders), or a dev like Egosoft, who two years after their product went on sale is still supporting it, is still adding content to it. I'll gladly support an indie.

And I'll still buy games from the big corporations if it's a game that will give me a lot of content for my dime, or if it's made by say Bioware.

But all the rest? No way. The days when I bought stuff unseen is long past. I'll buy it when it's 10 bucks on Steam. And if that means the dev goes under, well, tough fucking luck. Maybe you should have thought about that, dev, before you signed up with the big publisher who promised you the world while milking you for every single fucking penny you were worth as you were forced to churn out crapware.

Devs still like to maintain this image of the guy laboring for love in his garage, working 20 hours a day, when the reality is that they're all salaried employees, making good wages, releasing one piece of shovelware after the next. And I'm supposed to sympathize with their plight?

Go back to listening to your community and talking to them, helping them out, and offering support for your games, and the customers will come back to you. Egosoft's a small team that's capable of sustaining themselves off one game every two to three years. They don't get rich off it, no. But they are easily able to 'survive', and they don't need to sell 2 million copies to do it. (admittedly, one of their developers bitched and moaned at his customers, got a huge backlash from it, and apologized two days later.)

Creston
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