!['Further redundancies’ at Realtime Worlds [UPDATE 5]](/static/images/news/35616/184_7469_184_7177_184_1227_RTW sq.jpg?i=1281697642 "'Further redundancies’ at Realtime Worlds [UPDATE 5]")
Source claims consultation talks are to take place at the popular APB studio - statement expected soon
Develop has heard that Realtime Worlds is beginning a process of staff redundancies, with many of its workforce set for consultation talks.
[Update 5: Realtime Worlds confirms staff cuts, while studio manager Colin Macdonald insists the group will hold firm.]
No one at the studio was available to comment at the time of going to press – though clarification on the matter is being pursued.
Breaking reports are now beginning to suggest the layoffs are more severe than initially thought. A separate source told news site VG247 that as many as sixty staff will exit the studio.
[HAVE YOU BEEN AFFECTED BY THE MATTER? CONTACT DEVELOP HERE.]
In July the studio said it was to restructure following the five-year All Points Bulletin (APB) project.
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Of that restructuring, a small number of staff were said to be made redundant, and a second unnamed project will be downscaled.
Soon after, the Dundee outfit made a surprise reveal of that second game, known as Project MyWorld.
Yet VG247’s source suggested the entire project has been thrown into disarray.
“The MyWorld team has been completely laid off,” the source was quoted as saying.
[Update 1: GamesIndustry.biz is now claiming that at least two high-profile publishers declined to sign a deal with Realtime Worlds for Project MyWorld - perhaps a signal that the surprise announcement of the game was a last-minute bid for new investment].
Develop was told the measures were not as drastic – that redundancies will not take place until consultation began on who were surplus to requirements.
The tide began to turn for Realtime Worlds shortly after the release of All Points Bulletin – an ambitious sandbox action MMO that took nearly five years to develop.
The project, which hit full-scale production after the cult title Crackdown, was at the mercy of numerous bleak reviews – followed by suggestions that the game’s servers have failed to fill to full capacity.
[Update 2: An anonymous and unverified comment on news site VG247 claims that "as of 11:30 GMT Realtime Worlds have put a large proportion on their workforce on gardening leave ranging from 4-8 weeks". The source suggests the studio's eventual layoffs will be far higher than what is being reported.]
[Update 3: A statement is expected to arrive shortly]
[Update 4: Studio community officer suggests studio won't close completely]
The source is correct. The whole MyWorld team was told today that they're being made redundant, and were put on gardening leave. That's about 60 people.
The game is falling way far short of expectations - this was Jones' dream and unfortunately it was just a bit too ambitious for such a shallow, hit-driven market.
My thoughts are with the team.
APB has sank the company, essentially - it was never the plan to seek out a publisher for MyWorld, that was a last gamble.
We were supposed to have enough money in the bank to get to market with both products, unfortunately that turned out not to be the case, and APB basically sank without a trace at retail, meaning the incoming revenue just wasn't enough.
Can't blame anyone really (apart from management, IMO, for a million reasons), APB was ground breaking in many ways but was killed by its lack of content, business model, technical issues, and some terrible PR. Fundamental failure to execute. No excuses for it, really.
My thoughts are with all those involved. Hopefully they can restructure effectively and come back stronger.
A sad day. Hopefully smaller studios will spawn from any redundancies, to pursue their own ideas.
It is a sad day when people are out of work, and I hope that new studios do spring up.
But I hope that they spring up without the ethos that "it takes $50 million to make a decent game these days". That's what killed RTW, and is an attitude that needs to die in the independent games sector.
All the best to the RTW lot.
Hopefully, they'll pull through, but either way I'm sure new start ups will emerge from the fall out - always happens. Here's to a bright future for the Dundee lot, whether at RTW or elsewhere.
The damage has been done. APB will never make any money in the short term. It will take around 5 years if they reduce the team to about 40 people. Most of the APB team are now in panic mode and are in the process of leaving. Colin McDonald was not even around the day they laid us off how as he did not want to face the music.
Gary Dale was in Guilford and sent the news that the company would have to downsize meaning all the jobs are at risk not just the MyWorld team.
Dave Jones informed the team on Friday morning, no jobs were saved.
The redundancy package was shit, they have no money it is all gone.
Reports from the Boulder office are not looking good.
Yet the management teams are still in bubbles looking to invest more money in a game that was dead on arrival.
Truly shocking state of affairs.
The company's latest "statement" is either an attempt to whitewash things, or the wrong one sent by mistake. See my comment on the other story http://bit.ly/bZjO0X.
At least Colin was honest about it.
How is he being honest about it? He's implying that -some- people were redeployed. None were, despite leading the staff a merry dance over the last 4 weeks claiming there were 15 positions available on APB only to change their mind just before formalising the redundancies.
That's pretty evil.
Completely agree with Nick Lovell - its the game that counts not the gloss - the sooner the UK industry forgets the the fast fading inherited habits of the AAA boxed product culture and starts thinking about how cost effectively a game can be made for, and embrace new business models, the better.
Sorry to hear about this guys, recently went through redundancy with Rebellion, so I know how much it sucks! The vast majority of us do have new jobs in the industry though, so there is light at the end of the tunnel :)
I'd be very surprised if RTW last out the year. Anyone with any sense on the APB team is now updating their CV and making plans to move. As ever, the best, brightest and most mobile will move first, giving the game a poor chance of any serious recovery.
It's cut and run time, I'm afraid.
