Announcement expected next week as sale is finalised; impact on jobs remains unclear
Collapsed Dundee studio Realtime Worlds is just days away from being pulled out of administration, Develop understands.
In what is believed to be a “final transaction”, sources tell Develop that the remainder of the APB outfit will be acquired by the end of next week. Final discussions are underway and – pending a disaster at the eleventh hour – a positive announcement is being prepared.
“Discussions are continuing and we are expecting to make an announcement next week,” a spokesperson for the developer’s administrator, Begbies Traynor, told Develop today.
Realtime Worlds was permanently split into at least two segments last week as an anonymous American company purchased the group’s Project Myworld IP.
That selected buyout meant Realtime Worlds would be on offer without its pet b-project in the package.
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However, the company still boasts a Dundee studio, a US satellite office and the APB rights.
Develop understands that there have been two or three companies making sustained and serious enquiries into buying the Realtime Worlds business and brand, with interest already confirmed to be coming from “both sides of the Atlantic”.
Realtime Worlds entered administration last month following lacklustre sales of its costly five-year project, APB.
Following the purchase of MyWorld from a company determined to remain anonymous, it was speculated yesterday that Ian Hetherington is linked to the firm. Hetherington was the chairman of Realtime Worlds as the studio went bust.
The specifics both buyout deals, including the number of jobs lost and saved, have so far proven to be well protected.
What about the staff? Those are the only people that really matter in this whole fiasco.
I only car about the staff who actually did a good job. Theres a lot of staff who made alot of wrong decisions. They should be the first out of the door.
Presumably he meant all the people who were made redundant and weren't paid their last month's wages or any of the other money owed to them.
What!
Soooooo, if someone makes poor decisions they deserve to be out of work?
I was really hoping APB would just die. Unless the new owners make serious changes (and a lot of them) APB will just continue to be a mediocre pile of dung with a tiny useless playerbase
I worked there on APB and all I would like is my wages that were earned. If MyWorld was bought, there has to be some money in the pot, especially with APB still on the go making money.
I liked the place, I didn't dig how things ended and I would love to get my earnings.
That is all.
