“The opportunity to have David reconnect with us during the production of the new ‘APB Reloaded’ game has been great and it lets us take advantage of both a deeper understanding of the original vision of APB, as well as leveraging the strengths of the Free2Play model used in the new ‘APB Reloaded’ game,” said Bjorn Book-Larsson, COO and CTO of GamersFirst. “We look forward to David’s continued association with this game, especially as we evaluate new game designs between the May 18th Open Beta the formal launch later this year.”
Best known for creating the blockbuster “Lemmings” and “Grand Theft Auto” franchises, Jones broke away from DMA Design (later Rockstar North) in 1999 to create the Dundee, Scotland-based Realtime Worlds in 2001. From the beginning Jones had aspired to create an online GTA-style game, and as an intermediate step in 2007, under Jones’ creative direction, the company released the critically acclaimed and award winning title “Crackdown,” an Xbox 360 exclusive action-adventure third-person shooter title published by Microsoft. After Crackdown, Realtime Worlds focused its full attention on APB: All Points Bulletin, and created some of the most detailed and in-depth user customization and creation tools available in any MMO today. Slated for a May 18th open beta, the new incarnation of the game, “APB Reloaded,” is poised to fulfill the vision and promise of an open-world cops and robbers’ adventure.
“This game was my passion back when I was developing it with Realtime Worlds, and I’m extremely excited to be able to participate in fulfilling the long term vision for the title,” Jones stated. “After seeing what the team has done with the game thus far, I’m certain that APB Reloaded will become the title that truly breaks new ground for online game experiences, especially with transition to a free to play model.”
“Allowing players to try out key aspects of the game before committing to making purchases fits this game tremendously well” Jones added.
APB Reloaded is a massively multiplayer online third-person shooter game based in the modern-day fictional city of San Paro. In a state of near anarchy, players choose between two factions, Enforcers and Criminals, in order to control the city. Criminals and Enforcers battle in this open-world environment to control territories, commit or stop petty crimes, and gain notoriety within their own organizations. Be it on foot or from the driver seat, APB Reloaded melds player-on-player combat within the immersive world of a city on the edge of total chaos. With a robust set of customization tools, gamers can choose the exact look of their in-game avatar, character crests, tags clothing and even the cars they drive.
