Begbies Traynor, the firm responsible for administrating the remains of failed developer Realtime Worlds, says that anyone wanting a refund has to speak to the retailer they bought it from. Being a PC game, practically no bricks-n-mortar store will give you one, while online retailer Steam doesn’t give refunds either.
The only silver lining, in fact, comes from publisher EA, with reports surfacing that people reaching out to the publisher directly are receiving compensation in the form of discount vouchers or even free games.
No APB refunds, but EA offers free games [Eurogamer]
Rob
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 2:53 PMVG247 are reporting EA have a compensation scheme in place for Steam purchasers
http://www.vg247.com/2010/09/27/ea-compensating-apb-buyers-with-free-game/
Joe Mama
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 3:11 PMSeveral people are getting refunds, from stores and Steam alike.
glennc
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 3:55 PMyou have had your fun, now move along, move along
drunkspleen
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 4:13 PMwow, I remember a bunch of hype around this at one point, I was never particularly interested but I’m kinda surprised it was such a spectacular failure.
Aaron
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 4:26 PMIt’s operatically tragic how quickly APB canned, especially as it seemed so promising a concept.
People will measure fail against APB from now on, “Did it die as quickly as APB?”, they’ll ask.
thyco
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 4:54 PMhell i think hellgate london lasted much longer than APB
Jordaan Mylonas
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 5:32 PMyou’d think they’d at least give them the install to set up a private server…
Steve0410
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 at 11:20 PMThis is tragic. No wonder no-one even tries to go after WoW’s crown. Unlike a regular single player game which is the player’s responsibility, once bought and paid for.. An MMO lives and dies by its player base.
If not enough players subscribe to justify server/GM costs, it’s just a downward spiral. I do think Hellgate lasted longer than this.
Lesson of the day: Don’t hype your game and put all your eggs in one basket. On the other hand, make sure you have enough capital to be pretty damn sure you’re going to make your mark. Otherwise you’ll end up in the Would’ve/Should’ve/Could’ve graveyard of APB, Hellgatea and Conan.