Developer Realtime Worlds has (according to a credible source) bought back the license for the urban MMO All Points Bulletin game from publisher Webzen with the possible idea of selling it back to Rockstar as Grand Theft Auto: Online. RealTime would only say they resecured the rights to "give themselves some options." Many guess that these options would be either to: A: develop the license themselves; or B: sell a framework for a GTA MMO to Rockstar.

RealTime Worlds released Crackdown last year to a generally happy critical reception. APB takes place in an cops-versus-robbers sandbox enivornment, where players compete against each other in order to pimp out their gear (amongst other reasons.)

Realtime was also formed by many ex-early days Rockstar employees, so them working together would make some sense.

APB will be coming to the PC first, later on this year. Here is a trailer for the game:

"One of which is to launch it and support it themselves, and the other one is to look for another partner; someone else who may well be interested and have the infrastructure [to support it]," a spokesperson for RTW told Eurogamer.

Realtime Worlds, of course, has strong links with Rockstar, as it was founded in 2002 by developers who worked on the GTA games. Its early 2007 release Crackdown was a free-roaming, stylised, superhero take on GTA principles that won it critical acclaim.

chautemoc via eurogamer.net »