K2 Network Reportedly Buys APB

It appears as if someone in the loop is indeed controlling the APB patcher. GI.biz is reporting via sources that K2 Network has purchased the game for around 2.4 million bucks. The report also says that its possible that K2 Network will get APB online and running in some sort of form by the end of the year. The patcher said someone was going to buy the game and possibly get it running.

K2 Network isn't exactly a name you throw around when discussing video game development, so here's a little intel: according to the studio's Wikipedia page, K2 specializes in bringing free-to-play Asian MMOs to the other markets. It also provides community management and customer services. Some K2 Network joints include Knight Online, War Rock, and 9Dragons. As Joystiq notes, 9Dragons is of special interest to this story because when Acclaim went down, K2 kept the game running. Sounds sorta familiar, right? 
 

Interesting.

I might give it a shot... hopefully they wont break it too much.

Won't this turn EXACTLY into Crimecraft then, considering most of K2 Network's games have micro-transactions?

Thupagangsta.

Oh no...

Is that photo representative of the actions needed to convince me to care about APB?

" Is that photo representative of the actions needed to convince me to care about APB? "

So then APB will be free to play considering all those games listed are F2P with micro transactions.

So, the game is saved?

Hooray?

Seen a huuuuuuuuuuuuge shelf of these sitting in gamestop waiting to be bought. Hate to be the kid who thinks it looks cool.

Honestly, it could be good if this game was saved, but given that the fundamental core of the gameplay is press F to do everything, and the shooting aspect isnt body damage based but stat based makes it kinda meh even if it goes f2p or whatever.
 
Still, will see how this goes if this turns out to be true.

I have a bag full of air, think they will buy that too?

Not the worst way to spend $2.4 million, but it's still pretty damn bad.

I bet they are just after the character maker. 

" Is that photo representative of the actions needed to convince me to care about APB? "

A free-to-play APB would make me try it out.

I don't think I've seen more effort to keep a mediocre game alive.

Man I didn't see this coming.. oh wait, I did.

The patcher speaks " Jars of urine for all ganstas"

are they also going to make the gameplay uncrappy?  and if you want to play a free shooter, EA has their new free battlefield game coming out.

Wow, 2.4 million for game that cost as much as it did. It's a bargain bin deal if it's true, and if so probably doesn't help any of the ex-Dundee team that is owed money (this would all be for creditors at this point). Even the handful of APB fans out there would probably not be happy, since I imagine the game will be in Korea only, at least for the immediate future.

My experience with K2 while playing Knight Online quite a bit about 5 years ago was that they failed to moderate their game well and then punished legitimate players for the cheating (item duplication) of others. The duping effectively ruined the in game market, demanding that anything of value be purchased with USD through paypal from other players. K2's mismanagement was the biggest factor in driving me away from playing knight online, which had a pretty impressive PvP system.
 
I would strongly recommend some research into their customer service today before giving them $.01.

2.4 million. That's million bucks.

id start playing again if they made it free to play, but im not paying them to let me play a game that has no reason for a fee. micro transactions were fine but paying to actually play the game sucked major dick

It's a shame what happened to APB. I was in the beta from October last year until a week before release. What sucked for the game was that the large majority of the gameplay involved doing fetch quests. It's bad enough releasing a buggy game but a boring one didn't help. As I was one of the first testers of the game, I saw how the game radically changed from month to month as RTW released huge patches that were often 4GB in size, sometimes bigger. They were getting great feedback from the community and responding to it well but I think they really just had to get the game out of the door with pressure from EA and investors not seeing a return on a game and just couldn't get it complete before release. 

I geuss somebody REALLY cares about that game if they're willing to pay over $2M to keep it going. 

K2? They still exist?

I find The unfolding story interesting.  The game, not so much

So it will be the same thing, sept 10 year old kiddies will play it for free and buy all the good guns and say LOLIPWNU!

If they change the pricing scheme to some type of free-to-play model, APB will not only be a technical atrocity, but also a preschool full of 10-year-old kids. Combat Arms anyone?
APB might survive, but it looks like it's headed in an even deeper downward spiral.

Nooo! Don't just keep it in its current form! It needs to be reworked! APB had great potential but it was an awful game.

I are willing.

This is a good thing for all those players who forked out hard earned cash. Hooray!

Fire sale!!!

This may sound lame but I actually want APB to live on and improve, a GTA style MMO game would be awesome.. get it right though.