So, you bought Realtime Worlds' now-dead MMO APB this summer (whoops!) and now you'd like your money back. Brick-and-mortar isn't going to give you a refund because of piracy and, well, just because, but it's possible that EA will provide you some sort of compensation. In a recent thread on the Steam forums, there are claims that the game's distributor, via its support line, is offering a free EA-published game to disgruntled purchasers of APB. It's also alternatively offering $20 vouchers towards an EA game purchase and, in one case, 4000 BioWare Points for whatever you want to spend them on.

And as if that wasn't enough, it appears as if people who bought digital copies of the game via the EA store are receiving full refunds, according to a recent Gamasutra post. The catch is that you'll have to provide an unlock key, though even that is being called into question.
 

So, you bought Realtime Worlds' now-dead MMO APB this summer (whoops!) and now you'd like your money back. Brick-and-mortar isn't going to give you a refund because of piracy and, well, just because, but it's possible that EA will provide you some sort of compensation. In a recent thread on the Steam forums, there are claims that the game's distributor, via its support line, is offering a free EA-published game to disgruntled purchasers of APB. It's also alternatively offering $20 vouchers towards an EA game purchase and, in one case, 4000 BioWare Points for whatever you want to spend them on.

And as if that wasn't enough, it appears as if people who bought digital copies of the game via the EA store are receiving full refunds, according to a recent Gamasutra post. The catch is that you'll have to provide an unlock key, though even that is being called into question.
 

Bummer, wasn't "lifetime" subscription an option that some people paid for? Refund for the box or not, that's messed up.
 
PS - First, MFers.

Lol.

lol poor APB

I think the life time subscription was for Star Trek. I wonder how thats doing...

Is it just me or does the failure of APB and the less-than-stellar Crackdown 2 speak volumes about why and how the original Crackdown succeeded?

" Bummer, wasn't "lifetime" subscription an option that some people paid for? That's messed up.  PS - First, MFers. "

" Is it just me or does the failure of APB and the less-than-stellar Crackdown 2 speak volumes about why and how the original Crackdown succeeded? "

oh noooooes

" I think the life time subscription was for Star Trek. I wonder how thats doing... "

I have already been in contact with EA and received my replacement game. Read all about it.

Those are the nicest biggest video game boobs I've seen. 
 
I've played a few doomed mmorpgs and I don't feel sorry for RTW a bit. If you have $300 millions but still can't make an even decent game, then no; you have no one else to blame but yourselves. 
 
EDIT: lol, someone edited the APB page and added 

 After the close of APB EA offered compensation to the people who invested money in APB. Allow people (Who could prove they bought the game.) To pick something from the EA store of equal value. Including,  

Bad Company 2 
Spore 
Dragon Age 
The Sims 
Fifa 10    

" Those are the nicest biggest video game boobs I've seen. 
 
I've played a few doomed mmorpgs and I don't feel sorry for RTW a bit. If you have $300 millions but still can't make an even decent game, then no; you have no one else to blame but yourselves. 
 
EDIT: lol, someone edited the APB page and added 

 After the close of APB EA offered compensation to the people who invested money in APB. Allow people (Who could prove they bought the game.) To pick something from the EA store of equal value. Including,  

Bad Company 2 
Spore 
Dragon Age 
The Sims 
Fifa 10    

"

EA: "Oh, you bought APB?....We're sorry"

It's a nice attempt by EA but I'm sure tons of pirate assholes will try to ruin it for everyone. Good to see EA at least trying here though. 

Who's gonna pirate a dead game?

Never thought i would say this but good on EA *choke*

I was at walmart the other day and saw 4 copy's of APB still on sale for $50. All I could think of was that I hope no one buy's those games. but it is nice to see EA giving some compensation to the people who bought this.

" @Sneaky_Gopher said:

" I think the life time subscription was for Star Trek. I wonder how thats doing... "

Maybe Jeff should shed some light on this. "

I saw the RTW guys give a talk at Dundee university. They seemed so passionate about the project, it's a real shame to see such creative peoples dreams dashed like that... 
 
Having said that if I was working for a company that was going under but still allowing gamers to pour money into buying the game or purchasing mickey mouse dollars I'd be blowing that fucking whistle all over the internet as soon as I caught wind of it...  
 
It might cost me a job at another evil empire like Activision( Who I believe put on a jobs fair in Dundee soon after  RTW folded; to pick at its, still warm, corpse)... But you have to have your principals.

Here's hoping I can find this on some back water shelf for $5 in a few months, and maybe I can get a free full price game out of it. A few local stores I go into still have copies of The Matrix Online sitting on the shelves so I wouldn't be surprised if they had these.

How can you pirate an MMO? People who are going to play on shady hacked 3rd party servers are going to do it anyway. I'm sure there could be a system implemented that would allow you to deactivate your key to return a game at retail.
 
Honestly, the whole mess that is APB is a lawsuit in the making. Bankruptcy will get them out of paying customers, but I imagine I'd be pretty pissed off to have any game time I had bought be null and void on the spot. To me, that's called a scam. Money theft. It's not my fault the company sunk more money into making the game than they can create by selling their game. But that's the ignorant view of a consumer, I suppose.

Seems fair.
 
APB sure was a shitty deal for EA though.

This is actually pretty cool of EA. They were just the distributor so realistically they didn't have to do anything for those that bought APB. It's not like there were a ton of APB buyers but still, kudos to them for offering something when they could have said "Not our problem, take it up with Realtime Worlds" 

" This is actually pretty cool of EA. They were just the distributor so realistically they didn't have to do anything for those that bought APB. It's not like there were a ton of APB buyers but still, kudos to them for offering something when they could have said "Not our problem, take it up with Realtime Worlds"  "

heh need to tell my friend about this since he's one of the few that bought the game.  pretty sure he spent a good amount of time on it too.

Just got a copy of BF2 and the expansions.
 
EA, I love you.

I'm glad that EA is doing this, its a good way to show they care.

This actually works real good for EA.  Even if they don't get paid for those releases, they garner a huge degree of goodwill, and it gets those games into more hands, making it more likely people will buy Dragon Age 2 or Bad Company 3, along with increasing the potential revenue of add-on DLC.  This works so much more effectively for EA than refunds, because they've actually turned the situation into a revenue gain.
 
This can work along with Project Ten Dollar (incentives to buy new), where EA can offer free DLC or discounts on other EA products if you've bought new copies of their games, effectively creating EA customers rather than a video game consumer.  It's similar to the Whiskey idea, of going into business with your audience, rather than doing your business around them.

I feel i got my moneys worth from the game anyway, playtime was nearing 200 hours.
 
No point me trying to cheat them out of more money and there isnt really anything of theirs i want/dont already have anywho.

I should complain and get a free game. but Im probably too lazy.

A friend didn't even buy the game, called the support, made up emails, etc., and got a copy of bf:bc2 for free.

That game is still on sale! What douchebag at RTW was like "Alright. The games going down, we blew 300 million, it's all bad. So let's sell the rest of the copies to retail before news gets out and refuse refunds, we gotta try to make back every dollar!"
 
I mean, selling the sails as the ship is sinking? Dick move RTW, dick move.

If EA comes through on this, I love them even more than I did before. I bought APB and loved it, but my graphics card died, and when XFX got back to me with my replacement, the servers went down the next day. If they do this, I'll definitely enjoy Dead Space.

is the free game worth the shame of admitting to another human being that you bought APB? 
  
i mean you actually have to utter those words to another person, seems unbearable.

" That game is still on sale! What douchebag at RTW was like "Alright. The games going down, we blew 300 million, it's all bad. So let's sell the rest of the copies to retail before news gets out and refuse refunds, we gotta try to make back every dollar!"  I mean, selling the sails as the ship is sinking? Dick move RTW, dick move. "

" lol poor APB "

so APB was a multi-million dollar "Gangsta Dress Up Party" for suburban kids? sweet!

Well APB is not worth 20 bones

It's a shame this game went the way of the dodo, but not unexpected. I was in the beta, and after about 7 hours or so I knew this game was going to be a shooting star. I read an interview with one of the designers or lead fellas of the company shortly after the game got released and was shot to pieces by reviewers across the globe, and he was constantly being defensive about the game, saying the people who didn't like it didn't know what they were talking about or didn't get what rtw was trying to do with the game. Basically blaming the consumer for failing to understand the game. You don't really see that very often, and it's a good thing, cause that is just ridiculous. Blaming people who don't like a game cause they "don't get it" is about as low as you could probably get. If your GTA clone multiplayer game is harder to grasp than an avant garde art film... You've probably taken one too many wrong turns during the design process. 
 
It's a real bummer, cause people really want a grand theft auto style mp game. Although I think people want more of a sandbox coop style romp more than a structured goodies vs baddies type thing.

The disaster rages on.

That's sad.  This game looked like such an interesting concept at first.

Well, I guess its a smart move by EA. Technically they have nothing to do with APB's demise, so they don't really need to pay refunds, but its a good PR move at any rate. Kudos.

You can't return the game to the store you bought it from, because any store that sells games doesn't give you a 90 day return policy. If you had just bought it a week ago and they went out of business, you sure as hell bet you can get your money refunded almost anywhere.
 
People need to stop being sheep. "Well, a sign at the store says this thing, so that must be ten lawz!".
 
I returned Anarchy Online about a month after it was released, for a full refund, because the game remained unplayable (about 3fps at best, when it could even be connected to . . . and then usually disconnecting players shortly after).

Here's the really sad part. Wal-Mart, Gamestop, and Best Buy is still selling the game. I guess they haven't got the word that the game won't run. It's gonna be very unfortunate for the poor sap that buys the game also.

" I'm glad that EA is doing this, its a good way to show they care. "