Encourages fans to "join the party," though "wake" might be more appropriate.
Realtime Worlds' freefall after the June release of its MMO APB has been terrible to observe, and it appears as if the skeleton crew left in the studio after the reported mass layoffs won't even be able to keep the root of the studio's woes afloat long enough to recoup its costs. This afternoon, Realtime's Ben Bateman has announced the apparent immediate closure of APB via the game's official forums.
"APB has been a fantastic journey," he wrote, "but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end. Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close."
Bateman didn't get specific as to when the MMO's servers would be shut down, but his encouragement to "join the party and say goodbye" certainly suggests that the time to flick a switch is nigh.
As Joystiq points out, this sudden closure brings up a wee little issue for users who have money locked up in the MMO's zany Realtime Points system. Will they get refunds? Realtime didn't address this in the post that otherwise so graciously thanks its hardcore base for their devoted, but brief, support.
