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Rumour: In talks about GTA Online?

chautemoc | May 08, 2008 | News | PC Playstation 3

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.

News Story attached to:

All Points Bulletin [PC]
Crackdown [XBOX360]

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Comments

0 thumbs!
Stainless | May 08, 2008

Lmao. PICK LOCKING - "Failed Break in" *Smashes window*

Shows what children have been in to in this life time. Violence, and the life of a gang member basically.
0 thumbs!
Deathman48 | May 09, 2008

I think I had an article a while back about the possibilities of a GTA MMO. I don't know how that would work really, but GTA does lend itself to the online genre as mods like Multi Theft Auto proved. Many people used that, and it was pretty buggy considering it was fan made. Had there been an official version of that at the time, I wager more people would have used it.
1 thumbs!
S H E P E R D | May 09, 2008

I recall the original scoop on APB back when GTA: San Andreas was relatively new. As far as an online feature could work, Saint's Row and Saint's Row 2, and not Grand Theft Auto IV's online feature are just the tip of the iceburg. It'll happen, though to be honest I would prefer if Rockstar's label wasn't on it, if only to encourage more competition, and to allow Rockstar full control of their own take on GTA: Online.

This sort of open sandbox gameplay isn't particularly new, other devs have tried, with Star Wars: Galaxies, and The Matrix: Online for starters, and now the Xbox 360 exclusive "Dragonball: Online" in the works, and the next MMO based on Marvel Comics also in the works. GTA may not have pioneered sandbox style gameplay, but it certainly added the depth and filler for the genre. Online would certainly be a reasonable next step.