APB Brand and IP expanding in Asia

[numlockcapslock 1]

I think the website got something wrong?

If you click on "Company Name", but with the Chinese stuff then you get located to google. And if you translate you get this link which shows completely different info about the company. https://aibee.com.tw/v/12872959/

[CrackSmack 37]

When Unit Game inevitably fails then LO can buy the IP back real cheap, the long con.

[TheJellyGoo 343]

Would be appreciated if this doesn't end up like the developer discussion section (which was renamed and abandoned by devs)

Can't just drop this announcement and then leave us alone...

[Lixil 3524]

11 hours ago, KOTxBxHAPKOTE said:

I hope the data from accounts to save. And will not give more ban on the exchange etc As this time. The gift was very nice, and the consequences are not very.

We didn't sell APB: Reloaded, There is no data to be transferred. 

[gogeo 38]

6 hours ago, cheater said:

https://www.hkcorporationsearch.com/companies/2844609/

Their CEO or whoever is listed as "An avid player and a long time player of APB Reloaded" is a total lie.

Either we are being lied to or there is something fishy going on  or this is an attempt by LO to cut further losses before dipping from this game :P.

It's worse than I thought, a company that has existed for 2 months buys the APB IP. There is nothing known about the company and little orbit is willing to sell the IP to some shady company for some quick funds. 

[Defibyoulater 22]

Are we getting a search bar in our in-game emails soon?

[Fortune Runner 796]

what did we sell? what did we lose? I'm not sure if any of us understand what just happened.

[BrandonBranderson 672]

1 hour ago, Fortune Runner said:

what did we sell? what did we lose? I'm not sure if any of us understand what just happened.

How many times does it need to be explained? (That sounded more rude than intended, but they explained it pretty clearly a few times already.)  They sold the rights to the APB franchise, but they kept the rights to APB: Reloaded as its own thing.  We don't lose anything except maybe the possibility of a direct sequel to APB from LO themselves.  It doesn't affect us at all really since they probably weren't going to make a sequel anyway.  But now this Asian company can make APB related things as they please and they're starting off with a mobile game.

Edited August 28, 2019 by BrandonBranderson

[Dead_Game 73]

next step,
sell everything except armas 

 

Edited August 28, 2019 by Hypothesis

[TheDogCatcher 176]

This absolutely reeks of desperation, no self respecting developer would ever sell off their main IP if they weren't deeply in the brown stuff.

 

It's obvious by now that LO are struggling badly, once the money from this sell off runs out it'll be curtains for APB because they sure as hell aren't getting much revenue from the game with the current population which fell to a record low last month.

Edited August 29, 2019 by TheDogCatcher

[Fortune Runner 796]

1 hour ago, BrandonBranderson said:

How many times does it need to be explained? (That sounded more rude than intended, but they explained it pretty clearly a few times already.)  They sold the rights to the APB franchise, but they kept the rights to APB: Reloaded as its own thing.  We don't lose anything except maybe the possibility of a direct sequel to APB from LO themselves.  It doesn't affect us at all really since they probably weren't going to make a sequel anyway.  But now this Asian company can make APB related things as they please and they're starting off with a mobile game.

the whole thread is all over the place.

they dont understand exactly what happened.

most do not speak lawyer or technical talks

[Spoiled 23]

Instead of all this extra stuff, why couldn't you just focus on making APB reloaded the best game it could be. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Spoiled said:

Instead of all this extra stuff, why couldn't you just focus on making APB reloaded the best game it could be. 

This could be also a better thing instead of doing moves like that or continuing to fake the existence and the release of the Engine Upgrade, which, for me, as of today, it simply don't exist at all until i see it on the Public OTW and LIVE build of the game.

[ZoriaDunne 327]

Making an engine upgrade doesn't mean you can call it APB2, it's the same game with better graphics/engine.

[Dead_Game 73]

Just stop. What makes you think they will get any significant revenue  from further delaying the EU ? It is at the stage that they are doing a major merge of Jericho and Citadel due to low population. Stop puking false hope, nothing is significantly done than glorify armas.  UE version 4 is gonna be outdated soon and we are struggling to get the 3.5 update lmao .

 

I did rather burn money than buy armas on a dead game with developers who makes false promises and supports cheaters who stream with cheats.

 

change this game name to False Hope Reloaded

Edited August 29, 2019 by Hypothesis

[PitterPatter 139]

Matt: Don't over react

Everyone: *over reacts*

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but all they did was sell the name. So now the Unit Game can make a mobile APB game without having to deal with license issues or pay royalties to LO.

 

LO still owns APB and Unit Game has zero ownership over the game itself. So nothing has changed for us. The only thing we're gonna see is them making a mobile game which could promote APB even more if the game takes off. Probably even direct links to APB from the mobile game. So instead of us seeing cheap knock off facebook ads of images stolen from APB we will get an actual authentic APB mobile game.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Signarly

[AgentWatson 85]

3 hours ago, Signarly said:

Matt: Don't over react

Everyone: *over reacts*

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but all they did was sell the name. So now the Unit Game can make a mobile APB game without having to deal with license issues or pay royalties to LO.

 

LO still owns APB and Unit Game has zero ownership over the game itself. So nothing has changed for us. The only thing we're gonna see is them making a mobile game which could promote APB even more if the game takes off. Probably even direct links to APB from the mobile game. So instead of us seeing cheap knock off facebook ads of images stolen from APB we will get an actual authentic APB mobile game.

Unit still holds IP rights to APB reloaded this means that any future ventures are completely off the table for Little Orbit when it's regarding APB reloaded. I'm talking specifically of course about "APB2" which is the engine update to 4.0. So it's 3.5 and that's it and then if the game doesn't pick up and let's be honest 3.5 is going to show substantially less improvements than 4.0 ever would so I can foresee that APB reloaded at this point is doomed to die. Consequently anything that immediately comes after APB reloaded may be APB reloaded in name but it'll probably be heavily pandered to an Asian market changing the tone and aspects of the game making it unconventional to what we're currently playing. 

 

I honestly expected they'd get to 3.5 but I was pretty skeptical about ever getting to 4.0, just too much of a stretch and at least now there is some vindication for my concerns. So whatever 3.5 turns out to be whether it's bad or good, enjoy it while it lasts. 

[PitterPatter 139]

7 minutes ago, AgentWatson said:

Unit still holds IP rights to APB reloaded this means that any future ventures are completely off the table for Little Orbit when it's regarding APB reloaded. I'm talking specifically of course about "APB2" which is the engine update to 4.0. So it's 3.5 and that's it and then if the game doesn't pick up and let's be honest 3.5 is going to show substantially less improvements than 4.0 ever would so I can foresee that APB reloaded at this point is doomed to die. Consequently anything that immediately comes after APB reloaded may be APB reloaded in name but it'll probably be heavily pandered to an Asian market changing the tone and aspects of the game making it unconventional to what we're currently playing. 

 

I honestly expected they'd get to 3.5 but I was pretty skeptical about ever getting to 4.0, just too much of a stretch and at least now there is some vindication for my concerns. So whatever 3.5 turns out to be whether it's bad or good, enjoy it while it lasts. 

Can they not just upgrade APB to 4.0 without calling it APB2? 

[AgentWatson 85]

15 minutes ago, Signarly said:

Can they not just upgrade APB to 4.0 without calling it APB2? 

They could but they won't, it's not inconceivable but I reckon this move was entirely based on financial reasons to get APB 3.5 through the door (finally) that move may also have duality to it but we will not know until a later date I assume that they'll sell off their extended portfolio of titles to Unit as well in time or some subsidiary under Unit. Working on 4.0 might come with some significant financial overruns meaning the project would be stuck in constant development cycle if they didn't have the capital to invest there in the first place.

Quote

 We basically realized that developing both APB Reloaded and APB2 was too much for us. The Australia team was struggling to get their head around the massive amounts of tech, and we lack mobile experience to expand the brand.

This quote makes me believe they honestly shelved the project not because it was technically complex but the capital they would've had to invest to fulfill it would be so financially prohibitive that they gave up on it entirely. I don't know why Unit targeted APB reloaded IP in general but what I believe is they needed at least something with some brand recognition to sell to a mostly Asian market. They just saw that Little Orbit was sinking and saw an opportunity to acquire some brand with some recognition in the market. 

Edited August 29, 2019 by AgentWatson

[cheater 296]

8 hours ago, Signarly said:

Matt: Don't over react

Everyone: *over reacts*

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but all they did was sell the name. So now the Unit Game can make a mobile APB game without having to deal with license issues or pay royalties to LO.

 

LO still owns APB and Unit Game has zero ownership over the game itself. So nothing has changed for us. The only thing we're gonna see is them making a mobile game which could promote APB even more if the game takes off. Probably even direct links to APB from the mobile game. So instead of us seeing cheap knock off facebook ads of images stolen from APB we will get an actual authentic APB mobile game.

Hey buddy, check out the history of the  so called company and so called CEO that played the game for years
https://www.hkcorporationsearch.com/companies/2844609/

make your own conclusions.
watch this game get sold fully in about a year when LO understands what kind of a pile of doodoo they bought

[iDisney 9]

14 hours ago, TheDogCatcher said:

This absolutely reeks of desperation, no self respecting developer would ever sell off their main IP if they weren't deeply in the brown stuff.

 

It's obvious by now that LO are struggling badly, once the money from this sell off runs out it'll be curtains for APB because they sure as hell aren't getting much revenue from the game with the current population which fell to a record low last month.

This is my first thought after reading the news. However, this may also be in the favor APB:Reloaded. Little Orbit does see a future in APB:Reloaded, otherwise they would've given up on it and sold APB:Reloaded as well. This money could give Little Orbit just enough to accomplish their ambition and re-populate APB:Reloaded.

Thanks for caring about the game and the community, Little Orbit. And no, I am not sarcastic. 

Edited August 29, 2019 by iDisney

[mynd 120]

I would like official clarification on the migration to Unreal 4 and APB 2, and whether that's still happening or shelved.  If APB:R is the only thing LO can develop in it's current state, that would be most disappointing.

 

Developing APB:R just won't do much good considering how dated the game is, how long it's taken to even get to the point it is at now etc.  5+ years later and it still hasn't been released on Unreal 3.5 for PC.

 

If the new guys are going to do APB 2 for PC (and not just for the Asian markets), that could be promising.  If all they care about is mobile, well RIP.

[yood 345]

I'll assume there's a plan for change .  APB fans know and are waiting for the embodiment of all that we obeshali Webzen . Reloaded . LO  what do we get ?

Edited August 29, 2019 by olo

[RegenanceE 3]

On 8/28/2019 at 9:59 AM, Seedy said:

Some rich kid has bought APB IP as a personal toy thinking they can revive it. If this person has been playing APB for many years as the post says, its obviously some guy who has plenty of spare cash to throw around or some rich parents who have more money than sense and have just picked up the IP thinking they can do something with it. lol. They do know this collapsed a £100,000,000 company which qwas built from the ground up by a guy (Dave Jones) who made some of the biggest games in the entire world including GTA!?

 

lol, just do it! lol

 

APB is not a small project and G1 and LO prove that just because you have all the bits in place to play with, that you cant just mix them around and come up with something better. Remember 400 people over 7 years made APB. this is not for indies. Although well done to Matt and his people for offloading it and getting the money together to continue hosting the game as is right now. Will we ever see the engine upgrade in full swing or will the money be used as a recoup for the past investment from LO?

 

Another thing I would really like to know is, when APB IP was handed over to the Russian developers, what did they do with it once they shut down that part of their company? Someone has a copy of the IP in Russia; what are they doing with it right now?

Still bullshoot, it was 400 people for the days that Gaming wasnot evolved much, look now. Star Citizen is developed with the same amount of APB was (and even more, they're currently on 220mil$ by backers).

And still it's developed maybe 2-3 years and have done more things that APB will ever have in the next 5-6 years. You can't compare these things nowdays, to what it was few years ago. And APB is very-very old game. It's like comparing the old fiat 500 to Mercedes SLS or something.

[BrandonBranderson 672]

8 hours ago, AgentWatson said:

They could but they won't, it's not inconceivable but I reckon this move was entirely based on financial reasons to get APB 3.5 through the door (finally) that move may also have duality to it but we will not know until a later date I assume that they'll sell off their extended portfolio of titles to Unit as well in time or some subsidiary under Unit. Working on 4.0 might come with some significant financial overruns meaning the project would be stuck in constant development cycle if they didn't have the capital to invest there in the first place.

This quote makes me believe they honestly shelved the project not because it was technically complex but the capital they would've had to invest to fulfill it would be so financially prohibitive that they gave up on it entirely. I don't know why Unit targeted APB reloaded IP in general but what I believe is they needed at least something with some brand recognition to sell to a mostly Asian market. They just saw that Little Orbit was sinking and saw an opportunity to acquire some brand with some recognition in the market. 

They're not calling it APB 2 officially, it's just Matt's unofficial internal name for the 4.0 rebuild since it's probably easier to say APB2 than APB Reloaded Unreal Engine 4 Rebuild.  It'll still be under the Reloaded name.  Unit Game also has no control over APB: Reloaded at all.  Only future titles with the APB name.  That was made pretty clear in the first post.

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by BrandonBranderson