Today is a sad day for the British video-game industry as developer Realtime Worlds has entered into administration.
The studio was founded in 2002 by David Jones, who was instrumental in creating both Lemmings and the original Grand Theft Auto while at DMA Design.
Since then the company has released only two titles; 2007's successful Xbox 360 action game Crackdown and 2010's Windows-only APB: All Points Bulletin.
Reports suggest that the company had raised over £50m of venture capital investment to develop APB, a persistent online shooter. Unfortunately, the game was a commercial and critical disappointment when it launched this summer and seems unlikely to recover the significant development costs.
While entering into administration hasn't doomed the company, the outlook is fairly bleak. The Financial Times reports that the company is currently looking for someone to buy the business as a going concern. This may be the only way to save the company and its 200 employees in Dundee, as well as the 42 people working out of the American office in Colorado.
