Wed, Sep 08, 2010 | 23:06 BST
Report: Former Realtime chairman linked to MyWorld purchase
A report has surfaced claiming former Realtime Worlds chairman and chief strategy officer Ian Hetherington has ties with the anonymous US company which purchased Project MyWorld.
According to The Courier, this anonymous firm insisted on a confidentiality clause concealing its identity, but sources close to news site claim Hetherington possibly contributed a portion of the funds for MyWorld’s purchase.
It is also said the 23 Realtime staff laid-off were re-employed in order to continue development of the project, once a buyer was secured.
Now, the game is expected to be released next spring.
Begbies Traynor, Realtime’s administrator firm, refused to confirm the report.
The Courier also said that Realtime founder Dave Jones isn’t part of the same anonymous firm with supposed ties to Hetherington.
Dundee’s Realtime Worlds went into administration last month.
Via Edge.
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Report: Realtime sells Project MyWorld
7 
Posted in: Casual, Development, Internet, PC, Scotland, UK
Tags: Ian Hetherington, myworld, realtime worlds
7 comments
#1
frostquake
09/09/10, 3:40 am
So a Secret Real Time Chairman didn’t want anyone to know that he had created another company to buy Project MyWorld on the CHEAP!!! I don’t know the laws in other countries but here in the US this could warrant an investigation!! Probably some shading dealings go on…Not surprising though!
#2
Yoshi
09/09/10, 7:34 am
What warrants an investigation is this being called a game
I’m sure it’s google maps gone social networking
#3
Captain Fruitloop
09/09/10, 8:33 am
If I was one of the venture capital companies that invested tens of millions in RTW, I’d probably be asking questions about one of the guys who lost all my money now buying up part of the company for a fraction of what I put into it.
#4
scuz
09/09/10, 8:46 am
Within RTW this was widely rumoured from day two of administration. Doesn’t come as a surprise.
#5
Blerk
09/09/10, 8:57 am
Isn’t this what always happens when companies go into administration? Every time this has happened to someone I know in the past the company has always been ‘saved’ at last minute by one of the previous chairmen buying it back for a quid or something. I thought it was a standard ‘oh shit we’re out of money’ dodge to reset the bank balance.
#6
Captain Fruitloop
09/09/10, 9:36 am
@ blerk. But he’s not bought back or saved RTW – he’s simply bought the only part of it he was interested in. The rest of the company will most likely soon die off (the excellent and much-praised APB customisation tools might find a buyer) and that will be the end of that.
And it remains to be seen if MyWorld will remain in Dundee or be moved to the US.
#7
Blerk
09/09/10, 9:40 am
Well, yeah – obviously they only buy back the bits that actually look like they might make a profit. They always come out of it looking like heroes though, which is usually very far from the truth as they were usually at least partially responsible for the company failing in the first place.