EA Partners predicted APB review scores

EA Partners boss David DeMartini has expressed sympathy for the staff of Realtime Worlds, although he claims the publisher anticipated the mediocre review scores of APB.

Speaking to GI.biz, DeMartini said EA, “did suggest that where it landed from a review score standpoint was where we thought it was going to land.”

Demartini said EA Partners had lots of discussions with Realtime Worlds as to where there title was,  adding the developer admitted t it could have done some things differently, but “hindsight's always 20-20," commented Demartini.

The EA Partners boss also hinted more time in development was something he felt the game could have benefited from, although he didn’t think this would have been practical.

"Everybody thinks that they should have just hung onto it a longer time, but 300-400 people cost a lot on a monthly," he said. "I don't know the specifics of their situation but you need to have financial backing in order to have your enterprise up and running, so it certainly wasn't our decision."

DeMartini concluded by offering his condolences to staff likely to be affected by the developer going into administration.

"I feel bad for David [Jones], I feel bad for everybody on that team," he said. "It's not the outcome that they wanted. 300-400 people are now going to be working somewhere else, have their lives uprooted, their families are in a bit of turmoil right now as they try and catch on with another games company.

"It's just sad all the way around. It's not great for the industry either because the team gets tarnished, the game gets tarnished, customers aren't exactly delighted with the experience that they got."

Realtime Worlds said earlier today it would be restructuring to ensure ABP continues to receive support.