APB was originally scheduled to be released in 2008, but due to financial issues within Realtime Worlds it was delayed until  June 29th, 2010 in America. The game itself was like a largely multi-player Grand Theft Auto, with a fee required to play in “Action Districts”. The lead designer on the game was David Jones who created the original GTA series. Real Time World was also known for creating the game Crackdown previously to releasing APB. However it seems like nothing could ever go right for APB and at 4 PM BST EA and Real Time Worlds announced that the game and servers will be shutting down. Check past the break for more info.

“APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end.Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone’s best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close. It’s been a pleasure working on APB and with all its players. Together we were building an absolutely amazing game, and for that, we thank you. You guys are awesome!

From all of the Realtime World staff we thank you for your continued support.
The servers are still up, so join the party and say goodbye!”
- Ben ‘APBMonkey’ Bateman (Community Officer)

“Press F to apply for Jobseekers Allowance.”- Ben Hall (Development QA)

That was posted on their blog along with other well wishes and apologies from the team. It appears to be as much a surprise to the RTW staff as the player base as only yesterday they were announcing an update. It makes one wonder what had happened in the span of 24 hours to change the game from being updated to shutting down. Perhaps we will never know. All I do know is if you have APB and you enjoy it, make sure to get your licks in before its locked up.

[Thanks go to my friend "ShyGuy" for the tip.]