GTA Creator’s New MMO Goes To Korea

Representatives from South Korean online publisher Webzen have announced that the company has won the world-wide publishing rights to the first online game developed by David Jones – the original creator of the Grand Theft Auto series. The new game is named All Points Bulletin (APB – no relation to the Atari coin-op of the same name) and is developed by Jones’ Scottish development company Real Time World. The new massively multiplayer online (MMO) game involves two main factions, one law abiding, the other not, fighting over a series of online cities. The game is scheduled for release in early 2007 and will be shown for the first time publicly at this year’s E3 show in May. In the Far East, Webzen has already found considerable success, with its most successful MMO title, MU, attracting over 56 million users and a half million concurrent users from that market alone. In January of this year, Webzen announced its expansion into the U.S. market and the opening of a Los Angeles office. It intends to bring multiple online game titles to the U.S. market, in addition to APB - including a MMO first person shoot ‘em-up called Huxley that uses the Unreal 3 game engine. The company also intends to publish titles on the next generation consoles.