When developer Realtime Worlds entered into bankrupcy, their MMO APB: All Points Bulletin was pulled down from servers. While there had been hope that another company would buy the game from Realtime, many believed that APB was simply an artifact of the past, never to be revived. There's news today that the game some had declared dead will be given a second chance at life.

A posting on the website of GamersFirst, a site that specializes in free play MMOs, has announced that APB has been purchased by a subsidiary company called Reloaded Productions. Reloaded plans to relaunch APB in the first half of 2011 as a free MMO title. As part of the deal, all former Realtime employees will receive any owed wages and bonuses. The company is hoping that APB, much like Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online, can make its way in the marketplace on the strength of microtransactions.

In a statement, GamersFirst CEO Joshua Hong said, "The acquisition of APB is an important complement to our main Free2Play third-party publishing business... The core principle is to completely eliminate any economic barrier for our gamers to try a game."

Although APB enjoyed generally good critical reception, it had a hard time attracting and keeping a subscription base. Chances are the combination of GamersFirst's loyal attach base and a free to play setup will lead to future success for the game. Only time will tell.