Foreign interest in Realtime Worlds

Beleaguered Dundee studio Realtime Worlds may be taken out of administration at the hands of a foreign company, Develop has learned.

The distinguished development house, which employed over 200 staff at the beginning of the month, was yesterday taken into administration following “lacklustre” demand for its latest title APB.

But early signs are positive for the company – Develop has been told that Realtime Worlds is receiving high levels of interest “from both sides of the Atlantic”.

Administrator Begbies Traynor is now carefully looking through the company’s books, while also deliberating on what it yesterday said was “inevitable redundancies”.

[Update: Joint administrator Paul Dounis, of business rescue group Begbies Traynor, confirmed that at least one US company is interested in buying the Dundee studio.

However, he added that there is interest from UK studios as well.

”We are actively pursuing all these expressions of interest which have come from both the UK and US,” he said.]

Begbies Traynor also confirmed that 157 staff at Realtime Worlds had been made redundant in a bid to steer the firm back to good health.

The overseas interest in Realtime Worlds is reminiscent of the same early interest shown in Nottingham studio Free Radical Design – which went bust in December 2008 and was bought by Germany-headquartered outfit Crytek.