Dave Jones quells ‘Epic job’ claim

UPDATE: Dave Jones has since contacted Develop, and posted below, to clarify that this story is not true, and that Herald has made a mistake. Jones says he is still living in Dundee with no plans to leave the city currently.

The man who co-founded Rockstar North is rumoured to have left the UK to join Unreal Engine vendor Epic Games.

Dave Jones, who founded Realtime Worlds in 2002, crept out of the public eye over the last two months while his studio fell into administration and eventually closed.

His rumoured escape to the US may see him reunited with his firm’s last project, APB, as last month Epic Games was rumoured to have bought the IP of the failed MMO.

National newspaper the Herald reports that Jones “has been linked with a senior post at North Carolina-based Epic Games, and is known to be a close friend of its chief executive Mark Rein.”

Develop has contacted Epic Games for clarification on the issue.

It was last month when Epic Games was first approached with rumours that it had bought the APB IP, to which the firm responded: “If any [buyout] talks are going on, then they would be confidential."

Realtime Worlds’ Dundee studio closed last month after buyer interest in the studio failed to materialise into a deal.

Administrator Begbies Traynor said, however, that interest still surrounds the APB IP.

“It is understood that there are a number of companies interested in buying the game,” claimed the Herald report.

“Some are said to want to put it back into development for a few months, while others are said to be interested in the customer-relationship software.

“Begbies is currently carrying out due diligence on various offers and is planning to reach a decision in the coming weeks.”

If suggestions of Epic’s APB buyout turn out to be accurate, then it would be RTW’s second IP to travel across the Atlantic.

Develop revealed last month that an anonymous US company – now claimed to be VC firm New Enterprise Associates – has bought the IP for RTW’s second game Project Myworld.