No APB For Australia Due to Lack of Local Servers?

Kotaku has ran a report which claims that the upcoming MMO-shooter APB will not be released in Australia due to a lack of local servers.

Due to the nature of the game, which requires more robust servers than standard MMOs, servers need to be located close to the game’s region. This results in an Australian server being essential for decent gameplay.

The problem is that developer Realtime Worlds isn’t going to offer servers in the Australian region, meaning that the game can’t be released; something supplier EA has confirmed. So, no APB for Australia.

Kotaku points out that Australian gamers could import a US game, use a US credit card and then connect to a US server, but that isn’t exactly an easy fix and would probably result in seriously laggy gameplay.

So why isn’t Realtime Worlds investing in the servers for Australia? Cost could be a factor, and the income from Oz gamers just might not justify the spending needed to launch the game in the country.

Whatever the reason, it’s a shame for Australian gamers (who haven’t exactly had a good time in getting games), although saying that, there’s been a general air of mediocrity over APB, and there’s that crazy pricing scheme. So they might not be missing that much after all.