Well, that was quick. According to an announcement on Realtime World's website, the company's crime-based MMO APB: All Points Bulletin is shutting down for good, most likely in the next 24 hours. So soon, it will be the end of the world for devoted APB players.

Below is the official statement from Realtime Worlds:

"APB has been a fantastic journey, but unfortunately that journey has come to a premature end. Today we are sad to announce that despite everyone's best efforts to keep the service running; APB is coming to a close. It's been a pleasure working on APB and with all its players. Together we were building an absolutely amazing game, and for that, we thank you. You guys are awesome!

From all of the Realtime World staff we thank you for your continued support.

The servers are still up, so join the party and say goodbye! -

Ben 'APBMonkey' Bateman (Community Officer)"

The last time we heard from Realtime, the company was releasing a patch for APB, apb gold and looking for a "white knight" to deliver captial to save the ailing company.Although there is apparently still interest in some parts of the company, they were not able to find an investor interested in paying to keep APB up and running.

The game launched in June, and was troubled by poor shooting mechanics and a lack of subscribers, as well as less-than-stellar reviews.

The upshot: If you have APB, you oughta pop your head in there real quick and join the end-of-the-world party that is no doubt going down right now, until they pull the plug on the servers and shut down APB for ever and ever.