Update: Reality Studios Acquisition - APRIL FOOLS!!!

[[R-DEV]AncientMan]

We would like to formally announce, that the reality studios acquisition notice is indeed False and was part of our traditional April Fools.

I would like to assure you that we have not stopped work on any of our Projects whatsoever, and we have NO ties to BF3 / EA or DICE in the slightest.

PR: BF2 continues in vain like all the rest of our work.

PR: ArmA2 has not been cancelled, if anything the work flow has recently increased with some new additions to the team, and an update to follow very soon.

ACE do not have any of our work, they have played along with this too - big Thank you goes out to sickboy from ACE

For the ArmA2 community, who may be new to this tradition I apologise that it leaked over there (I kind of knew it would though...lol).

It caused well over 200 posts within 24 Hours - so it had some effect.

I especially like the following quotes:

BIS Forums (Captured prior to it being edited)

<blockquote>Hellfire257:
Well that was a kick in the teeth. At first I thought this was an early April fools. Well, its still the 31st here.

https://www.realitymod.com/forum/f38...quisition.html

Disgraceful. You hype all this up, get a team on board, then bail on the community. Pretty disgusting actually.

Now as best as I can say this, sod off. You've let many people down by doing this. The least you could do is to release what you have as open source, but I doubt you will.</blockquote>
<blockquote>CannonousCrash:
There is also nothing offical from EA, who i guess dont have time for 'silly' april fools jokes.

I hope its a joke because it would be a massive loss to lose PR from Arma, although im sure some people might disagree with me.</blockquote>

PR Forums
<blockquote>martinhjerpe:
Since the developers are confirming it's true so I guess we have to take their word for it....

Why would you post something like this on april 1st when it's not a joke? You have to have done that on purpose, why? You think the best way to finnish is to fuck with the whole communtiy? I hope that made you happy, because it sure had the opposite effect on the communtiy.

I sure hope you make quite an impact on BF3 so I've got something to look forward to.

I am officially disappointed that you won't even make a first release of PR:Arma 2
Not cool, won't be the same thing with ACE PVP. I know they're not going to properly use that material.</blockquote>
<blockquote>Damian:
Mabey thats a double joke and devs want us to think this is a joke when its not, or mabey triple and they know, we know, they know it.</blockquote>
<blockquote>DDS:
If it's a joke I don't think it's funny. It's juvenile and even more so while we wait and see if it is a joke on the community. Making fake maps is funny, this isn't funny. Where are the mature adults at Reality Studios.</blockquote>
<blockquote>CBT02:
i dont think its funny to take advantage of your most dedicated community like this .... if this is in fact fake. im still in doubt cos last year it turned out it wasnt an april fools joke....

so did I or did I not buy combined ops for nothing ? .....</blockquote>
<blockquote>Fuzzy McDoodle:
Great job with the acquisition, but were you not here for the community? Did you already forget how many people will looking forward to ArmA 2 PR and Vietnam?

I'm happy for you guys, but can't help but to be honestly extremely disappointed. I wish you luck on PR2 (whenever that may come out) and getting EA to bring mod tools to BF3.</blockquote>
<blockquote>acemantura:
"This is the End, my lonely friend, the end."

It looks like RealityMod.com will be going down soon guys. I just talked to [R-DEV] PRBot and he said he loves me and they are going to put him down.

What did PRBot do to deserve this!</blockquote>
<blockquote>Ridge:
I was also about to buy Arma 2. Was so looking forward to it. I just hope I can get it before 0.1 comes out.</blockquote>
<blockquote>martinhjerpe:
Building up all this hype, talking about what they want to accomplish with the mod in the future, what goals they have, why even bother when you kinda knew this was going to happen. Podcast and all. Such a waste, such a letdown. I think it's too sudden, that's all. few weeks ago they had goals far ahead and posted that podcast and all, and then..... "screw this, we're not gonna do it". Way to go!</blockquote>

Finally please be assured our main priority is and always will be to our Fantastic Community, we would never Jump Ship on you, and you can quote me on that

@ The Devs .... back to work now, there is a lot to do

Thank you



- Project Reality Team



<big>Original Post:</big>
<blockquote>Today we have some very exciting news to share regarding the future of the Project Reality! Following some recent developments in the Project Reality: BF2 modification, and some closed door talks with Electronic Arts, we are proud to announce the acquisition of Reality Studios by EA Games!

What must surely come as a shock to our community, especially after EA's lack of serious community involvement with Battlefield modding teams, it has in fact been a decision brewing over many years. And with the recent breakthrough of 128 player support in Project Reality: BF2, something that has not been done before on a Battlefield game, EA saw promise in our work, and seized the opportunity to aquire our award winning team.

So what does this mean?
This means a few things for Project Reality and the Reality Studios Team:

1. A few select members of Reality Studios will be working directly with Digital Illusions CE on the upcoming game, Battlefield 3. Among the various tasks these people will be working on is implementation 128 player support on PC, as well as modification tools and scripts. Although previously announced that Battlefield 3 will be limited to 64 players on PC, and modification tools were unlikely, while true when announced, this acquisition has given DICE the opportunity to explore and develop these areas of the game before BF3 ships. We will also be advising existing DICE developers and helping to tweak the well known Battlefield gameplay to promote a more real and deadly environment. Realistic weapon handling and ballistics is one of the major points covered, as well as heavy focus on teamwork. The members of this offshoot team will be made public upon some final negotiations with EA and DICE, however we can confirm that [R-DEV]Chuc has already been hard at work developing some concept art for Battlefield 3.
   
2. Remaining Project Reality: BF2 developers will be working on the next and final version to this long running modification, v0.96. This version will contain mostly bugfixes and some performance tweaks, as well as a few new assets for everyone to put to good use on the battlefield. It will not contain any new community factions, Vietnam, or 128 player support, as unfortunately this requires far too much work with the now small and limited team. Some may be confused as to why we do not call this final version v1.0, but as we have always said when asked, 1.0 is just a number, and we do not believe that it represents anything that previous version numbers have not.
   
3. Unfortunately, Project Reality: ARMA 2 is now cancelled. The work already done on what was a promising modification will instead be used as an internal testing tool for features in Battlefield 3 and Project Reality 2. We would like to thank Bohemia Interactive for their excellent support, and implementation of requested features. Although we will now not be using these added features, we hope that other modifications can benefit instead.
   
4. Project Reality 2 is still going ahead! Members from the ARMA 2 team, and BF2 team once work is complete on v0.96, will be joining the PR2 team to give it a massive boost in manpower. As well as this, veteran developers from Electronic Arts will be joining the team to offer skills and advice for this ambitious project. More news regarding this transition will be announced in the next few weeks, but needless to say, this has massively reduced the length of time required to complete an initial release.

We understand that many community members will be disappointed by this news, in particular the cancellation of Project Reality: ARMA 2 and the Vietnam expansion of Project Reality: BF2, however we must devote our resources to more viable commercial projects. We would like to stress that Project Reality is not over, there is still Project Reality 2 to look forward to, especially now with it now being the major focus for Reality Studios.

We would like to thank all previous Project Reality developers. Each and every developer, no matter the role, has participated in some way to help Project Reality be what it has become today. Also, to other modification teams and modding enthusists for Battlefield 2 and ARMA 2, we hope that the modding community still remains strong and we wish you luck in your future endeavours. Finally, we would like to thank the community. Without you, the Project Reality name would not be as strong as it is now, and for that, we thank you for your previous and current support, and look forward to your future support for Project Reality 2 as well.

- The Reality Studios Team</blockquote>

[volks]

So no PR Arma 2 eh?

[Ridge]

Although I was really looking forward to Arma 2 I wish you the best of luck on PR2. Thanks for what you have done for the BF2 community.

[MaxBooZe]

Ancientman from Australia, 1st of April?

[Hitman.2.5]

April fails

[Ridge]

I'm starting to hate April

[Zrix]

At first I was like, WTF

Then I looked at the calendar and was like, WTF

Silly Australians.

[volks]

Aah freaking timezone thingy. pff I've been fooled i admit.

[Napoleon_TR]

you almost got me AncientMan

[Ridge]

Yep its still march here. I have made a darn fool of myself.