Jobs hope after Realtime Worlds collapse

The company had just released its new online role-playing game APB

More than 20 staff made redundant last week by video games firm Realtime Worlds have been given their jobs back.

Bafta-winning Realtime went into administration on Tuesday with the loss of 157 jobs at the company's headquarters in Dundee.

The redundancies came on top of 60 announced last week, but 23 people will now go back to Realtime.

The staff will work on a social gaming project "MyWorld", which administrators hope will attract potential buyers.

Going concern

The collapse of Realtime, founded by the creator of Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto, followed disappointing sales of its latest title, online role-playing game APB.

It also came after the UK games industry was denied a long hoped for tax break. The measure was cancelled by Chancellor George Osborne in June as part of a raft of cost-saving measures in the coalition government's first budget.

MPs and MSPs from Labour and the SNP have called on the UK government to rethink the policy.

Administrators Begbies Traynor have said they are hopeful of selling the firm as a going concern after interest from would-be buyers on both sides of the Atlantic.

"We are actively pursuing all these expressions of interest which have come from both the UK and US," joint administrator Paul Dounis said.

As well as the 157 redundancies at Realtime's Dundee HQ, 28 staff were laid off on Wednesday at the business's US base in Colorado.

The company was viewed as one of the biggest players in the UK computer games market.