The company is hoping APB — which is released in the US today and will be available across Europe and the UK by the end of the week — can emulate the market-leading game World of Warcraft, which generates more than $1.5 billion in revenue each year.

APB is set in the fictional city of San Paro, where there is a brutal turf war between Enforcers and Criminals.

Realtime Worlds studio manager Colin Macdonald said the release of APB was a “huge moment” for the company and its 200-plus employees.

He said, “Reaction has been great so far. Although the game isn’t on sale here yet, we’ve allowed early access for those who have placed pre-orders, so there are already thousands of folk having fun with it.

“One of the great benefits of it being an online game is that we can continue indefinitely to keep adding to it and tweaking what’s already there.

“It (APB) has been in development for over five years, so litres of blood, sweat and tears have been poured in along with several tons of pizzas keeping everyone fuelled up, as they’ve worked late into the night on hundreds of occasions.

“As a games developer, that moment when you walk into a store and see your game on the shelf is always emotional, so we’re very much looking forward to that.”