Remember when Realtime World’s studio head Colin MacDonald said he doubted Microsoft would harm their “otherwise fruitful existing development relationship” by handing Crackdown 2 over to a “startup on RTW’s doorstep,” referring to Ruffian Games, the new Dundee-based development studio employing several ex-RTW staffers who worked on the first game?

Well, funny story - they handed Crackdown 2 over to said startup, which has left Realtime Worlds CEO David Jones a “bit miffed at Microsoft.”

Speaking with GI.biz, Jones said that Realtime Worlds was ready to start work on Crackdown 2 before Crackdown was even released, but moved on to APB when Microsoft failed to green light the sequel. And now that they have decided to continue the orb-centric franchise, the slighted developer is none too happy that it’s being helmed by a company located in the same town, drawing from the same talent pool and staffed primarily by former employees. “It is challenging to get enough developers in one region as it is,” said Jones. “It’s just one of those awkward moments. In terms of the franchise, as always - as with anything we’ve created - we’re always keen to see it do great things [but] was there really no way it could have been done by one of the studios Microsoft shut down?”