GamersFirst is reporting that they’ve recently appointed David Jones as the newest member of Reloaded Productions, were he’ll serve an advisory role for the upcoming APB Reloaded title.

“The opportunity to have David reconnect with us during the production of the new ‘APB Reloaded’ game has been great and it lets us take advantage of both a deeper understanding of the original vision of APB, as well as leveraging the strengths of the Free2Play model used in the new ‘APB Reloaded’ game,” said Bjorn Book-Larsson, COO and CTO of GamersFirst in a statement.

This is a major score for GamersFirst, as Jones’ pedigree is something to be marveled. He’s credited as the creator of the “Grand Theft Auto” franchise, as well as it’s MMO successor, “APB: All Points Bulletin”. Post GTA, Jones split from DMA Design (later to become Rockstar North) in 1999 to create Realtime Worlds in 2001. Seeking to recreate his success, Jones and Co. released “Crackdown” in 2007. Crackdown was an Xbox only affair, and offered up an action-adventure, third person shooter, published by Microsoft. Post Crackdown, Realtime Worlds put it’s full resources towards the creation of APB: All Points Bulletin, resulting in one of the worlds’ most customizable MMOs to date. Now coming full circle, APB Reloaded is slated for a May 18th Open beta, and presents players with a truly open-world of cops and robbers’ adventure.

“This game was my passion back when I was developing it with Realtime Worlds, and I’m extremely excited to be able to participate in fulfilling the long term vision for the title,” Jones stated. “After seeing what the team has done with the game thus far, I’m certain that APB Reloaded will become the title that truly breaks new ground for online game experiences, especially with transition to a free to play model.”

“Allowing players to try out key aspects of the game before committing to making purchases fits this game tremendously well” Jones added.

Again, on tap for May 18th, APB Reloaded is a free-to-play, third person MMO based in the modern-day fictitious city of San Paro. As the city crumbles to it’s knees, players choose their faction, Enforcers (the good guys) or Criminals (the bad guys). Having chosen sides, the battle ensues, with players battling for turf, committing or preventing petty crimes, and gaining reputation and respect within their chosen organization. APB Reloaded promises to deliver non-stop chaos, and offers up some of the most complete set of customization tools to date.

The APB Reloaded closed beta is currently underway, but the open beta begins on May 18th, with interested parties able to sign up directly at gamersfirst.com/apb.