LA Noire dev responds to controversy

By Robert Purchese Published 27 June, 2011

Boss McNamara faces talk of exploitation.

Brendan McNamara, boss of L.A. Noire developer Team Bondi, has responded to accusations of exploitative working practices at the Sydney, Australia-based studio.

It's been reported that 130 people who worked on the project were omitted from the game's credits. Former employees blame uncompensated and astronomic overtime, as well as a destructive and thankless working climate.

McNamara didn't pour water on these allegations when speaking to IGN.

"I'm not in any way upset or disappointed by what I've done and what I've achieved," he told IGN, reflecting on the L.A. Noire project, which took seven years.

"I'm not even remotely defensive about it. If people want to do what I've done – to come here and do that – then good luck to them. If people who've left the company want to go out there and have some success, then good luck to them. If they don't want to do that with me, that's fine, too.

"It's like musical differences in a rock and roll band, right? People say they do want to do it; some don't."

"The expectation is slightly weird here, that you can do this stuff without killing yourself," added McNamara. "Well, you can't, whether it's in London or New York or wherever; you're competing against the best people in the world at what they do, and you just have to be prepared to do what you have to do to compete against those people."

IGN heard from 11 former Team Bondi employees. They reported working 60-hour weeks up to 80 and 110-hour weeks around monthly milestones. Those numbers boil down to 12 hours a day for 60 hours a week, 16 hours a day for 80 hours a week and 22 hours a day for 110 hours a week.

"We all work the same hours," McNamara explained. "People don't work any longer hours than I do. I don't turn up at 9am and go home at 5pm, and go to the beach. I'm here at the same hours as everybody else is.

"We're making stuff that's never been made before. We're making a type of game that's never been made before. We're making it with new people, and new technology. People who're committed to put in whatever hours they think they need to."

"If you wanted to do a nine-to-five job, you'd be in another business," he said.

Another former employee described Brendan McNamara as "the angriest person" they'd ever met. Apparently it wasn't uncommon for the Team Bondi boss to "scream" at someone in the middle of the office.

"Am I passionate about making the game?" countered McNamara. "Absolutely. Do you think that I'm going to voice my opinion? Absolutely. But I don't think that's verbal abuse."

L.A. Noire began in 2004 with the formation of Team Bondi, which was built with key staff from Sony's Team Soho - the studio responsible for The Getaway. In 2007, following reports of unfair working practices, a team-building company called Leading Teams was called in.

Leading Teams made McNamara move his desk away from the bulk of the staff force so he was in isolation. But McNamara's pacing up and apparently down proved just as disruptive.

Another Leading Teams exercise involved Team Bondi being given the chance to tell McNamara, en masse, what they thought of him. McNamara couldn't remember the content of people's comments. "Some people said good things and some people said bad things," he said.

Did he take on their feedback? "I don't know, it was 2007."

McNamara maintained that there was "a bonus scheme" in place for overtime work, even though one former employee reported not having seen any in three years and three months. It's there, McNamara said - but his studio didn't have to do it. "I've done 20 years of not getting paid for doing that kind of stuff," he said. "I don't begrudge it. I get the opportunity to make these things."

L.A. Noire ended up taking seven years to make - a process stilted by a high turnover and inexperienced staff having to get to grips with a hodge-podge of other people's work before progress could be made. The result? Eurogamer's L.A. Noire review awarded 8/10 to a fascinating detective game with a great setting and unprecedented facial motion-capture.

The new Electroplating DLC for L.A. Noire.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (82) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • vegard #1 11 months ago

    Bosses often have to be cunts. It's what makes them bosses.

  • arcam #2 11 months ago

    I actually don't believe they worked 22 hours a day for a whole week. Which TBH, makes me wonder what else in this report is exaggerated or untrue.

  • captain_Carl #3 11 months ago

    What a knob

  • frunk #4 11 months ago

    He sounds like a Grade A asshat.

  • riceNpea #5 11 months ago

    did someone put a gun to their head to work these hours? bloody whingers. i regularly work long hours because my job requires it.

    don't want to do it then go elsewhere.

  • Reemul #6 11 months ago

    Well he denied nothign which is as good as admitting it from a man in his position.

    Bosses often have to be nasty but anything bosses do that have negative impact on the process, product or aoutcome means they are managing poorly. i see nothing but poor management from him really. 7 years for what, new facial software and a mediocre game.

  • TeeHee #7 11 months ago

    Don't they have a union or guild or something similar?

    if there is such a thing and they haven't joined it then it's pretty much their own fault.

    If such a organisation doesn't exist then maybe, at the rate similar cases seem to be coming to light, they should really think about forming one

  • hulahoops #8 11 months ago

    Ah, sounds just like a producer I worked with.

    About 10 years ago.

    We don't work like this any more. It doesn't create good games, it's just terrible management. If the project had been sensibly managed he wouldn't have needed to pour people into the grinder.

  • CosmicFuzz #9 11 months ago

    He sounds like a total asshole of a boss. Fuck working for that.

  • PinktotheLast #10 11 months ago

    It's the way globalised capitalism is meant to work. The end game for the kind of corporate-run plutocracy that we are creating is that everyone works 12 hour days for low pay, or they get someone else. Once you destroy welfare, and you destroy unions, that is the inevitable result. In a truly globalised workplace you can't really expect to paid more than the world's average wage, which is being undercut by autocracies like China. If you would starve if you didn't have a job, wouldn't you work 12 hour days, with no holidays?
    If this is a price everyone thinks is worth paying, then that's fine. But bear in mind there are other options, we don't have to run the world like this. If that means we get less L.A. Noire's, but people dont have to kill themselves to make a living, I'll take that.

  • agparrot #11 11 months ago

    I don't see the bit where he 'responds' to the whole people-not-being-on-the-credits thing.

    Also, comparing his own 'unpaid' time to that of perhaps less well salaried staff isn't entirely fair.

    I can't see any of these 'scandals' - the San Diego RDR one, or this one, ever going away or being disproven, or actually not happening time and time again. When there is lots of work to do, with a limited pot of people, those people are going to get ridden hard.

    Which I suppose they sort of signed up for. To then not credit them seems a bit mean, in my humble opinion, even if they have left the project before it finishes.

  • Innes #12 11 months ago

    Sounds like a boss you dont want to work for in a creative industry. Micro managment to the extreme, even the team brought in made him move away from the team (what does that tell you). Making media should be a collaborative process, not a dictatorship.

  • P1GEONPOO #13 11 months ago

    "we all work the same hours"
    Yeah but I bet you sit in ya posh office asleep for half the day tw@.

  • X201 #14 11 months ago

    Shouldn't it be "pour oil"?

  • God_Octo #15 11 months ago

    The people at Bondi must be incredibly talented if they managed to produce such an innovative, exciting and fun game with such an Overlord. From what McNamara says, he doesn't deny any of it. Hopefully it gets better for them, and they can do us another LA Noire, but not taking 7 years this time.

  • IronCladChicken #16 11 months ago

    @vegard
    Only bad bosses need to be cunts.

  • redneon Verified Programmer, SUMO Digital #17 11 months ago

    This guy is the pure personification of everything that's wrong with working practices in the games industry and he can fuck right off. I work for a large studio and I do a fair bit of overtime on every project but I never feel like I'm obligated to do it (and nor should I be). I always feel that it's appreciated by the studio, not required, and they're always thankful.

    After reading that I'm actually wishing that I hadn't bought the game. No way would I want to support that prick.

  • Dapper_Dan #18 11 months ago

    @riceNpea
    The difference being you got PAID for those long hours.

  • Embar #19 11 months ago

    "The expectation is slightly weird here, that you can do this stuff without killing yourself,"

    Actually you can, with less brute force and a little more actual talent.

  • Dubya #20 11 months ago

    Team Bondi will be MUCH better off without someone like McNamara. Because contrary to his beliefs, people actually perform better in pleasant environments.
    What an arrogant, self-righteous prick!

  • Innes #21 11 months ago

    @redneon

    agree, i too wish i hadnt bought this game. Strike Team Bondi as a wishlist of places to work for me, great product but would never work at a place like that.

  • Arsecake_Baker #22 11 months ago

    It was a boss like this that got me sacked from my last job after i decked him and walked out!

    Probably not a good idea for me to get a job in the games industry then! :p

  • SteveHolt #23 11 months ago

    Look at McNamara while he's talking - looks agitated, nervously shakes his head, ostensibly avoids eye contact. LIE! "can you prove it?" "Nothing personal, just doing my job, you understand that". ASK COMMUNITY! 56.6% think he's full of shit. DOUBT! McNamara runs! Steal a car! Get closer! I'm gonna shoot the tires! He has a gun!Shoot him in the back! "Detective Phelps, badge 1427, suspect down, repeat, the suspect is down, we have a code4, whatever that means!"
    Edited by SteveHolt at 27/06/11 @ 14:46

  • SEVQA #24 11 months ago

    As I said in a previous thread 'a crunch in development is a failure in development.

    "We all work the same hours," McNamara explained

    Except how much did he get paid for those same hours in comparison!

  • MavSkipper #25 11 months ago

    Thank god I'm not an idiot who works himself to death and not in the games industry. Lesson learned.

  • Crea #26 11 months ago

    He sounds like a grade-A, self-justifying toss pot. It's all very well for the studio boss to be saying 'this is the games industry, we do it for the love'. Except he's on wild bonuses and therefore has the greatest possible incentive to grind his people into dust.

    Kind of reminds me of rich people saying 'money isn't important'. It's always these asshole studio bosses saying the games industry is about passion and love, and 'we work these hours because we want to'.

    Here's the thing, though, asshole boss - your underlings don't get a life-altering amount of money if the game is a hit. It's just a job to them, albeit a potentially awesome one.

  • jebus #27 11 months ago

    @TeeHee "Don't they have a union or guild or something similar?

    Hahaha - you don't work in games I take it

  • Jamiesan #28 11 months ago

    Actually, 110 hour weeks are 15 hour days. It says in the original article that they worked 7 day weeks (although contracted for 5) and one guy got bollocked for asking for a weekend off to spend with his family.

  • Kami #29 11 months ago

    Clearly from the Kotick School of Games Management...

  • Kerome #30 11 months ago

    Sounds like the kind of boss you should avoid like the plague... where did i put that blacklist...

  • dkelly85 #31 11 months ago

    one man bellend convention

  • Eldritch #32 11 months ago

    "The expectation is slightly weird here, that you can do this stuff without killing yourself," added McNamara. "Well, you can't, whether it's in London or New York or wherever;"

    What a tosser.

  • spongebob #33 11 months ago

    By the way, that IGN Australia article is A+ grade games journalism. Superb job!
    Edited by spongebob at 27/06/11 @ 15:05

  • repeater #34 11 months ago

    Leading Teams made McNamara move his desk away from the bulk of the staff force so he was in isolation.

    Sounds like a good idea, someone at Rockstar should consider extending that treatment indefinitely.

  • windflaw #35 11 months ago

    @arcam: If you work weekends though 110 hours can be achieved in manageable 16-hour blocks:

    - 9am-1am Monday to Saturday
    - 10am-midnight on Sundays

    It happens, unfortunately.

  • Daeltaja #36 11 months ago

    This guy sounds like a complete and utter dick. Seen some dev commentaries from him and he comes across cold and genuinely scary. He reminds me of Hank from Breaking Bad.

    I'm sorry Mr. McNamara, but if you have to resort to shouting down your team, which unsuprisingly had a high turnover and expressing frustration in front of everyone, your not doing your job very well. Anyway, you spent 7 years making impressive facial technology, nothing else. I think it's you sir, that belongs in a different industry.

    That extends beyond Team Bondi though, but that's already been discussed in the R* threads.

    I tell you what though, Hank, I won't be giving your studio another cent of my money.
    Edited by Daeltaja at 27/06/11 @ 15:12

  • Crea #37 11 months ago

    It's also worth pointing out there's a lot of studios that make better games than Team Bondi, and are also much nicer places to work. Valve spring to mind.

  • RobotRocker #38 11 months ago

    Don't they have a union or guild or something similar

    Problem is that a fair amount of people involved in the industry are libertarian manchildren (especially in the US) and anyone who sets up a proper union or joins one would be blackballed from the industry post-haste because "SOCIALISM".

    Some studios do have workers protection and can strike (In the Scandinavian countries and France in particular) but the rest of the world is a crapshoot.

    I'm not sure if they are still going forward with it but the British media union BECTU is planning on allowing people from the video game industry to join and be properly represented soon (AFIAK you can join but the resources are slim on the Video Game side at the minute)

  • silversun #39 11 months ago

    I read this yesterday and it gave me a huge amount respect for all people working to make games, i think sometime from gamer point of view we want alot of great stuff from games but reading this is an eye opener into what goes into making these games and also the issues that face workers and project leaders.

    Games may be my hobby but i not sure i could work in that industry because my passion for it might fade away and the fact that i have no experience lol.

    All kind of jobs are tough and they each have there own challenges, i hope that people that worked there that did not have a good experience, will find something they love doing or have a different experience elsewhere.

  • HL706 #40 11 months ago

    Reminds me of my last boss. On my first day I knew I'd walked into a bad place when he was explaining to the new project manager that you can't develop games without crunch. 12 months later and we had an almighty fallout after working 27 consecutive 12+ hour days with no paid overtime. What did we fall out over? I left on the Friday afternoon of the 28th day at 4pm instead of 5.

    I quit the following Monday and have never felt better. How these people get into positions of power within the industry I'll never know.

  • Sodding_Gamer #41 11 months ago

    I watched a developer interview for L.A Noire before it was released and he didn't seem to give a shit tbf. And he was being really sarcastic to the girl who was interviewing him. So first impressions of him just from a video didn't look great. So I kinda believe the accusations to be honest. Seems a right nob.

  • bratmandu #42 11 months ago

    If it took 7 years to make a game with all the interactivity of a dvd menu - I'd be screaming at people too.
    Edited by bratmandu at 27/06/11 @ 15:23

  • fabiosooner #43 11 months ago

    #5 is right.

    People need to know what they actually want. No one is obligated to work this or that job. No one is obligated to breast feed you.

    Unless there's proof of verbal or physical abuse, the only real problem here is not acknowledging everyone in the credits.

  • str8g8 #44 11 months ago

    Anyone contemplating boycotting developers with poor working practices should find themselves another hobby. Unfortunately this is the rule rather than the exception in the games industry, at least in my experience. It really makes no sense to single out R* - they are no better or worse then any other. Why do they get away with it? Because they can. Because it is a cool job and there are people queuing up to take your place. It sucks but that's the way it is - market forces, supply and demand. Until someone can prove that these poor working conditions lead to poor games, or more importantly poor sales, then it will continue.
    Edited by str8g8 at 27/06/11 @ 15:28

  • darc #45 11 months ago

    Everytime I regret not having started a career in games development, I read a story like this one. Suddenly 9-5 sounds like a vacation.

    Sure do wish I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon while people were paying good money for "fart apps", though.

  • kinth #46 11 months ago

    i dont believe the 22 hour days crap, after you had gotten home and releaxed that would be say 30 mins sleep then back to work no one could do that for 7 days straight you would pass out from exhaustion.

    and as a business it would be counter productive to ask people to do this since they're productivity would be at an all time low due to being extremely tired.

    12 and 16 hour days is believable.
    but im sorry 22 hour days is a load of shite.

    as for his response to it yeh hes a bit of a dick.

  • RobotRocker #47 11 months ago

    did someone put a gun to their head to work these hours? bloody whingers. i regularly work long hours because my job requires it.

    don't want to do it then go elsewhere.

    People need to know what they actually want. No one is obligated to work this or that job. No one is obligated to breast feed you.

    Unless there's proof of verbal or physical abuse, the only real problem here is not acknowledging everyone in the credits.

    I love ignorance. No one has the right to be abused at their workplace and no one has the right. The unfortunate thing is that due to the economic conditions and need to provide for themselves and their families a lot of people couldn't leave. A lot of Australian studios like Krome and Pandemic have shut down recently and there simply was no other option other than to look for a smaller studio move to Canada or hope a US Studio could pay for a work permit.

    The fact that such abuse is handwaved as "HERP SHUT UP AND TAKE YER ABUSE YER LUCKY TO HAVE A JOB" is rather disturbing, really.

  • Raiko101 #48 11 months ago

    I look forward to a future in which all major game studios have collapsed and those most passionate about making games form smaller companies that can push out more original material from greater working environments. These ridiculously big budget games will not last.

  • paulf #49 11 months ago

    'we all work the same hours'

    that's the lamest excuse I've ever heard, change your culture, treat people better and manage your projects more effectively

    by the way people doing work and not getting paid for it is called slavery

  • Eldritch #50 11 months ago

    I've seen kids coming in on Sunday to see their dad at least once a week. And we had people suffering a stroke and still not stopping to write code (with one hand).

    If you're the boss you have to set a positive example and protect people from themselves, especially the younger ones.
    Edited by Eldritch at 27/06/11 @ 15:50

  • LOLLERS #51 11 months ago

    That Leading Teams stuff is remarkable. I'm pretty sure if you had your entire team telling you what they thought of you en-masse, you wouldn't forget the bad things in a hurry.

  • HL706 #52 11 months ago

    Btw, a 110 hour week is believable - *if* you do your calculations based on a 7 day week and not 5 like in the article.

    Accross 7 days a 110 hour week would be around 16 hour days every day. Given these guys are claiming to have not had alot of weekends it sounds entriely realistic to me.

  • jefranklin18 #53 11 months ago

    I think he needs to look up the word hubris.
    Tbh I am not in the least bit surprised by this. When I did my MBA on Aus, one of the lecturers was an advocate of Machiavellian management - far from inspiring

  • Inmediasress #54 11 months ago

    @PinktotheLast
    Well it's a fact that capitalism doesn't work just like communism doesn't work.
    Mankind is inherently flawed in a way that everybody always want's more, it doesn't matter if somebody has to die for it in extreme cases just like it doesn't really bugs people that while in Africa and other regions people and children at that, die from hunger every day when the world makes so much excess from everything (not just food that) everybody could have almost any item from food to big screen TVs.
    Every human has it in them, the capacity for indescribable acts of cruelty that I really mean indescribable but also great potential for reason and kindness unfortunately guess which one is easier to induce in people.
    If there is really a God(by the way I don't believe) he/she or it really made some serious flaws in the creation process.

  • kangarootoo #55 11 months ago

    "Bosses often have to be cunts. It's what makes them bosses."

    That is the biggest load of fucking nonsense I think I have ever read on here. Its what makes them bad bosses, and anyone who thinks you have to be a twat to be a boss is clearly lacking the skills to be a good one boss.

    And the kicker is, good bosses with good bossing skills get more work done in less time (7 years to produce one game, way over the budget of two publishers - is that a sign that McNamara's approach or skillset works?). Bad bosses not only treat people badly, but they also do their job less effectively and cost their employers more money in the long run.
    Edited by kangarootoo at 27/06/11 @ 16:07

  • djed #56 11 months ago

    @Robotrocker

    I don't think being a libertarian precludes the formation of local unions or the joining of national/trade ones. You have a right to delegate your negotiation power to anyone as you see fit.

  • Shotofen #57 11 months ago

    I like how McNamara is all "I, I, I" and "me, me, me." Easy tip off that he doesn't give a shit about his employees, or anyone but himself for that matter. I wonder how his personal salary stacks up next to those of the employees that he compares to himself, hm?

  • chiefian #58 11 months ago

    The games industry is ruthless when it comes to unpaid overtime. I can imagine what some of the ex employees are saying is completely true.

    Still, no need to be a dick about it McNamara.

  • RobotRocker #59 11 months ago

    I don't think being a libertarian precludes the formation of local unions or the joining of national/trade ones. You have a right to delegate your negotiation power to anyone as you see fit.

    It's less "Oh you do what you want, we don't mind" and the fact that the industry is more in tune with the "YOU SOCIALIST COMMIE LOOKING OUT FOR YOURSELF. GAMING DOES NOT NEED UNIONS. WE ARE ALL SPECIAL TALENTED SNOWFLAKES. IS A MAN NOT ENTITLED TO THE SWEAT OF HIS BROW? BOOTSTRAPS" kind of arguments and that goes for a lot of workers alongside management. There never will be a strong union like the other entertainment industries for the gaming industry. Especially in the US.

  • RumpyStumpy #60 11 months ago

    He sounds like he is working on a cure for Cancer or Aids.

    Someone should knock him off his high horse the pretentious twat!

  • MrTeatime #61 11 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:59:18 03-01-2012

  • pantherboy #62 11 months ago

    I worked in the industry over 10 years and when people say things like "If you wanted to do a nine-to-five job, you'd be in another business," it makes me so angry - people like him are holding the industry back.

    Unfortanatly for the noobs into the industry its so easy to exploit them - I've seen people like him many years before destroy a fresh grads confidence to make them think that they are lucky to be doing free overtime for low wage.

    My message is other devs for the sake of our industry is not to put up with crap like this - and to avoid rockstar at all costs!

  • BigDannyH #63 11 months ago

    If your contract says 9-5, that's what you get paid to do. You'd be a tosser if you were never willing to do the occasional extra hour or 2, but shouldn't be expected every day.

    If people are working 80-100 hour weeks then the company are understaffed, simple as that. The execs of the company are taking the piss. Squeezing blood from a stone.

    They should've united and walked out. The guys who made that game are clearly talented and would find work somewhere else.

    Power to the people!

  • Tryhard #64 11 months ago

    Team Bondi sweat shop now making LA Noire trainers.

  • Wormsby #65 11 months ago

    At least one other person has pointed this out, but they're not alleging 22-hour days. They're alleging 110-hour weeks, which is quite a different thing.

    And anyone who's worked in a NYC law firm can say it's not at all unlikely.

  • cheeky_BILLY #66 11 months ago

    seven years to make? and its still shit.

  • DigitalDelay #67 11 months ago

    "Team Bondi sweat shop now making LA Noire trainers."

    /third world countries declare - "they... tuk r juuurbs!"

  • menage #68 11 months ago

    He doesn't come across a people person now does he.

    Worst thing is is that the pay was probably still stuck at 40 hours and the clock kept ticking regardless. I worked like that for a while, they can screw themselves, I'd rather be broke but happy than working my ass of for knobs who only care about themselves and their prestige/wallet. Trust me, in the end of the day you get nothing out of it but more work.

    I loved LA Noire, but they coiuld have saved themselves 2 years by not building that city as huge as it was. 90% of the time it's windowdressing anyway without having shit to do. Make a sandbox or go linear, not the half assed empty sandbox it tunred out to be. Thank god for fast travel in this game.
    Edited by menage at 27/06/11 @ 20:18

  • Spong #69 11 months ago

    What a missed opportunity. All this controversy and no one asked if the bad work ethics was the reason behind why LA Noire is such a FUCKING SHIT GAME. Yeah, I said it. I should know, I own the piece of crap and have all the DLC so far. The game sucks cock and is nothing more than a fucking expensive tech demo.

    I hope Team Bondi folds and that everyone associated with it dies in freak accidents.

  • sebsal #70 11 months ago

    This stupid boring game broke my PS3

  • Grayvern #71 11 months ago

    I think he lost all credibility when he said "I'm not in any way upset or disappointed by what I've done and what I've achieved," you never hear more talented men than McNamara, Levine and Avelone et al spout this arrogant bullshit they always say the team succeeded or we made a great game.

  • gjgjg #72 11 months ago

    Wow, what a genuine piece of shit.He's not a decendant of Robert McNamara by chance?

    This 'response' only solidifies the accusations imo. And gives a bit more credence to the RDR ones too. :(

    I'm really sorry I bought LA Noire new now, at least there's the DLC I was going to buy that I will skip, and if I trade my copy in that'll knock their sales back by one (big wow I know but at least I'm casting a small vote rather than none).

    Comon Games Industry, if the bloated and beleaguered film industry can manage a union then surely you can too!

  • Subdominator #73 11 months ago

    It's pretty easy, if you don't like your working conditions, quit. We all know crunch time is common in the industry and most of the times it's not because the boss is bad but because we are lazy. We like having an easy life for the first years of a project, milestones are not as important, six hour days are not seldom. Then when you're nearing release or missing important milestones things start to get rough. As a - retired - developer I can say whenever I had to endure crunch time it was because we ourselfs were lazy. I can't recall a single game where I had to work more than 40 hours a week (over the whole development period). We are artists. If we ain't in the right mood we don't get things done, so we go home early. But at one point you have to make up for all the time you missed. There are companies where it's different. Like EA, they have pretty strict rules and nearly no crunch time. But if you take seven years for a game (with so few actual gameplay I may add) with more than 250 people working on it you just suck. Seriously,that's something Valve or ... yeah, pretty much only Valve ... can do, but everybody else should be ashamed of their work if it took seven years. Such a long time alone shows that the team was very lazy and not working very hard. And that will come back to you.

  • Retro_ #74 11 months ago

    I'll think i'll stick to 9 to 5 in my job thanks very much. I work to live not the other way around.

  • savant #75 11 months ago

    McNamara would like to think he's a visionary, but in actual fact he's a bully and a piss-poor manager. I'd recommend reading the full article. There's a reason why this game was so late and that's because much of the content was thrown away and coders had to struggle with other people's work after they left because of the shitty conditions.

    This is not the way to make games.

  • jimr9999us #76 11 months ago

    There's no law against being a jerk.

    What I appreciate is he doesn't back down from it or apologize for it.

  • pigeon_g4mer #77 11 months ago

    What a douche bag.

    With better work conditions and happier staff, the game would probably take less time to make and maybe a lot of the original staff members would be there 'till the end.

  • Bilstar #78 11 months ago

    Sounds like a bit of a nob.

  • Cryotek #79 11 months ago

    7 years? ... You would think someone would have wrote a better script in that time. Still angry about Fallen Idol, half the homicide desk... so many plot threads left dangling for no reason. So very annoying.

  • kangarootoo #80 11 months ago

    "What I appreciate is he doesn't back down from it or apologize for it"

    I can NEVER understand this attitude. We appreciate that someone who acts badly doesn't later apologise for it? Because they are "sticking to their guns"? Because they are too stubborn or ignorant to realise they were wrong?

    That is madness or stupidity - pick your favourite.

  • Claudiov1.0 #81 11 months ago

    Its not the first time we hear this allegations targeted at Rockstar, however i think IGN did a bit of exageration on this story, they said that they work 22 hours a day.. that BS...

    McNamara is probably in trouble, but i mean, and i don´t want to sound as an ass by saying this, LA Noire is a pretty good game, i just think that people should not stop buying the game, because buying is not supporting McNamara, it's supporting the people who made this game, besides, if this is true, he should be fired...

    I want to add, that Team Bondi is not like R* San Diego, they are independent, don´t blame Rockstar, they just funded the project, or at least i think it was that way, after what happened with RSD i don't think they would do the same mistake, besides, im no expert, but Rockstar shouldn´t be that much of a bad place to work for, otherwise people would had already left, R* has some serious talent, if they left, they would have found jobs easily, think about it...

    I'll give a better opinion as the situation develops, until then, lets just try to look at things in an unbiased and fair way, and despite all, im still gonna buy LA Noire, sorry, but it is a great game...
    Edited by Claudiov1.0 at 28/06/11 @ 23:10

  • jimjiber #82 11 months ago

    I agree with a few others that Mafia II is more fun to play than this goblet of turd. I also agree that this type of management will never produce great games. When I was a game designer, I was micro-managed to a ridiculous extent. As one (shite) game hit the shelves, we started writing immense design documents for the next one. As QA had fuck all to do, they were all made into temporary Associate Producers, meaning each designer essentially had a fat retard chasing him up every day because he had nowt else to do.

    Honestly, I would get in at 9 and my "producer" would be waiting to ask me how much work I had on my schedule, despite the fact he knew exactly where I was when I finished the previous day.

    It's a rotten cunt of an industry that I do not miss one bit. There is no creativity involved at anything but the very top level, and in general you have to be a ruthless/gutless prick to get that far.