LA Noire dev in administration - report

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 1 September, 2011

Team Bondi nears the end.

L.A. Noire developer Team Bondi has entered administration, according to a new report.

Administrators were appointed to the Sydney, Australia, studio on Tuesday, SmartCompany reports.

SmartCompany was told Team Bondi was no longer located at its registered office.

Embattled developer Team Bondi was last month rumoured to be selling up, with all assets and IP said to be folded into KMM, the company owned by Mad Max maker George Miller. Rockstar owns the L.A. Noire IP.

Staff at Team Bondi were supposedly offered a job within KMM or a severance package. Brendan McNamara, the Team Bondi boss accused of enforcing unfair working practices, was also rumoured to be joining KMM. Is he helping make movie tie-in Happy Feet 2? McNamara was seen touring around the offices of Miller's animation studio Dr D.

Sources said Team Bondi was "doomed" by the "scandal" of L.A. Noire's development, and couldn't find another publisher partner, post-Rockstar, to work with.

Rockstar, it was said, had developed "disdain" for Team Bondi during its lengthy relationship as L.A. Noire was made.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 9 months ago

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  • Inmediasress #1 9 months ago

    This is new because?
    Nevermind, at least they are given a choiche not many are so fortunate.

  • Gearskin #2 9 months ago

    Wait... Didn't LA Noire do well? If the long development paid off, why would everyone be so pissed?

  • Subdominator #3 9 months ago

    The only scandal was taking six years to develop a game as a contract work. They deserve what they get. Every other studio would have been shut down three years earlier. And I guess it wouldÄve become a better game if Take 2 had just taken what was there and given it to a different studio. One that is responsible with money and doesn't invest in their private cinemas, private bars and fleet of corporate cars.

  • el_pollo_diablo #4 9 months ago

    Sounds like the wrong people got shafted to me. Isn't that right Brendan?

  • Inmediasress #5 9 months ago

    @Gearskin
    Actually it didn't doo as well as R* hoped it would.
    I guess they wanted something along the lines of RDR's success or the GTA games.
    Thats the reason for the almost instant announcement for a PC port as well considering that R* shits on the Pc market these days.

  • Ultrasoundwave #6 9 months ago

    I imagine a lot of people will be happy to hear this. Personally, im disappointed that we wont see LA Noire 2. It had so much potential as a series.

    Ah well, back to Deus Ex.....

  • Zebula77 #7 9 months ago

    @Ultrasoundwave: I agree. A sequel could potentially be a masterpiece, if they'd refined the interrogation bits, and perhaps also make the body animations match up better with the facial ones.

    As it stands, I enjoyed LA Noire quite a bit, but it was certainly flawed in areas.

  • kosigan #8 9 months ago

    With the way that games developers get shat on by management during production then fired as soon as it's over - even if it is a good game that sells loads - I'm amazed anyone wants to be involved in it any more.

  • Darren #9 9 months ago

    I'm guessing this news means there's no chance of L.A. Noire coming to the PC now?

  • mortiz666 #10 9 months ago

    @Gearskin

    The game was in development for a long time, with all the money spent on it over those years it'd have to done amazing business at retail and it simply did good business.

  • andytheadequate #11 9 months ago

    Rockstar own the IP for LA Noire, so there might be a sequel. Just not made by Team Bondi

  • BigDannyH #12 9 months ago

    Ethics 1

    Money grabbing 0

  • zegerman1942 #13 9 months ago

    @Gearskin: because the ends dont really justify the means. The game might be awesome and do well, but that does not mean it was made in a way that is acceptable. Its not right to force people to work hundreds of hours of overtime and crunch for years, regardless of how good the game is when it comes out.

    I think this sends a clear signal to other developers. Hopefully all the talented people from TB will find a good job somewhere else. Looks like the muppet in charge is sorted already, but then again, those people usually land on their feet unfortunately.

  • Toothball #14 9 months ago

    LA Noire was the first Rockstar game I've bought since Table Tennis. In the end I didn't really get on with the game, but it was clear that a lot of talent had gone into it.

    @Darren
    Presumably Rockstar aren't short on resources to sort the PC version. If they own the IP, they presumably have the rest of it to work on too.

  • Britesparc Verified Creative, ITV #15 9 months ago

    If R* own the IP, surely they could make a sequel themselves or shop it to another dev?

    Shame, mind, it's always sad when devs shut down and people lose jobs.

  • Hindle #16 9 months ago

    Post deleted at 13:34:03 08-05-2012

  • SaintDaveUK #17 9 months ago

    I always feel sad when a developer goes under. Such a shame, because Team Bondi seemed to have a lot of potential. If the reports of the higher-ups being awful bosses, then I really do feel sorry for these guys who have lost their job.

  • Retro_ #18 9 months ago

    LA Noire = Utter rubbish
    Deus Ex = Game of the year candidate

  • jebus #19 9 months ago

    Ultrasoundwave
    "I imagine a lot of people will be happy to hear this. Personally, im disappointed that we wont see LA Noire 2. It had so much potential as a series.

    Ah well, back to Deus Ex..... "

    I'm sure there will be a sequel, Rockstar own the IP so they will give it to someone else or do it themselves. It will probably be a better game for it. I mean I liked LA Noire but it was slight as a game if we are all honest and some of the stuff just didn't work as well as it should have.

  • RevanNL #20 9 months ago

    Judgi g by the end-credits, Rockstar has made the majority of LA Noire anyway, so I have no doubt that they will make a sequel

  • Subdominator #21 9 months ago

    @zegerman1942: I'm right there with you when it's about working conditions. But with Team Bondi the things are different: They had to work crunch time for almost two years because they were lazy and their management sucked and nobody had the guts to stand up and force a change. Probably because they were all prety happy with the situation. Take 2 paid the bills and they could just do whatever they wanted for four years.

    Of course Take 2 then forced crunch time. When you've invested 30 million dollar already and are about to add another 15 to 20 million you want to know that people actually work on the game and get it done. They didn't say "You have to work more hours", they simply said "get these milestones done by XX/YY or we shut you down. But even then was it the choice of any employee to either do overtime and shut up about it (because they basically only worked the hours they had lost while messing around the four years before) or quit. Granted, the Australian game biz is not that big, but skilled developers always find a job, programmers can step away friom games, animators and designers are welcome in the movie industry. But letting somebody do to you what happened at Team Bondi and then complain afterwards is just silly. Everybody has a choice and they chose to stay there despite the working conditions. Sadly it's not only common in the gaming industry but almost everwhere. But what good is a job that pays the bills but makes you sick? Or ruins your personal life?

  • evarofzentral #22 9 months ago

    Is it true that Rockstar is getting the L.A. Noire IP and that Rockstar Leeds will get to make the next game?

  • BlinkeredAxis #23 9 months ago

    Though it wasn't to everybody's taste, I totally loved LA Noire, in a way that I definitely didn't for GTA4, which had a poorly deigned story (remember driving for ages, winning a fight, then getting sniped and having to restart the whole arc from the beginning?)

    Anyway, the ends don't justify the means, and employees should be treated with respect. That didn't happen at Team Bondi, so they lost friends. I hope employers learn from it.

  • MisterBee #24 9 months ago

    Rockstar Leeds are just doing the PC conversion.

  • God_Octo #25 9 months ago

    I feel for the poor people under McNamara at TB. They pumped out a brilliant first game, but his terrible leadership sunk them. However, with Rockstar at the helm, we might see another LA Noire before the next decade.

  • Rajin #26 9 months ago

    @Subdominator

    Standing up against your employer in that situation probally meant being fired. Not everyone joined the circus on purpose, i can actually add the game Chronicles of Spellborn as a exsample for that.
    Edited by Rajin at 01/09/11 @ 19:36

  • chrisola #27 9 months ago

    Mad Max game to go with Mad Max film?

    Imagine Fallout 3 setting with the cars & characters from the movie and the handling \ feel of Driver -- would make for an awesome RPG \ driving \ action game.


  • CamberGreber #28 9 months ago

    Thanks Mcnamara Your Fucked over your entire staff and now everones without a job.

    THANKS