Take-Two: LA Noire "has become an important franchise"

By Fred Dutton Published 8 November, 2011

More cinematic sleuthing planned?

Publisher Take-Two has hinted that it sees a future for Rockstar's new detective IP LA Noire.

Speaking during an investor call earlier today, CEO Strauss Zelnick announced that the game was Take-Two's "most successful new release" in the past fiscal year and has become a key property in its portfolio.

"This groundbreaking title from Rockstar has set a new standard for video games with cinematic art and has become an important franchise for the company."

While the game picked up solid reviews, including an 8/10 from Eurogamer, first month sales were below some analysts' expectations. Take-Two announced that four million copies had been shipped to retail as of late June, though hasn't revealed how many of those have actually been snapped up by customers.

Whatever the figure, it wasn't enough to keep developer Team Bondi in business. The Australian studio announced last month that it was shutting up shop.

A PC version of the game has just been released, complete with all of the title's DLC. The same pack will be available to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gamers later this month.

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About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (43) Latest comment 7 months ago

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

  • NewbieZilla #1 7 months ago

    Please, yes. Rockstar own the IP, so I figured more would come of it, but hearing such a thing now is a good thing.

  • timewarp87 #2 7 months ago

    just playing it now and its great - really impressed.

  • Gliocair #3 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:49:49 04-01-2012

  • octo #4 7 months ago

    Great game, greAt story, great characters, under used city.

  • barat #5 7 months ago

    They need a big sandbox game every year to keep their shareholders happy. Maybe something like this:

    2012: GTA V
    2013: Red Dead Redemption 2
    2014: LA Noire 2

  • Munkeh111 #6 7 months ago

    An 8? I forgot about that

    But seriously, I would like another game in that vein, though not LA Noire 2, I would much prefer London (being a Londoner), but somewhere else would be equally interesting, just preferably not LA!

  • reeferchief #7 7 months ago

    Aint got round to getting Noire yet, but Rockstar are really beginning to build a nice library of franchises.

  • Jay1983 #8 7 months ago

    Yeah, get rid of the devs and keep the money and the IP...

  • CaptainQuint #9 7 months ago

    Fair enough, but I'll only show interest in a sequel which promises more substance over style.

  • metallicorphan #10 7 months ago

    I am looking forward to GTA5,i am looking forward to hopefully Red Dead 2(or 3 however you want to look at it),and yes i would even be looking forward to L.A Noire 2 and Max Payne 3

    but please don't forget about Bully!!,i loved that game

  • OneClassyBloke #11 7 months ago

    I've never understood the praise for LA Noire, I find the game to be a complete disaster. Atrocious pacing, terrible story, flawed execution, endless hand holding and an incredibly bizarre logic regarding evidence.

    The thing that really burns me about LA Noire is the attempt to be so cinematic. I had the same problem with Heavy Rain. The cinematic essence completely falls flat whenever you have to interrogate someone, characters just don't behave as you would anticipate a real person to. Any sense of immersion I had would be shattered as soon as I had to ask someone a question.

    It boggles my mind at how this game is so critically acclaimed, when it clearly failed in so many ways.

  • Lexx87 #12 7 months ago

    It was just wank, to be honest.

    The story was fantastic, loved it.

    The gameplay though...what gameplay.

  • sybixsus #13 7 months ago

    This is another game it's become cool to hate. It's flawed, of course, but it's a lot better than it gets credit for, and most of the criticisms are equally valid for other games which have praise lavished on them at every opportunity.

    The facial motion capture was technically stunning and didn't quite integrate into the gameplay as well as it needed to. The evidence collecting was repetitive and fairly shallow. The driving sections were fun, but there was no real need for them because you couldn't really go anywhere other than the locations each mission required. Sure, valid criticisms.

    But you can't criticize Assassins Creed for being the same game every time, Gears of War for being gray and gritty, and Modern Warfare for sucking all of the innovation out of the FPS genre (which was never exactly overflowing with innovation since ID created the genre) and then bitch-slap any game which tries to invent some new mechanics because they're not perfect yet.

    The interrogations and evidence collection mechanics need to be improved but it was nice to see a game trying to do something different and trying to create a detective adventure which involved more than just driving cars and shooting guns. If they can refine these new mechanics with a second game in the series, they could well make a truly great game out of a game which was pretty good in the first place.

    Plus I refuse to entirely condemn any game which stars John Noble.

  • sybixsus #14 7 months ago

    @EddieMink You know I think you may have proved that two wrongs can make a right. Somehow you've combined two straw man arguments and come up with something which is logically consistent.

    So while I don't see see how anything I said could be construed as saying that it was "a game for knobs", I liked it, so if it is, I guess I must be one.

  • slow2run #15 7 months ago

    What was truly astonishing and also should be applied into other Rockstar games was the facial motion capture. I thought it finally brought to life video game characters like never before. If the motion capture could be introduced to an RPG like Skyrim, you would in my view have a truly epic experience.
    Bethesda are you listening?

  • StooMonster #16 7 months ago

    If I hadn't played through it all (and the DLC) on console, I would so be purchasing the PC version today.

    Loved this title, as did Mrs StooMonster who usually ignores game but was totally engaged with me playing this.

  • StooMonster #17 7 months ago

    @slow2run

    Even though I have pre-ordered Skyrim and am looking forward to it, when I've watched a couple of videos on EG today I thought that the facial animation still looked a bit like Fallout 3 etc and a bit out-of-date compared to L.A. Noire.

    I agree that facial motion capture would make RPG truly epic.

  • slow2run #18 7 months ago

    @StooMonster
    Yes, Bethesda are using that old engine unfortunately. I certainly won't get the feeling of immersion from the AI, but the game world looks amazing and the writing of the main and side quests will hopefully be top draw.
    I will plunge days into Skyrim too, but hopefully the time will soon come when studios will apply that tech to their products.

  • blackbriar101 #19 7 months ago

    Surprised Team Bondi were not a success to the same level as Nike or Gap.

  • Gastrian #20 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 17:56:43 13-04-2012

  • Murton #21 7 months ago

    LA Noire for me was a game of two halves. The first half was looking good with what seemed like a huge city to explore, hundreds of potential characters to meet and a lot to see. After the initial hand-holding tutorial-esque "missions" I felt ready to flex my detective muscle and did so with good effect.

    Then came the second half where you realise that the story will have you explore just a small amount of the overall map with no incentive to go further. Then there's little matter of the logic seeming to have been deliberately broken in order to create replay value. Witnesses and suspects would lie with no facial clues whatsoever, you can accuse people of lying with the sort of evidence that would sink World Leaders and be wrong or accuse based on evidence so circumstantial it wouldn't even be permissible in a US Crime Drama and be right. Never have I played a game that frustrated so much while actually working.


    Do I want another LA Noire? Not so much the location/setting, but I'll definitely take another detective game. It's important though that whoever Take2 get to build this one take a long hard look at Noire and see where it failed and then make this one better.

  • superdelphinus #22 7 months ago

    Aww good, I thought it was so close to being an all time great

  • DeadlyByDesign #23 7 months ago

    Was soooo dissappointing. Great premises, but the game play was so damn repetitive. I played 2 discs in and couldn't stomach the repitition. I will buy the sequel if there are big changes in the gameplay mechanics.

  • anthonypappa #24 7 months ago

    don't think it would sell as well a next time around.

    it was ok, but a little drab and boring -and definitely flawed. the name LA noire doesn't lend itself to different era's - but, say a 70's detective game by rockstar themselves would most certainly kick some ass.

    who cares what facial expression you receive - you're getting a punch in the afro!

  • metalangel #25 7 months ago

    @Munkeh111 I work in Cardiff, and therefore demand the game be set in Cardiff, not LA!

  • Hindle #26 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:04:43 04-04-2012

  • Bradius #27 7 months ago

    You could play the game while being totally deaf and without subtitles and still finish it.

  • TonyHarrison #28 7 months ago

    There's definitely potential there for a great game if they iron out the obvious flaws, particularly with the interrogation system. Pressing doubt shouldn't have lead into a big angry accusation of mass murder, but it did on a couple of occasions.

  • coomber #29 7 months ago

    No surprise to hear this when the first sold so well, despite its many flaws. Hopefully they will take the many complaints on board and produce a stella sequel.

  • menage #30 7 months ago

    I did like it at first, then I got bored and never finished it. Will probably pick it up in half a year and complete it, but the most impressive thing is certainly the non gameplay bits

  • obidanshinobi #31 7 months ago

    I did enjoy it, but the story? come on, it was pretty weak.
    Those guys I charged for murder didn,t do it !! No shit sherlock !!
    And what was with the ending ? No closure at all, the bad guys get away with it FFS and your left thinking "is that it ?" I would of expected to bring them down.

    The ending was a total cop out, excuse the pun

  • obidanshinobi #32 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 09:51:31 12-12-2011

  • obidanshinobi #33 7 months ago

    Whats with the double posts EG ?
    The last 3 odd comments I've made have all been posted twice !!
    People will think I'm a right Joey Deacon.
    Edited by obidanshinobi at 09/11/11 @ 13:47

  • obidanshinobi #34 7 months ago

    Whats with the double posts EG ?
    The last 3 odd comments I've made have all been posted twice !!
    People will think I'm a right Joey Deacon.
    Edited by obidanshinobi at 09/11/11 @ 13:48

  • kangarootoo #35 7 months ago

    It was an odd mix. I enjoyed it, and finished it, but the logic also struck me as deeply broken at times.

    Putting innocent people in prison for plot reasons is one thing. Putting them away based on the result of an evidence/interrogation system that is supposed to actually work is nonsense. You can't sell your game on the basis of the face tech being so good that you can tell when people are telling the truth or lying, if the people you were "correctly" arresting then turn out not to have "done it".

    It felt like a story that was written first, into which gameplay was then fitted, with mixed results (like Heavy Rain, which I also enjoyed and finished, despite it having some glaring plot/logic/continuity issues).

  • Der_tolle_Emil #36 7 months ago

    It is an important franchise because it is new IP - and did well. And it's not even a homoerotic shooter!

    Flawed but very enjoyable because it was something different. I'd definitely pick up the sequel.

  • PenguinJim #37 7 months ago

    Hey, y'know what else could be an important franchise and enjoy success with an awesome PC release? RED DEAD REDEMPTION!

  • SomaticSense #38 7 months ago

    I'm all for more LA Noire.

    As long as McNamara and his woefully crap game design is kept well away from it.

  • Dop #39 7 months ago

    LA Noire was flawed, but fun, and it's no surprise they want to make more and build on the general concept. So long as the working practices are better than they were with Team Bondi!

    Yeah, a London version in the style of The Sweeney.
    Press X for "Get your trousers on, you're nicked!"
    Press A for "We're the Sweeney and we haven't had any breakfast"
    Press B for "You slaaaaag"
    Edited by Dop at 09/11/11 @ 16:36

  • Wizard83 #40 7 months ago

    i thought this was pretty average and didnt even finish it.

    i didnt like Cole and didnt care about the story.

    it doesnt even remotely compare to the brilliant RDR or GTA!

  • KrispyBacon #41 7 months ago

    Just bought this for the PS3 on Amazon for £15. You can get some great bargains if you wait a little while.

  • Spong #42 7 months ago

    Surprised to hear this quite frankly.

    I thought the game was a poor effort, nothing more than an expanded tech demo showcasing that new facial animation malarkey. The game itself is as shallow as a hamster's grave. Sure, it's got a pretty good plot, but the surrounding gameplay was never fun. The city was a hugely missed opportunity, like Red Dead Redemption's vast, empty wastelands. The interrogations were mind-numbingly banal to sit through, something hammered home when forced into repeated attempts as a result of the game's ridiculously fuzzy logic. And by fuzzy, I mean bullshit.

    If they're gonna churn out a second game (or more), I hope to God they're almost unrecognisable to the original.

  • rogermellie #43 7 months ago

    I would like the facial animation on a new GTA or Red Dead.