Rockstar won’t publish Team Bondi’s next game

Two former Team Bondi workers say that Rockstar will not publish the studio’s next game as a result of disputes during the production of LA Noire.

The claim, made to gamesindustry.biz under condition of anonymity, is just part of a wider set of allegations relating to the troubled creation of the game. The International Game Developers Association is already investigating reports that Team Bondi staff were forced to work under “sweatshop conditions”.

“It’s pretty well reported now that the working conditions were bad,” said one of the anonymous sources. “What hasn’t been discussed yet (from what I’ve seen) is the relationship between Team Bondi and Rockstar.

“I’ve heard a lot about Rockstar’s disdain for Team Bondi, and it has been made quite clear that they will not publish Team Bondi’s next game. Team Bondi are trying to find another publisher for their next title, but the relationship with Rockstar has been badly damaged – Brendan treats LA Noire like a success due to his vision but I think Rockstar are the ones who saved the project. They continued to sink money into LA Noire, and their marketing was fantastic. Without their continued support, Team Bondi would have gone under several years ago.”

The sources also describe how Rockstar became increasingly involved with the active development of the game:

“Rockstar also made a huge contribution to the development; their producers were increasingly influential over the last two years of the game’s development, and overruled many of the insane decisions made by Team Bondi management. At a lower level, Rockstar also pitched in with programmers, animators, artists, QA, etc. Part of the conflict between Team Bondi and Rockstar was due to Rockstar’s frustration with Team Bondi’s direction, and eventually Team Bondi’s management in turn resented Rockstar for taking lots of creative control.”

It’s further claimed that the deteriorating relationship also resulted in Rockstar changing its plans for Team Bondi:

“It’s also worth pointing out that Rockstar used to be very keen on making Team Bondi something like ‘Rockstar Sydney’ – the more they worked with Team Bondi management, the more they came to understand that this was a terrible idea.”

The full five page report – including leaked emails taken from the game’s production period – can be read here.

It’s ugly stuff, with one of the major claims focusing on increased working hours without any accompanying rise in salary or overtime pay. Team Bondi boss Brendan McNamara is also described as “the angriest man I’ve ever met”.