Ben-DutkaUsually, when a great game hits big, the developers are toasting their success with champagne.
But amidst continuous rumors that L.A. Noire developer Team Bondi are under investigation for pushing employees too hard, another unfortunate report has arisen.
According to an inside source (as cited by Develop ), game IP and any remaining assets owned by the Sydney studio have been sold off, and the staff has been given an option of severance pay or a new job at Kennedy Miller Mitchell. The aforementioned assets have been transferred to the latter company (KMM). The news now is that Team Bondi is "in administration" or essentially, bankrupt…and nobody wants to hear that. We have heard that studio boss Brendan McNamara has already accepted a job at KMM, amongst other former Team Bondi employees.
But if you were wondering, Rockstar owns the L.A. Noire IP so this news won't affect that. And I suppose it's a silver lining to say former employees have a job waiting for them, but this isn't really the ending anybody hoped for after L.A. Noire wowed the gaming world.
Related Game(s): L.A. Noire
I don't get how companies make AAA games that sell well and get great reviews and yet they go out of business. What horrible management.
Well, that doesn't really happen often. 😉
So does that mean we could see another Noire game from Rockstar? Like how they acquired the rights to Red Dead Revolver and then made Red Dead Redemption?
A drama fit for a noir film.
It's terrible to hear all of that, and I just can't help but think "Who or what the hell is Kennedy Miller Mitchell?"
Whatever the case I hope N.Y. Noire is still in R&D over at R*.
An Australian film company. They're the ones that produced Mad Max, Babe and Happy Feet, among others. Maybe the old team will be put onto licensed games :/
Still, a great game based on Mad Max would be awesome.
Last edited by Lawless SXE on 8/10/2011 2:08:30 AM
I remember reading about a new Mad Max game here at PSXE some time back. Nothing came of it I think.
Licensed games = boo
Hu?, hehehe *Plays HR again*
Wow…clear example of a fanboy comment!
What a pity really… tough being in game development… that is why I am sticking to my steady telecommunications consulting position. Never had an issue for the past 15 years… hopefully won't have an issue for another 15 years…
Q!
"play.experience.enjoy"
Oh man I'd *love* to be a games dev, regardless of risk. Participate in the creation of AI, features, testing game mechanics and optimizing it's code, discussing new ideas… Oh man… I am pretty sure those jobs are glorified in my mind, though. 🙂
Last edited by Beamboom on 8/10/2011 3:53:49 AM
i know this day and age you can'nt be to picky about jobs,
what strikes me is, why are some emploies following brendan mcNamara if he was
pushing emploies as hard as it was reported?
what ever the case, always sad news hearing a dev going under.
i think you answered the question yourself. employees can't be too picky in this day and age. a job is a job. macnamara is the one who destroyed team bondi. no publisher would take on the team becuase of him. too bad how one maniac can set back the aussie gaming scene for years.
i would add a 7 year developement cycle is also what killed team bondi. even with them shipping 4 million copies they could not recoup the costs involved. they were very foolish to have pissed off r*.
Last edited by Excelsior1 on 8/10/2011 6:12:07 AM
I read that McNamara was looking to sell Team Bondi to KMM, but didn't realise that the studio was in such dire straits. That really sucks, especially considering 4 million copies of L.A. Noire have been shipped worldwide. Ah well, here's hoping that what's left of the team can do great things over at KMM and in their future endeavours.
And F**KING THQ! They've gone and shut donw their Brisbane studio as well as Blue Tongue. Fantastic… That pretty much only leave 2K Marin as anything approaching a major development studio in Australia, unless I'm mistaken. Whatever…
Sorry Bro, hope you weren't planning to design some games.
Nah, I have not the technical know-how for that, it just s**ts me to know that our contribution to the REAL industry is dead and buried.
I've just got to think that it all boils down to Brendan McNamara's bullying & mismanagement that ruined TB for all-time. And that's why nobody wanted to take them on as a team, instead of just buying off all their assets.
Also, I feel for all their employee's, especially the ones that had already jumped ship way back when, & who went over KMM prior to this sell-off, now that Brendan McNamara's also been hired there too.
Let's just hope KMM keeps a close watch, and a mighty tight leash around Brendan McNamara's throat so he can't abuse his ex-employee's all over again.
I would've much rather seen him kicked to the curb.
dunno whats more disappointing, this news, or LA noires ending!
Almost makes me wonder if Team Bondi's financial woes contributed to the game losing it's exclusivity with the PS3.
Sad to hear about anyone possibly losing their jobs…
LA Noire on the other hand. Gave up on it half way through… Bored me by that stage. Thought I would love it but it didn't grab me for some reason.
Strange how some games do that to me…
(I gave up and went back to Heavy Rain for some real immersion)
With all I've read about Team Bondi and the mismanagement by Brendan McNamara I'm only glad they got what they deserved. Only too bad he actually got a new job opportunity with the other company, hopefully not in a management position sigh.