Things are not looking good for Team Bondi, the studio behind L.A. Noire, after allegations of cruel management and an investigation into such by the IGDA. Now, the Sydney, Australia-based company may need to look for a new publisher.
“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,” an anonymous source told Industry Gamers. “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.”
Of course, it’s hard to question the management of a game that turned out so good, but the source claims, “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.”
I seriously doubt Team Bondi will have a hard time searching for a new publisher given how well the game has sold. But hopefully the studio can adequately deal with a lot of the negative press it has received.
