A
post on GamesIndustry.biz (registration required) follows up on
reports of development woes
as well as worker complaints at Team Bondi, developers of well-received detective game
L.A. Noire. This new story, by author of the
original whistle blowing article, reproduces a number of emails showing an ever-deteriorating relationship between Team Bondi and publisher Rockstar Games, and includes indications that Rockstar will not be publishing Team Bondi's next game, and the Aussie developer will not be crating the next L.A. Noire game. Here's the overview:
It's pretty well reported now that the working conditions were bad. 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 L.A. 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.
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 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. I have a few logs that show the relationship souring – see below.
 |
48. |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Jul 5, 2011, 22:48 |
Creston |
|
nin wrote on Jul 5, 2011, 22:19:
Did you ever play adventure games back in their hayday? You couldn't lose those either.
You could in some of the early ones! Failure to find/pickup a certain item could mean hours of wasted gameplay when you realize later you needed it, and can't get back to it. *harbors dark, evil memories of The Guild on the Amiga 500...*
Creston |
|
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Date |
Subject |
Author |
|
1. |
Jul 5, 10:36 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
nin |
|
2. |
Jul 5, 10:45 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
4. |
Jul 5, 10:48 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
nin |
|
27. |
Jul 5, 14:09 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Vulkan |
|
31. |
Jul 5, 16:19 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
40. |
Jul 5, 18:56 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
wolve |
|
41. |
Jul 5, 19:28 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
3. |
Jul 5, 10:46 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Wildone |
|
5. |
Jul 5, 10:49 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
the_culture |
|
6. |
Jul 5, 10:49 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
justice7 |
|
8. |
Jul 5, 10:53 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
17. |
Jul 5, 11:46 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Parallax Abstraction |
|
9. |
Jul 5, 10:53 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
nin |
|
10. |
Jul 5, 10:58 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
InBlack |
|
11. |
Jul 5, 10:59 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
nin |
|
12. |
Jul 5, 11:02 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
14. |
Jul 5, 11:08 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
nin |
|
15. |
Jul 5, 11:33 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Beamer |
|
24. |
Jul 5, 12:57 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
25. |
Jul 5, 13:08 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Dmitri_M |
|
34. |
Jul 5, 17:09 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Cutter |
|
35. |
Jul 5, 17:13 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
eRe4s3r |
|
38. |
Jul 5, 18:22 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
personman_145 |
|
51. |
Jul 5, 23:11 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Beamer |
|
7. |
Jul 5, 10:51 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Verno |
|
13. |
Jul 5, 11:08 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
16. |
Jul 5, 11:37 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Verno |
|
28. |
Jul 5, 14:37 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
StingingVelvet |
|
32. |
Jul 5, 16:22 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Flatline |
|
18. |
Jul 5, 11:48 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
space captain |
|
19. |
Jul 5, 12:18 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Pankin |
|
20. |
Jul 5, 12:20 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
nin |
|
21. |
Jul 5, 12:24 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Burrito of Peace |
|
22. |
Jul 5, 12:25 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Burrito of Peace |
|
26. |
Jul 5, 13:21 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Ruffiana |
|
30. |
Jul 5, 15:38 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Pankin |
|
33. |
Jul 5, 17:03 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Ruffiana |
|
54. |
Jul 6, 09:42 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Pankin |
|
23. |
Jul 5, 12:25 |
never say never again |
space captain |
|
29. |
Jul 5, 15:18 |
No subject |
AnointedSword |
|
36. |
Jul 5, 17:15 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Dades |
|
37. |
Jul 5, 17:43 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Tumbler |
|
39. |
Jul 5, 18:28 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
42. |
Jul 5, 20:28 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
CommunistHamster |
|
43. |
Jul 5, 22:03 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
entr0py |
|
44. |
Jul 5, 22:08 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
space captain |
|
47. |
Jul 5, 22:48 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
entr0py |
|
45. |
Jul 5, 22:19 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
nin |
|
46. |
Jul 5, 22:32 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Sepharo |
>> |
48. |
Jul 5, 22:48 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Creston |
|
50. |
Jul 5, 22:54 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
shponglefan |
|
52. |
Jul 5, 23:14 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Lorcin |
|
49. |
Jul 5, 22:54 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Chazix |
|
53. |
Jul 5, 23:26 |
Re: Insider: Rockstar/Team Bondi Split |
Tanto Edge |
|
|