Team Bondi to Close

October 5, 2011

It's game over for Team Bondi, the Australian development studio that helped create LA Noire for Rockstar Games. According to papers filed with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, Team Bondi will close its doors and its assets will be sold off to pay creditors. Liquidators have been appointed at the company to sell off assets and pay off the company's debts, documents show.

Team Bondi spent seven years developing the game for Rockstar, and by most accounts the gritty film noir action adventure game did pretty well. But the company's problems seemed to be from a lack of management and what some former Team Bondi developers described as a hostile and oppressive work environment where management was constantly forcing employees to stay at work for long periods of time. Most of the complaints were directed at studio head Brendan McNamara, who they accused of poor management and bullying.

After all the bad PR Rockstar washed its hands of the studio. Months later McNamara jumped ship with several Team Bondi employees to Happy Feet 2 studio KMM. Staff were reportedly offered a choice between a job at the new firm or severance terms.

Source: GI.biz

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Comments

Re: Team Bondi to Close

Submitted by Bennett Beeny on Thu, 10/06/2011 - 08:43.

It's a shame that poor management that created a hostile working environment has led to a bunch of people losing their jobs. It just goes to show that people work better with help and encouragement than they ever will with threats, overwork and abuse. This is what management never seems to understand: people want to make a good product, and a good manager encourages them to do their best, rather than demanding it.

Re: Team Bondi to Close

Submitted by DanHoyt on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 21:03.

Rockstar gets to keep the rights to L.A. Noire though don't they? I really like that game and I hope they make a sequel or maybe an expansion pack or something like they did with GTA:IV and RDR.

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Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

james_fudge: it sounds like if you have an HD reciever you'll be able to use it with a pass-through cable... not 100 percent sure yet05/21/2013 - 2:41pm

james_fudge: happening now http://majornelson.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-architecture-panel/05/21/2013 - 2:20pm

E. Zachary Knight: Some reading material for Microsoft on its used games blocks. That will hurt the console more than helping. http://ezknight.net/?page_id=20505/21/2013 - 2:18pm

james_fudge: yeah good luck with over the air TV05/21/2013 - 2:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: But what if I want to only watch over the air tv? I don't subscribe to pay tv. I never will. If that is a requirement, then MS wasted 45 minutes telling me how great TV will be.05/21/2013 - 2:08pm

james_fudge: EZK it will depend on your provider, just like HBO Go i'd imagine.05/21/2013 - 2:05pm

PHX Corp: @IanC there's also a chance that those titles might be Xbox one exclusive, but it's too early to tell afaik05/21/2013 - 2:03pm

IanC: @E. Zachary Knight - MS certainly got the checkbook out for EA, so no surprise on how negative they are over the Wii U.05/21/2013 - 1:54pm

MaskedPixelante: So now I have to wonder, how many of EA's games are skipping the PS4 because of their pro-used stance?05/21/2013 - 1:53pm

E. Zachary Knight: On the TV front, does the XBox One require a cable/satellite subscription or will I be able to use my over the air channels?05/21/2013 - 1:48pm

E. Zachary Knight: Also, that name was not one of the options on our poll.05/21/2013 - 1:42pm

E. Zachary Knight: This presentation also shows why EA has been so negative about the Wii U. They have had a massive hardon for the XBox One forever.05/21/2013 - 1:42pm

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