Report: Rockstar won't publish LA Noire developer's next

"It has been made quite clear that [Rockstar] will not publish Team Bondi's next game," a report detailing the strained development of LA Noire reveals.

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As the weeks pass, more light is being shed on LA Noire's sordid development. While much of the spotlight has been on the alleged mistreatment of developer Team Bondi's many employees, today's exposé reveals a strained relationship between Bondi management and publisher Rockstar Games.

A series of e-mails posted on GI.biz further chronicle the mismanagement of the long-in-development adventure game. As the years went by, and money continued to be poured into the project, it appears that Rockstar had to become much more aggressive in its handling of the game. "[Team Bondi director] Brendan [McNamara] treats L.A. Noire like a success due to his vision but I think Rockstar are the ones who saved the project," GI's source says. "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."

The clash between Rockstar and Team Bondi seems evident in one of the leaked internal e-mails. "Every dog has its day and there's going to be hell to pay for this one. I'll never forget being treated like an absolute **** by these people," McNamara allegedly said.

Apparently, the disdain between the two partners is mutual. "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," the source details, before admitting that "without their continued support, Team Bondi would have gone under several years ago."

In spite of LA Noire's eventual critical acclaim and commercial success, it's unlikely the two will partner again for a sequel. "It has been made quite clear that [Rockstar] will not publish Team Bondi's next game," the source adds. "Team Bondi are trying to find another publisher for their next title, but the relationship with Rockstar has been badly damaged."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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  • reply
    July 5, 2011 12:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Report: Rockstar won't publish LA Noire developer's next.

    "It has been made quite clear that [Rockstar] will not publish Team Bondi's next game," a report detailing the strained development of LA Noire reveals.

    • reply
      July 5, 2011 12:51 PM

      What will happen to the PC version now?

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        July 5, 2011 1:04 PM

        [deleted]

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          July 5, 2011 1:09 PM

          lol god no

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          July 21, 2011 6:48 PM

          PLEASSEE GOD NOOO!!! i swear i'm going to start my own 3rd party porting company that isn't lazy and actually knows what the fucking pc community wants.. sigh.. (although their last STFU2 was slightly better, it was still problematic)

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      July 5, 2011 1:03 PM

      Bummer :(

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      July 5, 2011 2:22 PM

      It should read "Report: LA Noire developer won't be making the next LA Noire because they're incompetent, Rockstar laughs its way to the bank with new in-house franchise"

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        July 5, 2011 2:34 PM

        This is why you're not allowed to write the headlines.

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        July 5, 2011 5:00 PM

        Are you serious, or are you that genuinely stupid?

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      July 5, 2011 2:24 PM

      This reads like a rumor not a new story.

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        July 6, 2011 8:42 AM

        yeah looks that way, even says so mostly but posted as news :S

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      July 5, 2011 5:02 PM

      Well that's not a good thing when looking for publishers for them... What a mess, I enjoyed the game a lot and wish for a sequel. I'm guessing that team bondi own the game and not Rockstar by the sound of it. This Team Bondi company sounds like a bad company and I feel bad for the developers that work there...

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      July 5, 2011 5:50 PM

      When you have two sides that are very creative and extremely strong-willed, there's bound to be tension on how you should go about things, not unlike the latter years of the Beatles with John and Paul.

      To play devil's advocate for a bit, one has to wonder what Team Bondi was doing mid development that forced Rockstar to come in and take (some of) the reins.

      At least Team Bondi have got something on their resume that should be attractive for other publishers. Question is whether they will retain their creative freedom.

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      July 5, 2011 7:17 PM

      Am I the only one that remembers reading an interview somewhere before the game was released about how good of a relationship Bondi had with Rockstar? lol Gotta love PR.

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        July 6, 2011 9:35 AM

        Obviously they wouldn't want to be throwing negatives out in the wind during release :P

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