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This is a lesson. If you treat your employees like shit, work them to death, and erase them from the credits of a game they worked on because they decided to leave the company because they're fed up with it? This is what happens.
Good riddance.
Good riddance.
The way in which everyone left towards the end, it kinda explains the awkward ending of the game, as well as the lacklustre DLC.
Not just a lesson on how to treat workers, but how to treat people in general. If you're an arrogant dick that acts as if he can handle everything alone (I'm talking to McNamara here) then people will get fed up with your shit and leave you alone, just like you asked for. Love the poetic justice in that :D
Not just a lesson on how to treat workers, but how to treat people in general. If you're an arrogant dick that acts as if he can handle everything alone (I'm talking to McNamara here) then people will get fed up with your shit and leave you alone, just like you asked for. Love the poetic justice in that :D
Well, whether it be because the studio shut down or that it maltreated it's employees, it's still quite unfortunate. Even if L.A. Noire had issues, they may never be given the chance to improve on them in a sequel.
@Chongomaster
Good point. I mean, Infinity Ward is a great example of that. I would like to hope that, eventually, Activision will get what's coming to them, but whatever.
I guess Team Bondi couldn't get away with it because NOBODY wanted to do business with them. That and they weren't big enough.
Good point. I mean, Infinity Ward is a great example of that. I would like to hope that, eventually, Activision will get what's coming to them, but whatever.
I guess Team Bondi couldn't get away with it because NOBODY wanted to do business with them. That and they weren't big enough.
Not surprising at all. No doubt they had some talented folks working for them, but if their management was half as bad as has been said online then this was only a matter of time. Hopefully all of the good guys land on their feet and the bad guys don't work in the industry again.
I don't really get the economics behind this, if anyone could explain it I'd appreciate it. Wasn't LA Noire a smashing success that sold 4 or 5 million copies, probably more by now? Whenever I read about Team Bondi's closure all everyone mentions are the poor working condition and tales of disgruntled employees, but capitalism would have ceased to exist long ago if that was enough to bring a company down.
As someone aspiring to get a job in the game industry, stories like this just reinforce the idea that I want nothing to do with Rockstar or any developers working for them. I've basically heard nothing but horror stories and that's not a good thing.
It's a real shame. Although bad working conditions and withholding credit are very serious, I think that given the commercial and critical success of what was actually quite a risky new IP, Team Bondi deserved a second chance. I wish the bad publicity had merely caused them to drastically alter their management style rather than go under.
And there goes another Australian games studio. This has been a really terrible year for the industry here with THQ closing a bunch of their offices as well as this. Hopefully the only place to go is up from here, and more opportunities await.
@Caim
Maybe, maybe not. See, I personally haven't followed much on this matter, but if disgruntled former employees went to the media to trash McNamara, you can bet that's not all they did.
I'm talking lawsuits - large ones, maybe those class-filled, lots of people signing in for that. And judging McNamara by what I've read about him (i.e. an inconspicuous dickhead), he doesn't seem to be the guy to let go of legal issues just by forming agreement terms - he would take it all the way, even if it meant losing. That's what I think it happened.
Also, some former employers went on to create blogs that supposedly offered "proofs" of the "McNamara Way of Management". Sometimes, taking it to the internets do work. That kind of undermined Bondi's reputation.
Lastly, McNamara's answers to these issues were far from polite: "It is my game" and "I walk up to whoever I want and say I want it changed" aren't exactly statements a PR executive would recommend. This too can serve as fuel to bring down something - even if that "something" is a whole company.
Maybe, maybe not. See, I personally haven't followed much on this matter, but if disgruntled former employees went to the media to trash McNamara, you can bet that's not all they did.
I'm talking lawsuits - large ones, maybe those class-filled, lots of people signing in for that. And judging McNamara by what I've read about him (i.e. an inconspicuous dickhead), he doesn't seem to be the guy to let go of legal issues just by forming agreement terms - he would take it all the way, even if it meant losing. That's what I think it happened.
Also, some former employers went on to create blogs that supposedly offered "proofs" of the "McNamara Way of Management". Sometimes, taking it to the internets do work. That kind of undermined Bondi's reputation.
Lastly, McNamara's answers to these issues were far from polite: "It is my game" and "I walk up to whoever I want and say I want it changed" aren't exactly statements a PR executive would recommend. This too can serve as fuel to bring down something - even if that "something" is a whole company.
If only this happened to every game company who treats employees like shit, then we wouldn't have to deal with EA and Activision anymore.
It wasn't a perfect game but in many ways it was a very good game. A worthy bulwark against the tide of Sports, Shooters, and Sonics.
this is sad to hear :(
i have a friend in Team Bondi, and he told me he was very happy there!so i dunno if indeed everyone had issues or how many out of the entire team.
it is not uncommon to find groups and politics in a game studio. usually what happens in vegas stays in vegas. some times things spill out. as it happens in any workplace where so many people work together.
Those of us who were not present shouldn't be in such a hurry to judge.
i have a friend in Team Bondi, and he told me he was very happy there!so i dunno if indeed everyone had issues or how many out of the entire team.
it is not uncommon to find groups and politics in a game studio. usually what happens in vegas stays in vegas. some times things spill out. as it happens in any workplace where so many people work together.
Those of us who were not present shouldn't be in such a hurry to judge.
*sigh*
Krome gets raped to all hell, then THQ closes stuff, then we lose Visceral Australia and now Team Bondi are gone...
Seriously what do we have left now? Firemint?
Krome gets raped to all hell, then THQ closes stuff, then we lose Visceral Australia and now Team Bondi are gone...
Seriously what do we have left now? Firemint?
@Caim LA Noire may have been a smashing success, but it was also in seven years of development hell. There was no way that game was ever going to recoup its money. Don't forget the extra cash that Rockstar would have thrown at it to heavily promote it in the media and press. Then there's the royalties that they have to pay to Microsoft and Sony for making discs for their consoles - you don't get those for free. Everyone wants their piece of the pie along the way, and at the end, you're really not left with that much.
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