It's official folks -- the studio behind one of the biggest games of 2011 has officially begun the process of dying. You usually hear of a studio closing after they release a flop, but it would seem that not even L.A. Noire could stop this Australian developer going down.
Documents were filed with the Australian Securities And Investments Commission, notifying that a liquidator has been appointed and that the studio's administration resigned. Another document has been filed, titled, "Special Resolution to Wind Up Company."
Team Bondi came under fire earlier this year due to accusations of excessive crunch time and poor working conditions. It also allegedly excluded certain developers from L.A. Noire's credits, refusing to acknowledge anybody who got fed up and quit before the game was finished.
L.A. Noire Dev Team Bondi To Officially Shutter [Gamasutra]
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Contest:
1:00 PM on 10.05.2011 | 
Good riddance.
Unless your name is Activision.
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
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.
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.
"Employees" on the fourth paragraph. Damn typo
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.
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?