Team Bondi shutting down?
ngon master
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/09/01/report-la-noire-dev-team-bondi-enters-administration/
not sure what to think about this. any other sources around?
not sure what to think about this. any other sources around?
Replies
Seems Rockstar doesn't want anything to do with McNamara, and no-one else wants to pick him up for another title. Which is good, imo.
Atleast Rockstar hold the rights to the IP, so we may well see another title coming from them, later down the road. Also good
edit: just want to add I hope everyone gets jobs quickly. Nothing makes me rage more than a-holes saying devs deserved to lose their jobs or a studio deserved to be closed.
Heard about a lot of the guys getting absorbed into the Happy Feet 2 team. Hope that works out. Sucks that Australia lost a game studio though : /
i didn't, and won't ever, buy LA Noire; simply because of the shitty conditions those employees were put through.
I hope they find employment soon or get out of australia which seems to be a bit of a dead-end for video game dev. but i also hope that useless cunt in charge never finds himself in a position of power again.
I don't understand this sort of thinking. Any studio shutting down means less chances for employment for other devs in the area, and can never be a good thing, in my opinion.
Surely the best course of action would have been a studio management shake-up or the studio getting bought out and a publisher sanctioned management team being put in place to clean things up and get some better working practices in place?
Yeah, It would have been cooler if Rockstar would have bought the company(Rockstar Australia?) and gotten rid of McNamara & co instead.
Best of luck to all those affected. I agree with your last statement, Rick_D
it's a fair point but i think sometimes it is just easier to wipe the slate clean. of course i am just speculating and it sucks that people lost their jobs, but it seems like australia has really suffered from this kind of development practice and i wonder how much of a shake-up would be needed to change it for the better.
but yes you are right, and i didn't mean it in the way it appeared, i just meant good riddance to the 7 years of bad management and 2+ years of crunch.
i hope all the staff get themselves somewhere better.
in other words, business as usual in america.
Right, except this happened in Australia. Careful, your misplaced bias is showing...
I think he was pointing out that how is this surprising? its been happening in the US for ages now, why is it surprising it happened in Australia? I'm glad the studio is shut down, sucks people lost their jobs but it sounded like a massive abuse of power where they made their money off exploitation. then again it sucks people let themselves be taken advantage of like that, pretty stupid to allow that to happen in the 1st place.
This my fine fellow PC'ers is why I just don't work free overtime. come 6 I'm out the door and dont look back. If you put in a solid work day there is NO reason to feel guilty about working a normal work week. if something is so pressing that it needs to get done but was horribly scheduled/forced in, then why is it not important enough to pay me for?
Dont worry dude, alot of us aussie dev vets are teaming together. Theres alot of talent that hasnt gone overseas yet, so stay tuned...
This is a very reasonable way of looking at it, and I totally agree. That said, I often put in as much as another 30 hours or so a week just plain getting shit done, because I want to see the project I'm working on actually ship as a quality title. I do at least get dinner
Go the Barge!!
Good luck man.
Thanks, I'm staying tuned!
+1
:thumbup: