Rockstar Relations With Team Bondi Damaged, May Not Publish Next Title
by July 5, 2011 @ 7:20 pm

Alleged operational woes at Team Bondi continue to surface, with a GameIndustry.biz report claiming that Rockstar is now distancing itself from the Australia-based studio, stemming from a fallout over the development of L.A. Noire.
If a series of internal email exchanges between Rockstar and Team Bondi are to be believed, a divide in opinion over the creative direction of L.A. Noire created tension between the two parties. Despite their best efforts to give direction, Rockstar staffers repeatedly had to ‘override’ decisions made by Team Bondi management.
GI.biz’s anonymous source attributes much of the success of L.A. Noire to Rockstar, praising their marketing support. It’s further noted that Team Bondi would have gone under years ago if not for financial backing from R*.
Another source claims that at one point Rockstar was keen to turn Team Bondi into a official label, a Rockstar Sydney. These plans fell through as relations with Bondi’s management continued to fester.
“It’s also worth pointing out that Rockstar used to be very keen on making Team Bondi something like ‘Rockstar Sydney’ – the more they worked with Team Bondi management, the more they came to understand that this was a terrible idea.”
If these accounts are true, it’s certainly not surprising to hear that Rockstar may cut ties with the studio.
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