Rockstar and Team Bondi’s crime thriller L.A. Noire became somewhat of a sleeper hit when it first hit store shelves in 2011. It impressed gamers around the world with its amazing graphics and deep storyline. Team Bondi used state of the art facial motion capture technology to push the seventh-generation console’s graphics to its limits. This, along with its unique post-WWII detective experience, made L.A. Noire unlike anything gamers had seen before. However, these triumphs came at a very heavy cost.
L.A. Noire had one of the most hellacious developments in modern video game history. Team Bondi employees suffered greatly during the game’s seven-year development. Working extremely long hours for limited pay became the norm for many of Team Bondi’s staff.
To make things worst, Team Bondi’s founder, Brendan McNamara, constantly berated his team in front of their peers. The continual torment from McNamara became too much as Team Bondi’s turnover rate became sky high. Team Bondi’s everlasting, revolving door of employees and tyrant-like leadership turned L.A. Noire’s development into a nightmare.
A group of 11 ex-Team Bondi developers came out after L.A. Noire released, exposing the horrid working conditions the team faced while working on the game. The former Team Bondi employees stated that McNamara ran the company like a savage dictator who verbally abused his staff regularly in front of their teammates. McNamara lashed out at his staff daily, even for the most minuscule reasons. It was simply his way or the highway.
Many Team Bondi members refused to deal with the harassment and quit the Australian developing company just weeks after being hired. It's reported that over 100 people left the company during L.A. Noire's development.
McNamara’s maltreatment of his staff worsened as L.A Noire furthered development. Reports say he frequently assigned tasks to his employees that were completely out of their wheelhouse or just downright unreasonable. He dropped the workload of employees who left onto single developers, who were then expected to complete all of the former employee’s assignments on top of their original work, without an extended deadline. If they complained about the extra burden, McNamara would completely disregard their concerns
The endless rotation of employees caused L.A. Noire to soar past its original deadlines. Rockstar started pressuring Team Bondi to hurry and complete the game, since it was becoming a hefty financial burden for the publisher. Instead of handling the issue in a reasonable manner, Brenden McNamara forced Team Bondi to work nights and weekends for nearly two years -- this is known as "crunch" and it's incredibly detrimental.
It wasn’t uncommon for Team Bondi developers to work until 2 or 3 a.m. and be expected to be back at 9 a.m. the same morning. One former staff member said they were scolded for being 15 minutes late, even though they didn’t get off until after 3 a.m.
Reports also came out accusing Team Bondi of stiffing its employees' overtime pay. Many ex-Team Bondi staff stated that they never received any overtime pay during the two-year crunch period. Team Bondi got away with this due to slick wording in its employee contracts, which stated staff would only receive overtime pay three months after the game’s completion. If staff members quit Team Bondi before L.A. Noire was finished, they wouldn’t receive any overtime pay. This was just another scandal to add to Team Bondi’s long list of controversial business practices.
By the time L.A. Noire made its long-awaited debut in May 2011, Team Bondi and McNamara’s reputation had already been tarnished. Word of McNamara’s abusive behavior towards the Team Bondi staff spread throughout the video game industry. Surprisingly, McNamara defended his actions by saying L.A. Noire was his game and he could go up to anyone he wanted to tell them what to do. He also blamed his passion for L.A. Noire for berating his employees and claimed he saw nothing wrong with stating his opinions to his development team.
Combined with his defense of not paying overtime, McNamara's tanking reputation led him to close Team Bondi only months after releasing L.A. Noire. Most video game companies refused to work with the Australian developer after hearing about its awful past. L.A. Noire was Team Bondi’s first and last game.
Few words can describe the horror of L.A. Noire’s development. The game became a living hell for most of the Team Bondi staff. McNamara’s relentless abuse and micromanaging ended up running the company into the ground.
Team Bondi’s story is a perfect example of how a toxic work environment can destroy a promising, up-and-coming company. Hopefully, other video game companies will learn from Team Bondi’s demise and see the importance of valuing their employees. As the saying goes, “To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.”