Team Bondi Under Investigation After Allegations Of Poor Working Conditions On LA NOIRE
International Game Developers Association looking into claims made my 11 current & Former employees of mistreatment whilst working on their hit games.
Reports of poor working conditions are coming out from former and current employees of Team Bondi, the makers of hit game L.A. Noire. The issue stems from an IGN article that quotes current and former employees at Team Bondi unhappy about how they were treated during the games development cycle. One employee stated: "I was told that I was taking the piss by saying that I couldn't give every single one of my weekends away. We were looked at as a disposable resource, basically. If you weren't in the 'inner circle'" an exclusive group which seems to have consisted of the former Team Soho employees "you were just a resource to be burned through,"The article talks to no less than eleven former or current employees as they paint a picture of a very unstable and contentious working environment. In addition, because of these accusations, the International Game Developers Association will be investigating Team Bondi and their leader Brendan McNamara. This is the second time in two years that a game published under or made by Rockstar Games has been under scrutiny for having poor working conditions. Last year an unnamed person came forward and wrote a letter about conditions at Rockstar San Diego, the people behind Red Dead Redemption. However, nothing really became of this.
It will be interesting to see what type of power the IGDA has to enforce punishment on Team Bondi if the latest allegations are true. The video game industry is full of rumors about this type of thing and just a few years ago EA settled a lawsuit for unpaid overtime wages. However, Team Bondi and Brendan McNamara have not been taken to court yet. If the allegations are true, something at Team Bondi needs to change but will it take court action to rectify the situation or can IGDA enforce the changes themselves? It will also be very interesting to see how Rockstar is affected if these allegations are true, did Rockstar leadership know it was going on? It was said numerous times Rockstar team members were working closely with Team Bondi. Or was Rockstar unaware of what may have been occurring at Team Bondi? However, I dont believe these are isolated incidents in the video game industry. The industry as a whole may need to be looked at to see how widespread this problem is.