Team Bondi ‘sells off assets and IP’

Game IP and other remaining assets owned by Sydney studio Team Bondi have been sold off, a source close to the matter has told Develop.

Develop understands the goods have been transferred to Kennedy Miller Mitchell (KMM) – a Sydney production studio that works across a range of media, including games.

An insider, who engages with both companies locally, has said all Team Bondi developers have been offered a job at KMM.

It is unclear if Team Bondi, which recently finished production on LA Noire, will continue as a going concern. The studio has declined to comment on the matter.

Rumours that Team Bondi has gone bankrupt, or perhaps bought outright by KMM, appear to have arisen from one brief meeting held with studio staff.

Studio boss Brendan McNamara explained to his team they would have the choice of joining KMM or accept a severance package, the insider claims.

Because the studio has only been formally addressed about its future on a few occasions, or perhaps just one, further information has proven difficult to gather.

Speculation is rife that the studio has entered administration, or “gone bankrupt”.

There are no official document filings yet available to verify these claims, though legal practice in Australia means such papers may take up to 28 days to be public.

Further rumours suggest McNamara, a person so closely linked to the studio’s fall from grace, is joining KMM too. A recent Kotaku report claimed McNamara recently toured KMM with his staff – an incident that Develop’s source testifies to.

If McNamara moves to KMM, it would unite him with many staff who left Team Bondi during the “hostile and brutal” production of LA Noire.

Rockstar Games owns the LA Noire IP, and has not been affected by the sale. Rockstar Leeds is building the PC edition of LA Noire.

Depth Analysis, a separate company that built the bedrock animation technology in LA Noire, is not thought to be affected.