After publishing LA Noire for them and witnessing their senior management's mishaps, Rockstar decided not to do any more business with Team Bondi.
Despite the game's critical and financial success, tens of LA Noire development team members complained publicly about their oppressive work environment and about not being properly attributed in the game's credits.
Rockstar's decision was confirmed by an internal email from a top level Team Bondi employee.
"I've heard a lot about Rockstar's disdain for Team Bondi, and it has been made quite clear that they will not publish Team Bondi's next game," the internal email reads.
"Team Bondi are trying to find another publisher for their next title, but the relationship with Rockstar has been badly damaged - Brendan [Team Bondi co-founder] treats L.A. Noire like a success due to his vision but I think Rockstar are the ones who saved the project. They continued to sink money into LA Noire, and their marketing was fantastic. Without their continued support, Team Bondi would have gone under several years ago."
In 2005 Team Bondi announced that they signed an exclusive PS3 publishing deal with Sony, but it was replaced in 2006 with the current publishing deal with Rockstar. The game was originally scheduled for release in 2009, but the release date kept shifting until it was released in May 2011.
"Rockstar also made a huge contribution to the development," the email continued. "Their producers were increasingly influential over the last two years of the game's development, and overruled many of the insane decisions made by Team Bondi management."
"At a lower level, Rockstar also pitched in with programmers, animators, artists, QA, etc. Part of the conflict between Team Bondi and Rockstar was due to Rockstar's frustration with Team Bondi's direction, and eventually Team Bondi's management in turn resented Rockstar for taking lots of creative control."
"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."
