A bit sad that this gets seen as outrageous while this type of stuff is common practice with most clothes and apparel industries. Of course those victims are kids (not western world kids) so no-one  cares about that. I agree mistreating employees is unacceptable but this is getting blown up out of proportion.

if they keep making good games, my relationship with team bondi will continue.

i'm a gamer; i love games. ill continue to play good games

whether or not the dev teams are good or bad. a lot of people make it seem

as if this is something new; it isn't. the former devs from team bondi are just more

vocal than the rest of former devs from other companies who got screwed many many times.

Well if it even matters, I am going to vote with my dollar.  RDR never really synced with me and why I love games and after all this I'm not really interested in buying a new copy of LA Noire.  Down the road I may get it used, like Red Dead.  Who knows.

So what does Take 2 do in order to sweep Team Bondi under the carpet? Blame poor Duke sales the reason revenue is down instead of the real reason, buying out the studio's contract.

I don't care for this game in the least, but the more I hear about this, the more disgusted I am with Rockstar.
 
May they burn in hell.

@Aus_azn said:

I don't care for this game in the least, but the more I hear about this, the more disgusted I am with Rockstar. May they burn in hell.

You know the company under fire here is Team Bondi, not Rockstar, right? Rockstar is looking to distance themselves from the situation.

It seems pretty clear now that Bondi is lucky Rockstar stepped in and basically saved the project with their name and some design philosophies. Would any of us have bought this game if we didn't know Rockstar was attached to it?

I feel guilty for even buying DLC, as some percent of that money goes directly to that douchebag McNamaras pockets.

Well I'm not buying this game.

Rockstar, worse than a sweatshop and a communist labor camp.

Man, I'm feeling bad for the guys working on this game. I was thinking of buying it when it comes out for the PC. But I basically will be paying for slavery.

Well if it even matters, I am going to vote with my dollar.  RDR never really synced with me and why I love games and after all this I'm not really interested in buying a new copy of LA Noire.  Down the road I may get it used, like Red Dead.  Who knows.

Let my people go.

@Aus_azn said:

I don't care for this game in the least, but the more I hear about this, the more disgusted I am with Rockstar. May they burn in hell.

You know the company under fire here is Team Bondi, not Rockstar, right? Rockstar is looking to distance themselves from the situation.

It seems pretty clear now that Bondi is lucky Rockstar stepped in and basically saved the project with their name and some design philosophies. Would any of us have bought this game if we didn't know Rockstar was attached to it?

And here I was, painting Rockstar as the bad guys.  Fuck McNamara.

@Aus_azn said:

@bkbroiler said:

@Aus_azn said:

I don't care for this game in the least, but the more I hear about this, the more disgusted I am with Rockstar. May they burn in hell.

You know the company under fire here is Team Bondi, not Rockstar, right? Rockstar is looking to distance themselves from the situation.

It seems pretty clear now that Bondi is lucky Rockstar stepped in and basically saved the project with their name and some design philosophies. Would any of us have bought this game if we didn't know Rockstar was attached to it?

Well, I never bought the game, but I always thought Rockstar is partially at fault after the fiasco with Red Dead. I wouldn't have bought the game, regardless. The Rockstar name for me has been a turn-off since GTA4.

Word. I kind of feel bad about having bought it now, too. Oh well.

It's kind of sad to see what the video game industry has become. When someone like Iwata talks about how it was to make video games 25 years ago, it sounds a lot more like how it SHOULD be.

@Swordfish9 said:

Rockstar, worse than a sweatshop and a communist labor camp.

Did you even read the article? Rockstar was in the right. Team Bondi fucked up.

RTFA

Makes me look at LA. Noire in a total different manner, while not shocked to read of such things happening, it's sad to see it at this scale and somehow involving Rockstar Games yet again. From what I've read it appears that Brendan McNamara is a pretty dislikeable fellow.

Feel for all those who worked so hard for the game and got absolutely no thanks for their hard work. Hopefully some action will be taken.

Makes that weird eye in the sky (tower) reference in the opening of the game even more interesting, possibly a shot at Rockstar games.

Now I feel bad for buying this game I don't even like or got even half-way through...

If it is the case that adverse working conditions similar to the ones described here are commonplace in the video game industry and the likes, then there's no doubt in my mind that there is a serious need of unions here. Sadly, though, unionising at this point will prove to be an extremely challenging task. And with the game industry being global and there being a significant amount of people wanting to gain entry to it, I have my doubts about whether a unionising movement would succeed. Varying support from the consumers also doesn't help.
 
But for the sake of the game developers, it has to be done. Treating employees without respect and dignity like this is never okay, and the fact that the employees are enthusiastic about the industry and games doesn't change that - nor does "it's always been like this".

This quote from the article made me sick to my stomach, "it seems even more unlikely that any of these developers will step forward and give their names, either out of fear of lawsuit or blacklisting within the industry."
 
If that's the state of the game industry some serious ass kicking needs to take place.

@ChernobylCow said:

Well if it even matters, I am going to vote with my dollar.  RDR never really synced with me and why I love games and after all this I'm not really interested in buying a new copy of LA Noire.  Down the road I may get it used, like Red Dead.  Who knows.

The worst part is I'm not sure which is worse: buying this game and possibly sending the message that working conditions such as these are acceptable or not buying the game and preventing the people who poured so much into this game from not reaping the rewards of their hard work. It's a moral quandary!

this kinda makes me feel sick, not just for this industry but society on the whole. unfortunately its a cold, hard fact that a lot of people; especially as time goes on, see money and the economy being more important that other peoples well beings,

we live in an uncaring world, and we put too much emphasis onto the importance of earning a living and being rich over being happy and fulfilled, this whole situation just reminds me of the film Network, i fucking love that film, but to think its actually still very relevant sort of grosses me out

Now that's reporting. Press hats off to Mr. McMillen.

I knew that McNamara guy was a dick. It came across in his interviews.

Would any of us have bought this game if we didn't know Rockstar was attached to it?

I'm honestly surprised that workers didn't strike. Hell the costs of the sick leave and retraining new staff in that company would be huge.
 
I wonder if Work Cover would be interested in taking a look at this company.

Treating employees without respect and dignity like this is never okay, and the fact that the employees are enthusiastic about the industry and games doesn't change that - nor does "it's always been like this".

I'm honestly surprised that workers didn't strike. Hell the costs of the sick leave and retraining new staff in that company would be huge.   I wonder if Work Cover would be interested in taking a look at this company.

Goddamn it video game industry, what the hell is wrong with you?

@AuthenticM: The video game industry sucks. I found this out first hand this week then I got given my notice on Monday and today was told that the company wants me gone today due to me disagreeing with something said in a meeting.

So if anyone knows any gaming companies recruiting a community manager at the moment, let me know.

Goddamn it video game industry, what the hell is wrong with you?

It's so sad to hear about things like this. Although in hind sight people are still buying shoes from sweat houses aren't they? This is just another version of people being taken advantage of. Albeit in a difference sense.

Is it really a surprise that a company that creates games that glorify vice to the extent of murdering nuns for achievements is filled with men that are sunk in vice?  It's only to be expected and it's hard to fathom that someone could be surprised at the revelation of the obvious.  Vice City indeed.

Rockstar: Well, we've made our money and increased our rep from this studio. Let's leave them to rot, and work on our next open-world crime game where you steal cars and make explosions YAY. 
 
So it's been reported now that Rockstar have allowed poor negative working conditions for two of their games? So long as they make their profits it's cool :/

Sounds like standard operating procedure for many Japanese developers (hell, the entirety of Japanese businesses).

man I hope all of this gets figured out and dues are paid.

You can say the crunch is bad project management and they can learn from it. You can say the employees getting mixed messages on creating or changing content is also bad project management and could be fixed. But the lying to the employees for months on end about the reason for the crunch or implied rewards is horrible. I feel pretty bad about enjoying this game now.

It is indeed, The Fallen Idol.

Hey I see the issue with crunching employees like that but boycotting the game, really? More for me I guess.

Sounds like a work enviroment Activision would gladly support, i dont see any other publisher wanting to touch Bondi now but Activision are a company who view their employees as those extra dudes on star trek. The console blows up and kill one of them, another guy appears from no where, nocks him off the chair and continues where he left off.

The video game industry is a nasty secretive business. A lot of consoles are manufactured at Foxconn in China and that place has a terrible history. If I wouldn't continue turning a blind eye, I probably would quit playing video games altogether. But I love playing them too much. Damn.

This why I was afraid to pursue a QA job in the industry (with hopes of making it to Producer). I love games as much as the next poster, but I don't think my sanity and sacrificing my personal life is worth it.

I more than likely would not of purchased LA Noire had all of this been brought to light before it was released.

@Da_Madness said:

I'm honestly surprised that workers didn't strike. Hell the costs of the sick leave and retraining new staff in that company would be huge. I wonder if Work Cover would be interested in taking a look at this company.

You know, I was thinking exactly the same thing. The only reason I can only think why that wouldn't happen is that L.A. Noire was a passion project for everyone involved, or at least for the majority. Planning and executing a strike against either Rockstar or McNamara mid-development would risk losing the game's completion entirely.

This should be turned into a game where we as the player have to interrogate all the interviewees to see if they're lying.

I loved this game for the different direction it took in an industry swarming with military FPS's and sequels BUT i would of also gladly waited another year or 6 months if it meant the poor people working on it could have some normal work hours and time with their families.