L.A. Noire, a game being developed by Team Bondi, has received some attention recently due to a rumor that the game will no longer be a PS3 exclusive. This game has remained shrouded in mystery for a long time, with very little detail revealed about the title.

Team Bondi was founded by Brendan McNamara, a former Sony employee, along with several other former Sony Team Soho members. McNamara, directed and wrote Getaway for the PS2. Getaway was McNamera’s breakthrough title, which went on to sell over 4 million units.

Now, over four years later, there is confusion as to whether L.A. Noire, Team Bondi’s first game, was ever even a PS3 exclusive. We’ve tried to dig deep into the nooks and crannies of the Web to find out exactly what happened to this project by Team Bondi.

In February 2004, McNamara had an interview with Eurogamer shortly after forming Team Bondi. At this time McNamara openly talked about Team Bondi’s relationship with Sony (SCEA) and its exclusivity agreement. 

When asked about the exclusive arrangement with Sony, McNamara said:

“The project is wholly funded by Sony Computer Entertainment America. We have a long-term exclusive arrangement with SCEA.”

So, it seems L.A. Noire did in fact start out as an exclusive deal that was fully funded by Sony. A long-term exclusive arrangement usually refers to a lengthy binding contract between the studio and the publisher; in this case it seems Sony was to publish the game initially.

When Eurogamer asked why the decision to have SCEA pick-up his project instead of SCEE, McNamara said:

“SCEA has always been big supporters of The Getaway and what we do in general. Right from the start of The Getaway it was on board. It’s 14 hours to Los Angeles and 24 hours to London so we opted for LA.”

In July 2005, one year after the Eurogamer interview, Gamespot revealed new information regarding the exclusive deal between Team Bondi and Sony (SCEA). Gamespot writer Tim Surette says, “Team Bondi is in an exclusive agreement with Sony to produce two more PlayStation 3 games. The PlayStation 3 is expected to make its debut in spring of 2006.”

According to Surette, Team Bondi has agreed to develop three exclusive titles for the PS3. Which is further evidence of the long term exclusive arrangement between Sony and Team Bondi.

Now fast forward to March 2008 when an unknown source going by the alias “Surfer Girl,” revealed Sony will no longer fund Team Bondi’s project. There’s some indication that this rumor may be true. Since SCEA will no longer be publishing the game, Rockstar Games have taken over the publishing task.

Surfer Girl further revealed that the main reason for breaking the exclusivity contract was due to Phil Harrison and McNamera not getting along.

She said:

“Sony stopped funding the game when Phil dropped it years ago. The bad blood between Brendan and Phil, which began during the development of The Getaway, is the primary factor in the game being dropped. Team Bondi would likely still be with Sony if Phil never took control of WWS, there is a reason that Brendan affiliated Bondi with SCEA rather than SCEE, who has authority over Australia.”

If an exclusivity contract was broken then it would make sense that the publisher would have the power to break it, and not the studio that is bound by it. So, if L.A. Noire is no longer a PS3 exclusive, it may be because it was by Sony’s own decision.

This brings us to the present, where during the GC Asia 2008 event, Tom Crago, CEO of Tantalus and the president of the Game Developers’ Association of Australia, casually revealed to IGN that L.A. Noire will be coming out on the Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime in 2009. Up to this point everyone assumed this title would be a PS3 exclusive, so the mere mention from Crago of an Xbox 360 version supports the rumors that have been all over the Web.

Considering the current relationship between Team Bondi and Sony, it would not surprise me at all if in fact L.A. Noire comes out on the Xbox 360 and the PS3. However, readers should take heed as there is no official confirmation from either Rockstar Games or Team Bondi yet. Currently, Rockstar Games still show L.A. Noire as only for the PS3 in their financial reports. We will update you as we get more information.

*Update*

This project (L.A. Noire) should not be confused with the exclusive game deal between Rockstar Games and Sony (SCEA), which was confirmed this past E3.

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Entry was posted on Friday, September 19th, 2008 at 11:53 pm under Games, Industry, Microsoft, PS3, PlayStation 3, Sony, Xbox 360.

Read more entries by Mike Ferro.
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