After an in-depth article on IGN hit the Web last week detailing ruthless working conditions at Team Bondi, the developer behind last month’s L.A. Noire, that included over 100-hour work weeks, the International Game Developers Association has decided to step in.
The article not only depicted long hours during a prolonged crunch time, but the personality of Brendan McNamara, the studio’s founder and leader, as that of an easily angered tyrant. One source claimed that after a team-building meeting, the studio head was required to be isolated from his employees, which apparently only made the situation worse.
McNamara has claimed that the studio’s working conditions were not unfair, but IGDA chair Brian Robbins doesn’t want to hear it. The group has declared that it will be fully investigating the situation.
"Certainly reports of 12-hour a day, lengthy crunch time, if true, are absolutely unacceptable and harmful to the individuals involved, the final product, and the industry as a whole," Robbins told Develop.
He then invited anyone close to the situation with knowledge to come forward.
"We encourage any Team Bondi employee and/or family member to email qol@igda.org with comments about the recent past and current situation – positive or negative," Robbins added.
The reports from employees mentioned that work weeks averaged on 60 hours and sometimes reached as high as 110.
"If you left at 7.30pm, you’d get evil eyes," one artist recalled. "The crunch was ongoing. It just kept on shifting; an ominous crunch that just keeps moving, and moving. Management would say, ‘Oh, it’ll finish once we meet this deadline,’ but the deadline kept moving. That went on for a good year."
According to Develop, several anonymous industry professionals have laid into McNamara on the site’s comment section. The publication also claimed that several developers are openly criticizing the man and his studio on Twitter, though no sources were provided.
To read the full list of alleged atrocities committed by McNamara at the studio, which include constantly yelling at employees in the open office and a complete lack of keeping team leads informed, check out the original article on them over at IGN.
[Develop]
