Alleged developer says he was not credited on Team Bondi game despite 'arduous work'
A man who claims to have worked Australian studio Team Bondi for three years has said he quit because "I felt as though my sanity depended on it".
The developer, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was asked to work “10-12 hours almost every day and on weekends” to help build Rockstar’s latest game, LA Noire.
He also claims to be one of the 130-odd people not named on LA Noire’s final credits – two accusations that could cast a different light on one of the world’s most promising development studios, Team Bondi.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, the alleged insider described working at Team Bondi as “being an inflexible and virtually praise-free environment”.
"After my wife had been pushing me to quit for more than a year, I did," he said.
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The developer said he nevertheless deserved to be credited on the game for putting three years of work in.
"There has been a lot of press saying how incredible [LA Noire’s success] is for the Australian gaming industry, since it is the biggest and most successful game made in Australia to date," he said.
"But that has come at the price that most of the people that worked on it will never have proof of having worked there, unless they want to pull out a pay check."
Team Bondi and Rockstar have not publicly commented on the matter.
This is not the first time Team Bondi has been accused of omitting the work of numerous developers on LA Noire’s credits roll.
A new independently run website, called LA Noire Credits, was recently established to credit all people who have worked on the game.
A co-founder of the website, also speaking anonymously to the Sydney Morning Herald, clams that nearly 130 people were not credited for their work on LA Noire.
The IGDA, whose purpose is to clarify general policy on such matters, declined to clarify general policy on the matter.
Antony Reed, head of the Game Developers' Association of Australia, refused to comment.
A spokesperson for the IGDA Melbourne chapter said “it is important for individuals working in the industry to check their contracts before signing them”.
This is not the first instance that a studio building a Rockstar Games product has been accused of tough employee practices.
Rockstar San Diego – creators of Red Dead Redemption – faced a staff exodus after serious accusations of unremitting crunch work.
And some 50 developers based at Rockstar Vienna had apparently been left off the credits list for Manhunt 2.
This has got to stop. The music industry has a system whereby people have a legal right to be credited, and the gaming industry should do the same.
I've seen many top games developers of varying roles complain of this and it's pathetic. I've thankfully had the joy of working for a much more praise worthy company who actually do honour their employees - but they are an exception.
I think our industry really needs to grow up big time. Not only the companies, but the mindset of the employees. Far too many employees are willing to crunch all year round for peanuts, which leads to selfish companies treating them like *cattle.
*= I have replaced my intended noun with a less offensive word =)
And of course the important points raised.
Hard work used to count for something. Now it's more about agreeing with the boss and looking good when the suits visit.
I'll just shuffle off to my culling appointment now.
Moo. Moo. Moo. Bang.
This is not the first time, and it wont be the last time that this happens. Rockstar have something of a reputation for pushing their staff to the limit in order to achieve results, and I honestly don;t know why anyone working at Team Bondi would have thought it would be any different for them. However, the sad truth of the games industry is - things like credit on a game, often come down to being the job of and office admin/junior - under the supervision of the producer. At least in my experience.
Work with a producer who holds a grudge, or is forgetful, and you get bumped from the credits. I have worked on several games titles, and went through this process myself - almost being left out of credits on a release because I had left the company three weeks before the release date.
The industry really needs to sort itself out with regards to the level of professionalism in studios. And kids, working in the industry really isn't what its cracked up to be, you;ll be under paid, under appreciated, over worked and sidelined every step of the way by people with that elusive 'more experience'.
This is pretty much normal, though in my experience usually only in the last 3-6 months of development.
It's not really surprising that most developers are quite young and often leave once they get married and have kids. I pretty much quit when I reached 35 and now only make games as a hobby.
The salaries in game dev are ok for 40 hour weeks but when you end up doing 12 - 14 hour days 6-7 days a week for weeks on end plus some commute time your personal life and physical and mental health can take a nosedive thats hard to recover from. Plus the overtime makes that nice salary not so nice when your doing almost double the required hours.
stop moaning, you got paid did you not.
@notalktalk
If you can get over your shortsightedness for a moment, having your name left off the credits is a really important issue.
You want to get into a good game company in the future? What's the easiest way to prove that you worked on a game? The credits.
Re: Crunch.
I love how people say it's just SOOO easy to be able to say no to crunch. Some of these employees have families and want to keep their jobs and get paid. There is insane competition from young people coming into the industry who will cut your throat to get a spot AND work those insane hours. Doesn't matter if you have 5 to 10 years experience, companies will sell you out to the lowest bidder.
Honestly, the only way to fight is to leave the industry. From my experience over the decade and my friends, its like this in almost every AAA developer out there.
To name a few:
EA (still crunching strong, even after EA spouse)
Activision (probably the worst, all studios)
Rockstar (all studios)
I know the IGDA has set out standards and guidelines for rolling out credits. Companies should take up the drive to be honest and make use of such standards. It will only benefit us with more of the professionalism workers in this industry deserve.
Unfortunately publishers in this business usually have a heavy hand in dolling out credits - This is not the fault of Team Bondi (at least not entirely).
These workers should take action, maybe a class-action lawsuit... we need to set precedent somehow that we continue to receive fair credit for hard work and not let these companies employ favoritism in order to secure and hold overtime and crunch over the heads of employees.
The solution is not really leaving the industry, but leaving AAA developments.
I would leave top publishers totally alone if it was in my hand, and rebuild a new, fresh, more creative industry with smaller studios that don't need sequel after sequel to survive. Bet for BBB.
Credits as well as show of appreciation are huge motivational factors for employees. You can make someone's day just by thanking them for a task they went out of their way to do, took on the responsibility for, or even just put in extra time to make sure it got done. THEY Are helping YOU keep yours and everyone else's job.
Don't forget POSITIVE re-enforcement works wonders. Being a manager myself, showing appreciation goes a long way to creating a cohesive and responsive team.
Crunch is inevitable unfortunately. However it can be managed with better planning, and ensuring additional staff is trained up far in advance of major milestones.
Any company that needs to crunch serious hours for long periods of time needs to look at it's staffing or work flow issues.
As for leaving people off credits - I'm sure it wasn't intentional. You have to realize towards the end of the project where it's crazy busy, the person who is usually responsible for credits isn't up to speed on the past 3 years of employee movements. Someone should be managing credits from the project get go and not as an oversight 2 weeks before ship. Credits should be a living growing list not a mad info grab at ship.
However, if there are any companies who have a policy of deliberately leaving someone's name off a credit because they left the project early, you should think twice about what you're doing. These people - your ONLY true resource, have given up their time to help you stay in business. Promote a 'thankyou' not an 'f*you' attitude with credits. Don't forget, you need us to keep you in business.
Peace out and hope there's a suitable resolution for everyone involved. A simple letter of recognition would be a nice gesture if credits can't be changed now.
"Developer's wife accused of being pushy."
