Rumor: L.A. Noire Studio Selling Off Assets

Team Bondi, the studio behind mystery thriller L.A. Noire, may not be around much longer. A new report suggests that the Sydney-based developer has sold off its intellectual properties and other assets.

The buyer, according to Develop is Kennedy Miller Mitchell (KMM), a production company also located in Sydney. KMM works in a variety of media, including games. Develop's report states that the employees at Team Bondi have been offered jobs at KMM. If they don't wish to join the company, they'll be offered a severance package.

The rumor is that Bondi has gone bankrupt. There is no official documentation backing that up, though. In Australia, it can take up to 28 days for such information to go public. I imagine we'll get an official announcement from either Bondi or KMM before the legal documents arrive, then.

Team Bondi was founded in 2003 by Brendan McNamara, the writer-director of PS2 sandbox action game The Getaway. L.A. Noire, released this May, was its first game. Take-Two revealed in its earning report yesterday that the game has shipped four million copies. It's not clear what the studio's next project was going to be.

If Team Bondi does close its doors, it won't put an end to the L.A. Noire series. The PC version of the game, due this fall, is being handled by Rockstar Leeds rather than Bondi. The L.A. Noire IP is actually owned by Rockstar Games. A sequel, if one ever materializes, could end up being dramatically different though as it would almost certainly be handled by a different studio.

MotionScan, the impressive facial motion-capturing technology powering Noire, will be similarly unaffected by the move. Depth Analysis, a completely separate entity from Team Bondi, owns that tech.