Rockstar Games Expands with New Studio in Australia, Welcoming LA Noire Director Back on Board

In an exciting development, Brendan McNamara, the mastermind behind LA Noire, has returned to the Rockstar Games family. He is now the head of Rockstar Australia, a studio newly acquired by the renowned GTA developer.

The announcement came today as Rockstar disclosed its purchase of McNamara’s Sydney-based Video Games Deluxe, a studio with which they have enjoyed a close working relationship for the past ten years on various Rockstar re-releases.

Previously known as Video Games Deluxe, the studio has been rebranded as Rockstar Australia. They recently stepped in to overhaul the latest GTA Trilogy port, taking over from a previous studio that faced heavy criticism for the port’s subpar performance.

In addition to the GTA Trilogy project, Rockstar Australia collaborated with Rockstar on the 2017 re-release of LA Noire and its VR Case Files adaptation. McNamara, the original director of LA Noire and founder of its developer Team Bondi, played a pivotal role in the game’s success.

LA Noire received acclaim for its technical achievements and commercial performance, but Team Bondi disbanded less than a year after the game’s release due to allegations of a toxic work environment and excessive crunch during the prolonged development period. The fallout included a controversy over more than 100 individuals who contributed to the project but were omitted from the credits.

Looking back on the tumultuous period, McNamara addressed the challenges of competitive game development in a 2011 interview with IGN, defending the demanding working conditions by stating, “you just have to be prepared to do what you have to do to compete against those people.”

Despite setbacks following LA Noire, McNamara embarked on a new project titled “Whore of the Orient,” which unfortunately fell through after a publishing deal with Warner Bros. Interactive fell apart.

Now at the helm of Rockstar Australia, McNamara expressed his excitement, stating, “It’s been an honor to work closely with Rockstar Games this past decade. We are thrilled to be a part of Rockstar Games and to continue our efforts to make the best games possible.”

The future projects of Rockstar Australia remain undisclosed, but with the highly anticipated release of GTA 6 on the horizon, it’s likely that the team will be involved in this groundbreaking endeavor. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, recently hinted at an autumn 2025 window for the launch of GTA 6, adding to the anticipation surrounding the franchise’s next installment.