{"id":1139070,"date":"2026-02-05T07:52:05","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T07:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=533101"},"modified":"2026-02-05T07:52:05","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T07:52:05","slug":"rockstar-acquires-aussie-studio-founded-by-l-a-noire-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/rockstar-acquires-aussie-studio-founded-by-l-a-noire-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockstar acquires Aussie studio founded by L.A. Noire director"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" data-caption=\"\" data-portal-copyright=\"\" data-has-syndication-rights=\"1\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/rockstar-acquires-aussie-studio-founded-by-l-a-noire-director.jpg\" \/><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Rockstar Games announced on March 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesswire.com\/news\/home\/20250303172250\/en\/Rockstar-Games-to-Acquire-Video-Games-Deluxe\">its acquisition<\/a> of the Sydney-based Video Games Deluxe. The studio will henceforth be known as Rockstar Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cAfter working together closely over many years, we are excited to have Video Games Deluxe join the team as Rockstar Australia,\u201d Rockstar head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Video Games Deluxe was founded in 2013 by Brendan McNamara, who wrote and directed <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/game\/l-a-noire\/1301\">L.A. Noire<\/a><\/em> at his previous studio, Team Bondi. <em>L.A. Noire<\/em> was published by Rockstar in 2011, but the relationship between it and Team Bondi <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamesindustry.biz\/revealed-the-internal-emails-that-provoked-whistle-blowing-at-team-bondi-blog-entry\">deteriorated<\/a> following an IGN report alleging <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/2011\/06\/24\/why-did-la-noire-take-seven-years-to-make\">poor working conditions<\/a> at the Australian studio. Despite this past unpleasantness, however, Video Games Deluxe has since worked with Rockstar over the last several years on various <em>L.A. Noire<\/em> re-releases as well as upgrades to <em>Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy \u2013 The Definitive Edition<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">\u201cIt\u2019s been an honor to work closely with Rockstar Games this past decade,\u201d McNamara said. \u201cWe are thrilled to be a part of Rockstar Games and to continue our efforts to make the best games possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-none\">Although no information was provided as to what Rockstar\u2019s new studio Down Under will be working on, it\u2019s safe to assume all hands are on deck for the launch of <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/game\/grand-theft-auto-6\/40846\">Grand Theft Auto 6<\/a><\/em> later this year. Polygon reached out to Rockstar about its past with McNamara and Rockstar Australia\u2019s role moving forward, but did not hear back before publication.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/news\/533101\/rockstar-games-acquisition-video-deluxe-australia-brendan-mcnamara-la-noire\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rockstar Games announced on March 1 its acquisition of the Sydney-based Video Games Deluxe. The studio will henceforth be known as Rockstar Australia. \u201cAfter working together closely over many years, we are excited to have Video Games Deluxe join the team as Rockstar Australia,\u201d Rockstar head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe said. Video Games Deluxe was founded in 2013 by Brendan McNamara, who wrote and directed L.A. Noire at his previous studio, Team Bondi. L.A. Noire was published by Rockstar in 2011, but the relationship between it and Team Bondi deteriorated following an IGN report alleging poor working conditions at the Australian studio. Despite this past unpleasantness, however, Video Games Deluxe has since worked with Rockstar over the last several years on various L.A. Noire re-releases&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/rockstar-acquires-aussie-studio-founded-by-l-a-noire-director\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1139071,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1139070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polygon"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rockstar acquires Aussie studio founded by L.A. Noire director | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rockstar Games announced on March 1 its acquisition of the Sydney-based Video Games Deluxe. 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