According to an unnamed source, Australian-based studio Team Bondi has been closed, in a move by parent company Kennedy Miller Mitchell. The studio was seemingly unable to find a backer for upcoming release Whore of the Orient, after rumoured publisher Warner Bros pulled the plug.
Our first - maybe only - look at Whore of the Orient
It's the latest in a run of bad luck for Team Bondi, the developer behind Rockstar Games' 2011 release L.A. Noire. Following the release of the game, the studio was let go by Rockstar, with a majority of staff finding new employment at Kennedy Miller Mitchell, the film company behind Mad Max and Happy Feet.
Many staff were put straight to work completing Happy Feet 2, while a second team continued developing Whore of the Orient, "one of the great untold stories of the 20th Century", and pet project of studio head Brendan McNamara.
The game was revealed last August as being in development for PC and next-gen consoles, with Warner Bros. reportedly attached as publisher.
Some time since then, it seems KMM and Warner Bros parted ways, and with the developer unable to secure a new backer, all plans for Whore of the Orient have reportedly been put on ice indefinitely.