With Rockstar reluctant to publish LA Noire developers Team Bondi's next game, rumours are circulating that studio founder Brendan McNamara is in talks with George Miller's KMM studio, with the aim of being absorbed into the Mad Max and Happy Feet creators.
One verified source working at Dr D, George Miller's Animation Studio, claimed that multiple members of Team Bondi, including Brendan McNamara himself, were seen getting a tour of the Dr D offices.
"Brendan McNamara was seen walking through the buildings of Dr. D yesterday, where Happy Feet 2 is being made," claimed our source.
According to the source this bothered some Dr D workers, many of which were ex-Team Bondi employees.
"Because Dr. D is filled with former Team Bondi employees who left due to the abusive work conditions," the source continued, "this unexpected visit was quite… unsettling – to put it mildly."
Another verified source, from within KMM, claimed that it was broadly known within the company that George Miller himself was incredibly impressed with Team Bondi's efforts and McNamara's insistence to stick to his artistic vision in the face of deadlines.
This matches with the claims of the source at Dr D.
"The word is going round that Team Bondi is being folded into KMM studios, Team Bondi is pretty much doomed after the scandal and can't find any new supporters, so by doing this they can hide their name."
Our source within KMM couldn't confirm whether or not this rumour had any validity, but stated they would be surprised if it wasn't true.
KMM studios is currently headed up by God of War 2 director Cory Barlog, who was working on a Mad Max game, to be designed in tandem with a new George Miller movie based in the Mad Max universe. At the moment, however, all of Miller's resources are being moved to Happy Feet 2 to meet an extremely strict deadline that many within Dr D believe the team can't make.
For that reason, the Mad Max movie is currently on hold – so at this stage we really have no idea what KMM's Sydney studio is working on at the moment. KMM's Brisbane studio is currently working on a Happy Feet 2 video game to be released alongside the movie in November this year, but after that they're also without a project.
We're currently in contact with KMM/Dr D in an attempt to get more details and will update as soon as we hear back.
This story originally appeared on Kotaku Australia.