Rumor: Sony no longer funding L.A. Noire

by Scott Jon Siegel { Mar 20th 2008 at 8:00PM }

The Rockstar-published L.A. Noire has been off our radars for a while, and possibly for good reason. Though the title was originally being developed by Team Bondi exclusively for PS3 -- and with full funding from Sony Computer Entertainment America -- rumor diva Surfer Girl believes that Sony may be no longer funding the film noir-esque title.

According to Surfer Girl, the potential decision to cease all funding may have come from Team Bondi's inability to meet deadlines. If the funding has in fact been stopped, there would be nothing stopping a release of the title on Xbox 360 as well -- if the title ever actually gets released. SCEA was the only source of funding for the game's development, meaning rough times could be ahead for the team if this rumor is true.

Surfer Girl also supplies a few more (possible) details about the title. The soundtrack is comprised largely of jazz music, and is comparable to GTA in terms of quantity. The developer hopes to fill the 1940s Los Angeles with a variety of NPCs, each entirely unique and featuring unique personalities and knowledge. The game's core mechanic comes from detective work, of which reactions are reportedly mixed. It all sounds very interesting, to be sure. We wonder if it'll ever see the light of day.

Tags: la-noire, lanoire, rockstar, rumor, rumors, sony, team-bondi

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Nick the Hero of Canton @ Mar 20th 2008 8:05PM

Sounds interesting (I never heard of it before now.) Would be great if someone else picked it up.

Joe @ Mar 20th 2008 8:07PM

I hope this is not true. I really thought this game looked good so I hope it will still come out and Sony needs all the games they can get. So why not keep this one instead of lose it.

TheGuy @ Mar 20th 2008 8:16PM

One of the rumors I've heard is that she's a game developer in Rockstar, so I guess there could be credence in this rumor. Still, she hasn't shown to have much accuracy in-terms of first-party Sony games (i.e. she claimed Sony would show Killzone 2 at GDC).

Demaar @ Mar 20th 2008 8:20PM

Who is this surfer girl and why did I start hearing of her a LOT very recently? Is it because of her rabid Obama pimping, or has she gained a solid enough reputation that people can start naming her as their source now? Or what?

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 20th 2008 10:13PM

The latter. Apparently she's been right about a lot of rumors.

samfish (Brawl: 2793 0291 2277) @ Mar 20th 2008 8:23PM

I wonder if this is that supposed game that is a major defection from Sony?

John McPoop @ Mar 20th 2008 8:44PM

You could be correct but it sounds like more of an ousting than a defection.

samfish (Brawl: 2793 0291 2277) @ Mar 20th 2008 9:36PM

True. Personally, I have my money on FFXIII being the game. I can't imagine what else it could possibly be at this point.

Fernando Rocker @ Mar 20th 2008 8:25PM

Well... one less game to type in the "just wait until..." lists.

Vince UK @ Mar 20th 2008 8:33PM

Drunk Fernando lols

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 20th 2008 9:01PM

You know, the only one mentioning these "just wait until" lists are you...

Microswirl @ Mar 20th 2008 11:19PM

Yes, but Sir Fidlious Wong ALSO sometimes mentions those... err, that... I would never... yea...

Shmil @ Mar 20th 2008 11:28PM

well in fernando's defense all of those "just wait until" lists kinda stopped after lair and heavenly sword came out, man i remember coming to this site November 2006 where the lists of all the "great" games came up in every blog post

Count Noobula @ Mar 20th 2008 8:34PM

I always got this and Sadness confused. Don't ask how. I heard of Sadness, a black and white game set in the 30's or 40's., first when they were talking about "The Nintendo Revolution". Then I heard of L.A. Noire and thought they were the same game. Oh well. Hopefully The Sadness is still on track for the Wii.

And I agree with Fernando: "One less game to type in the "just wait till..." lists.

samfish (Brawl: 2793 0291 2277) @ Mar 20th 2008 8:40PM

Sadness never did, never will and was never intended to exist. Nibris is just a huge tax scam on the Polish government, it seems.

Superstar90 @ Mar 20th 2008 11:35PM

@Samfish
REALLY?! Or was that a joke? I really wanted that game to come out... :''(

John McPoop @ Mar 20th 2008 8:43PM

Jack Tretton said this game was a PS3 exclusive in exchange for SCEE letting R* out of the GTA exclusivity deal. He said this at E3 last year and it is on PS3 Fanboy. Remember people this is just a rumor. Its pretty sad if this game is indeed going to the 360 because it was to be a fantastic exclusive. Lets take the wait and see approach. I was hoping for a game in the ilk of Brian DePalmas Black Dhalia movie starring Josh Hartnett.

TheGuy @ Mar 20th 2008 8:54PM

Sony never had an exclusive deal for GTA4, and Jack Tretton stated the PS3 exclusive game he announced being developed by Rockstar is not L.A. Noire.

Richie @ Mar 20th 2008 9:06PM

@John what are you talking about? the exclusive deal they had ended after GTA:SA can I have a link for that please? Also, I couldn't careless about this game Mafia 2 is the only 1940s-1950s game I wanna get.

chimp o death @ Mar 21st 2008 1:57AM

I would hope more for a game in the style of James Elroy's book The Black Dahlia, instead of that shitty movie.

Ryuukuro @ Mar 20th 2008 8:56PM

If this game ever makes it I will buy a PS3, but if it jumps to PC or Wii (with acceptable graphics) then I might buy that instead. The whole game sounds awesome just because of it's settings. Who wants to be Master Chief or Mario when you can be Sam Spade (or a reasonable facsimile?)

mccomber @ Mar 20th 2008 9:30PM

Really? Surfer Girl is now getting recognition from Joystiq? I thought it was bad when her posts made their way to n4g on a regular basis, please don't tell me we'll be seeing "news" based on her BS blog here now...

YoRone22 @ Mar 20th 2008 9:36PM

I hope to God this is true. Not gonna drop $600 on a PS3 for it. If it comes to 360, I will be in heaven.

Josh @ Mar 20th 2008 9:55PM

surfer girl is a liar

Ce @ Mar 20th 2008 9:57PM

Count Noobula:
Sadness is probably never coming out. The company that is "developing" it has artists and planners, but they forgot to ever hire any actual programmers. They have nothing to show for their efforts over the past few years except for a bunch of on-paper gameplay descriptions/ideas, a little live-action footage, and some concept art.

Anyways, I'm pretty sick of Surfer Girl, and I don't see why she still gets so much attention, when so much of what she posts has been proven to be conjecture and educated guesses. There are other rumors blogs, like Skaterboy's Heavy Metal Suicide, and they don't get the same attention:
http://heavymetalsuicide.blogspot.com

Honestly, I bet it has something to do with how Surfergirl claims to be a girl. Bleh...

lilmamma @ Mar 20th 2008 10:11PM

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 20th 2008 10:14PM

I...

What is this game about anyways?

Sky Shark X2 @ Mar 21st 2008 2:31AM

If this is true I hope Microsofthelps fund the game but let it go multiplatform. That way we can all share the greatness of the game if it does come out, though it won't do good for the PS3 as a system seller. It seems that exculusive titles on the PS3 are becoming more like the Buffulo in late 19th century America.(decreasing in number greatly). On a side note to Sony if this is ture, Are you freaking nuts, even if deadlines weren't met a great game isn't made in a set period of time, it needs time and care. And you could use all the great exculsive games you can get now a days. Also if this is true does this pretty much mean Xbox360 users not only get GTA4 at the same time without having to look at another exclusive PS3 game from the same dev in return for getting GTA4 at the same time along with the exclusive the DLC thanks to the money MS shelled out for its exclusivity.

Lp47PS3 @ Mar 21st 2008 2:39AM

They still funded a large part of production. How could a game Sony funded possibly get released on the 360. Think about it Joystiq. Id put this rumour to rest.

wild homes @ Mar 21st 2008 11:27AM

Actually, it seems pretty easy. If Sony have STOPPED funding this game, then the agreement is null and void. At the very most, Bondi might have to repay Sony the development cost-- and since Microsoft has (apparently) no problem with money hats, co-marketing dollars, and such, maybe they'll help out with the process.

bAssackwards @ Mar 21st 2008 3:34AM

I stopped reading as soon as I saw Surfer Girl.

t_m @ Mar 21st 2008 3:40AM

A sandbox crime solving game would be great. I love the GTA/Mafia setting, etc.. but it'd be nice to have a few deeper gamplay mechanics.

If you have an open city, with branching plots like GTA, it'd be great if you actually had to do some investigation to discover the correct trigger points for the missions.

40s Noir setting would rock (Mafia style), but what I always really wanted was a cell-shaded, GTA style, Batman: The Animated Series game where you had to not only drive, fly and swing around, but also solve crimes and mysteries and track down criminals and their bases...