L.A. Noire Spiritual Successor "Whore of the Orient" May Never Come Out

It sounds like L.A. Noire developer Team Bondi's follow-up, Whore of the Orient, is no more.

Producer Derek Proud spoke about the mysterious game recently in an appearance on the Gamehugs podcast. Proud was asked directly if he thought the game would ever be released--and his response was not what fans of the project might want to hear.

"I don't think so," he said, according to a transcription from Finder (via Polygon). "That was one of the games and one of the studios I kind of left right at the bitter end. When we got wrapped up."

Whore of the Orient was in development at Team Bondi for consoles and PC. Proud said he and other developers, including studio head Brendan McNamara, "fought to keep that project alive."

"It was something we were all passionate about. But in the end, that was the way it went," he said.

Whore of the Orient was going to be set in 1936 Shanghai, the "most corrupt and decadent city on the planet," according to a since-deleted page on the Team Bondi website.

Team Bondi even received $200,000 in funding from the Australian government to help finance the project.

After the release of L.A. Noire in 2011, KMM Interactive--a production company founded by Mad Max director George Miller--bought the assets and intellectual property rights to Team Bondi's work, including Whore of the Orient. A Warner Bros. logo appeared on the Team Bondi website, though the publisher never said anything about its reported involvement with the game.

Whore of the Orient was at one time reportedly being readied for a release in 2015. The first video footage of the game emerged in 2013--watch it here.

Proud now works for Garoo Games. As for Team Bondi, the Australia-based studio has since closed down.

This post has been updated.