Team Bondi comes under fire for controversial title of Whore of the Orient

LA Noire’s Director Brenden McNamara can’t seem to leave controversy alone. This time, Australian councillor Jieh-Yung Lo has criticised the title of McNamara’s upcoming game Whore of the Orient, stating that it is an offensive title, according to Australian website The Age .

“It’s the use of the word ‘Orient’, more even than the word ‘whore’, that is the issue,” Lo said. “The O-word is very similar to the N-word for African-American communities. It’s a 19th century racial-colonial conception and it’s especially painful for older people in the communities. That was a very bad time in China, and people don’t want or need to have that dragged up.”

The game is being developed by McNamara alongside Sydney-based production company KMM. The company has received $200,000 from Screen New South Wales for development of the game. The game has been named after the historical nickname for Shanghai, where the game is set.

A councillor has issues with the game’s title, apparently

“Australian institutions should be encouraged to fund projects and initiatives that cultivate mutual understanding and prosperity in the Australia-China relationship,” Lo said. “We need to build greater trust and cultural understanding rather than promote division and negativity.”

Lo’s ultimate aim is to have McNamara’s studio, Team Bondi, retract the game’s title and stop development of the game. Currently, Team Bondi doesn’t have any publisher for Whore of the Orient.

McNamara’s and Team Bondi’s claim to fame so far has been the popular LA Noire, which was published by Rockstar Games. It was critically and financially quite successful, but suffered a fair share of controversy surrounding the working conditions at Team Bondi. It is unlikely that the studio will be developing alongside Rockstar Games again.