Namco: Developer Pulled from Splatterhouse Project Over 'Performance Issue'

Splatterhouse publisher Namco Bandai has defended its decision to remove original developer BottleRocket Entertainment from the project, saying it was done over a "performance issue" with the studio.

Following the removal, BottleRocket issued a statement saying that Namco "showed up with a U-Haul truck, took all [the team's] assets (dev kits, etc.) and informed management that the title was being pulled from Bottlerocket."

But Namco says the U-hauling was necessary due to quality concerns over the game, a revival of the 1988 arcade action hit.

"The only reason why publishers pull the project out from the developer is when the developer isn't really meeting the requirements," said Namco vice president Makoto Iwai to Gamasutra. "So, unfortunately, this was the case."

He continued: "I have to be very careful so we don't make any direct comment on it because whatever we say, people will try to be on the developer side. You know, 'The developer is an independent developer trying hard, and evil publishers are trying to get rid of the business by doing whatever they feel like.' That's not the case. I just want to be 100 percent clear. There was a performance issue."