Matt Martin 08:44 (BST)
17/03/2009

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Independent developer Bottlerocket has questioned Namco Bandai's management of the game Splatterhouse.

The publisher pulled the game from the studio last month, suggesting Bottlerocket had a "performance issue" and the team wasn't meeting Namco's requirements.

Now Bottlerocket has issued a bitterly worded statement, suggesting that any problems with the game's development process was due to bad management.

"We too have to be careful of what we say since publishers have to worry about their 'image' and will sue small, independent studios who bark back at them too loudly," said a statement from the company issued to Gamasutra.

"Game development contracts are put in place to protect the publisher and their interests," continued Bottlerocket. "Within these contracts are a series of defined game development objectives and goals called milestones. If a developer is under performing they tend to fail these milestones and have varying degrees of accountability placed upon them."

"Splatterhouse had been in development for over eighteen months and up to having the title taken away from us we had not missed any contractually defined milestones," stated then firm.

"So either there were no performance issues during that timeframe or Namco’s management of the title was inept."

Namco has now bought the project in-house, and is reportedly using its Afro Samurai team on the game.

Bottlerocket has previously worked on The Mark of Kri and its sequel, Rise of Kasai, for Sony Computer Entertainment.

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