Namco: Bottlerocket had a "performance issue"

Namco Bandai's EVP and COO, Makoto Iwai, has commented upon the withdrawal of the Splatterhouse project from independent developer Bottlerocket in favour of its own internal studio.

Iwai cited a "performance issue" on the part of the developer but said he was hesitant to go into more detail due to consumer biases towards smaller independent developers over publishers.

"Basically, the only reason why publishers pull the project out from the developer is when the developer isn't really meeting the requirements," he told Gamasutra. "So, unfortunately, this was the case."

"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," he explained.

"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'."

He added: "That's not the case. I just want to be 100 per cent clear. There was a performance issue."

Last month, Bottlerocket confirmed that the project had been pulled from them and handed over to Namco's Afro Samurai team.