Namco: BottleRocket 'performance issue' to blame for Splatterhouse flap
by James Ransom-Wiley 
on Mar 12th 2009 6:00PM
Namco Bandai has broken its silence: "So, basically, the only reason why publishers pull the project out from the developer is when the developer isn't really meeting the requirements," COO Makoto Iwai told
Gamasutra, as he carefully began the first official explanation for
the removal of BottleRocket Entertainment from
Splatterhouse development. In what is best described as the delicate threeway between "evil publishers" (Namco, in this case), their properties, and the indie developers they employ to
do said properties, Namco deemed BottleRocket incapable of delivering the climactic touch to
Splatterhouse. In other words, "I just want to be 100 percent clear," Iwai asserted, "There was a performance issue."
Gasp! Wow, Namco sure is brave for speaking out. It's such a taboo topic, after all -- no one wants to hear it was
the developer's fault. "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," Iwai observed. Whatever Namco, isn't there a pill or something you could have prescribed?
