BottleRocket responds to 'performance issue' claims

And the drama continues between publisher Namco Bandai and BottleRocket, with the former Splatterhouse developer responding this afternoon to claims last week that a "performance issue" was to blame for the project being yanked off the California studio's plate. Obviously miffed, the company noted deliberate choice of its words, writing "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."

"Game development contracts are put in place to protect the publisher and their interests," offered BottleRocket in a prepared statement. "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."

The statement concluded: "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. So either there were no performance issues during that timeframe or Namco's management of the title was inept." So, Namco, what gives? Did BottleRocket run over your dog, or something?