BottleRocket: Namco was "inept"

By Oli Welsh Published 17 March, 2009

Splatterhouse spat intensifies.

After Namco Bandai claimed that it had to pull its Splatterhouse remake from developer BottleRocket for "performance" reasons, the studio has hit back, calling the publisher "inept".

BottleRocket says that it never missed any of the development milestones in its contract.

"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," BottleRocket told Gamasutra in a statement.

"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."

Splatterhouse was taken off BottleRocket's hands last month, despite being in its final months of development. The game was due for release on 360 and PS3.

BottleRocket, formed around the team that made the cult PS2 action games Mark of Kri and Rise of the Kasai, has moved on to an as-yet-unannounced new project. Namco will reportedly complete Splatterhouse in-house.

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About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (21) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • DFawkes #1 3 years ago

    I still bet it was just a rubbish game.

  • HermitArcader #2 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • kangarootoo #3 3 years ago

    I'm not taking sides at all, so I'll try and be general.

    "we had not missed any contractually-defined milestones"

    Contractually-defined milestones are not the same as expected levels of quality. They SHOULD be the same, but they aren't always the same (as quality is pretty hard to define).

    It could theoretically (pure supposition on my part) be the case that Bottlerocket met the milestones, but the level of quality in the submitted work was just not high enough.

    On the flip side, Namco could have been dicking about with the development too much, and not letting Bottlerocket get on with their job.


    This sort of spat doesn't really paint either side in a good light. We are simply never likely to be party to all of the detailed information at the heart of the situation, but without it we can't really discover who was "to blame". So it would probably serve both of them (Bottlerocket more so, because they are small) if they presented a dignified and silent front.

  • HEAVYface #4 3 years ago

    "So it would probably serve both of them (Bottlerocket more so, because they are small) if they presented a dignified and silent front"

    i don't completely agree - namco seemed to of mouthed off first, bottlerocket is a small independent developer probably now touting for more work, so needed to respond in some fashion...

    maybe an internet slanging match isn't the best way, but it seems to be all the rage these days....

  • Spekingur #5 3 years ago

    Could be that they were just making the game so awesome that Namco wanted all the glory for their in-house devs.

  • kangarootoo #6 3 years ago

    "i don't completely agree - namco seemed to of mouthed off first"

    Well perhaps the perfect opportunity exists for Bottlerocket to present themselves in a better light by giving a more reserved and adult response?

    "so needed to respond in some fashion"

    I agree, but they had several options. Using the word "inept" with regard to Namco was perhaps not one of the better ones.

  • BillyBrush #7 3 years ago

    Regardless of quality, if Namco want to keep it which they do they will take their code, say they've done loads to it...release, take in all the money, pay bottle rocket fuck all, and win

    Developers really should own their IP rather than work on publishers IP when you can't always trust publishers. How gamers can't see that this happens a fair bit and in this economy is a damn useful tactic is beyond me

    +1 spekingur +1

    ....It could be that it's awful, terrible and such, odd then that the publisher would keep it going by taking it in house...though i am sure they'll make it at least 80% brand new, of that Bottlerocket can be sure :o)
    Edited by 1 at 17/03/09 @ 11:25

  • kangarootoo #8 3 years ago

    @BillyBrush

    "Developers really should own their IP rather than work on publishers IP when you can't always trust publishers."

    Its a fine idea in principle, but a developer can rarely demand that sort of agreement with a publisher. Each contract will differ in its details, but its rarely got anything to do with what "should" be the case.

    The bare truth is that the publisher is paying for the development, they are paying for the IP, they are paying for the marketing, and everything else. The dev is simply making the game code. If the dev wants to retain ownership of the IP, they are in essence going to have "buy" it off the publisher by getting paid less for the development work. And most devs can't afford to do that.

  • Linkified #9 3 years ago

    I'm gonna bet Namco didn't want to pay the Bottle Rocket for the game and realised that it was cheaper to do in house. If I was Bottle Rocket I would sue them for pulling the project and breaking their contract.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #10 3 years ago

    Well perhaps the perfect opportunity exists for Bottlerocket to present themselves in a better light by giving a more reserved and adult response

    Ah, but how would we be able to tell the difference between that, and them hanging their heads in shame?

  • Triggerhappytel #11 3 years ago

    Sony, contract this lot and get them to make The Mark of Kri: Rau's Revenge, or something.

    Anyway, I do think these spats are fairly pathetic, and although Namco started it Bottlerocket should have probably not been petty in their response. Either way, these are ugly things, and I hope the devs are okay.

  • TruWari3r #12 3 years ago

    This had nothing to do with milestones or quality

    once Namco's internal team was finished with Afro Samurai they were left with a staff and no new project to give to them.

    enter bottlerocket's near completion game, which now has been transferred to the team that did Afro Samurai



    connect the dots
    Edited by 1 at 17/03/09 @ 13:13

  • kangarootoo #13 3 years ago

    @Mentalist(air)

    A reserved and adult response does not have to be silence.

  • kangarootoo #14 3 years ago

    @Linkified

    "If I was Bottle Rocket I would sue them for pulling the project and breaking their contract."

    I think that is possibly why you don't work for Bottlerocket's legal team.

  • kangarootoo #15 3 years ago

    @TruWari3r

    Makes a lot of sense.

  • HermitArcader #16 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • B0MBJ4CK #17 3 years ago

    I look forward to having to buy the rest of the game after its released....thanks Namco!

  • kangarootoo #18 3 years ago

    A magical warrior type game is surely the perfect place for a bit of ressurection.

  • dadrester #19 3 years ago

    i worked on a namco hometek (not the same as namco bandai) game for 6 months, where we were getting paid, before the project was canned. Apparently the publisher didn't realise they had signed the project and were paying us. the external producer got sacked.

  • anomagnus #20 3 years ago

    i work with namco on a professional basis, and i can tell you, that if the people i deal with on a regular basis are indicative of all of namcos staff, inept is probably too kind a word

    namco are a bunch of arrogant cunts in my book

  • MaxiSleep #21 3 years ago

    This was NOT what was said. Eurogamer needs to tighten up its headline writing - this is simply ridiculous