Not too long ago, Namco Bandai uncermoniously yanked the modern day Splatterhouse away from its then-developer BottleRocket. When asked what happened recently by Gamasutra, Namco Bandai America executive vice president Makoto Iwai would only say there was a “performance issue.”

“So, basically, the only reason why publishers pull the project out from the developer is when the developer isn’t really meeting the requirements. So, unfortunately, this was the case,” he said.

“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. 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.”

Iwai had more praise for the Afro Samurai development team working under the Surge label, saying, “The team did a great job with the limited amount of time, which allowed them to make improvements up to the last moment. But again, this is the very first internal project that we have started as a newly born Namco Bandai Games America.”

Hopefully he’ll have equally kind words for the new Splatterhouse team whenever it finally arrives on the market.