Rumor: Bottlerocket shut down; Namco unfamilar with "public relations" concept?

Games
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On the same day the Splatterhouse trailer debuted, Namco is rumored to have pulled the unfinished project from Bottlerocket, dooming the California-based developer.

Sources through the San Diego-area dev community - but not with Bottlerocket itself - say Namco showed up Friday and took back the dev kits and all assets for Splatterhouse. Word has it Namco intends to finish it in house with the Afro Samurai team.

That’s a huge slap to Bottlerocket, says one person familiar with the situation. Afro Samurai animators were sent on site to help out with the workload and Bottlerocket staff were said to have found their presence unhelpful. Now, if true, they’d get a nearly completed project and final credit.

And the kicker: this team would also be based in Carlsbad, and may even lease Bottlerocket’s building. Namco recruiters, naturally, were talking to BR employees about the possibility of coming aboard.

Of course it conjures up all sorts of speculation about why Namco would make a decision that would essentially destroy a developer under contract, in order to take back an nearly-completed game and attempt to finish it in house with a set of employees who didn’t work well together earlier. Sources say the game was going gold in early March.

This was Bottlerocket’s only project; its last work was on Flash with the now-kerplop Brash. One source told us all employees got their last paycheck yesterday; another says the office has about three months left before it closes for good.

A message left at Bottlerocket’s office was not immediately returned. One Bottlerocket employee has declined comment; we’re pursuing others, plus any word from Namco officially. More developments will be posted as they are known.
If there is an ounce of verity to this story, is what Namco did even legal?

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Depends entirely upon what their contract with Bottlerocket looked like. I don’t think they’d have done it if their legal team didn’t decide they could do it within the scope of the contract.

I’d really love to hear Namco’s reasoning (if this story is true) since for obvious reasons this sort of move would make any external developers think twice about dealing with Namco, but I doubt they did anything illegal.

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That really sucks, I was looking forward to splatterhouse done by the guys who did Mark of Kri.

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Yeah, you are probably right, this was a work-for-hire gig.

Also, this from the comments:

This isn’t first time Namco/Bandai screwed over an American developer.

I was in a company was also a victim a little over a year ago. I was fortunate enough to land on my feet… I wish I could say the same for many of peers.

Namco/Bandai just plain sucks as a publisher and is prone to pulling funds at the drop of a hat…maybe it was due to the colossally disastrous money-vortex known as Flagship?

Whatever the case: western developers would be wise to avoid any contracts/deals with this fickle and flighty publisher.

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I’m getting to the point where I won’t buy Namco games. If this turns out to be true, I’m done.

I really don’t like having to pay for portions of games THAT ARE ALREADY ON THE DISC i.e. Yoda in Soul Caliber 4. Or Darth Vader, if you prefer 360.

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yep, its confirmed. what a dick move namco.

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Is it possible that Bottlerocket just didn’t look like it was going to release a decent product on time and Namco needed to do this to protect their investment?

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Now I’m bummed out – I had forgotten that it was Bottle Rocket that created the Mark of Kri and its sequel, two of my favorite PS2 games. And now they’ve closed up shop, apparently. The possibility of a PS3 sequel to those games would be one of the few items that would make me regret having sold my PS3.

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I love this comment from Kotaku:

Unless Tekken and Splatterhouse ends up being GOTY material I’m more and more inclined to boycott them than ever.

You’ll boycott their bad games but still buy their good ones? That’ll show 'em!

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Of course it is entirely possible. We’re not even getting one full side of this story, let alone both sides of it.

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That’s some good stuff.

That reminds me of Jim Galifianakis’ forgetful vegan.

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The write-up in Play had me so excited about this game, especially because of the relationship between the Bottlerocket guys and the Namco reps that Halverson went on and on and on and on and on about for several pages that never seemed to stop.

Err, sorry. But seriously, that write-up was relatively recent. . . so I am surprised to see that things went THIS sour for Bottlerocket and the game.

God, I feel awful now :(

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Big company screws over a little company. Film at 11.

Is it ok to say that the new Splatterhouse doesn’t look at good or fun?