Ignition was the original publisher of Samurai Shodown Sen. When the title was in their E3 booth (that was two E3s ago) it was called Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny. The Southern California publisher even went out and got the game rated by the ESRB, but ultimately dropped the title.
Why did Ignition, a company actively snapping up licensed games from Japan, change their mind?
“We never had an exclusive relationship with them [SNK Playmore], it was always on a per title basis,” Shane Bettenhausen, New Business Development Director at Ignition explained. “We had previously announced Samurai Shodown for the 360. The decision to not publish it was a tough one, but partially stemmed from the online issues that plagued King of Fighters XII. We tried to avoid going through that again.”
Xseed picked up Samurai Shodown Sen and published it in April. It was their first, and so far only, Xbox 360 game.