Divekick dev was on shortlist to develop Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct is now in the hands of Iron Galaxy, a team that put those same hands up when Microsoft called for someone to develop the fighter revival.

Iron Galaxy recently took over ongoing development and support of Killer Instinct, but the studio had been involved with the project before.

Founder and CEO Dave Lang told USGamer both Iron Galaxy and Double Helix made "the final cut" from among multiple respondents when Microsoft put out a call for developers.

Unfortunately, the team was shorthanded due to its focus on Wreckateer, a Kinect title also funded by Microsoft, and couldn't take the job.

"While it was disappointing at the time, if you take a look at where we were at that point versus the final game Double Helix was able to make, I firmly believe we would not have made as good of a game as Double Helix did - in terms of available resources, we simply weren't there at that time," Lang said.

Lang said he approached Double Helix to ask permission before taking over the project, because it's "sort of like dating someone's ex-girlfriend" or boyfriend.

The free-to-play Xbox One reboot of Killer Instinct was put together by Strider developer Double Helix Games, but Amazon snapped the studio up as part of its new interest in gaming, which extends to the new Kindle Fire TV console.