We May Never Get to Silent Hills (Updated)

https://twitter.com/avestal/status/578634976947609600

An image featuring the above tweet from Gaming Intelligence Agency founder and contributor Andrew Vestal was passed around and posted on various message boards after last month’s Hideo Kojima fiasco began. Little did we know how hard he hit that figurative nail on its head.

The story started when the phrase “A Hideo Kojima Game” was curiously removed from many of Konami’s websites, including most of the recent Metal Gear pages and the Zone of the Enders website. Though some damage control was done resulting in it being re-added to a few, it remains a memory (or in Google’s cache) in plenty others. That’s when reliable rumors began circulating, saying Kojima, along with many from the apparently-defunct Kojima Productions, would remain under contract until shortly after Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain releases. Following that, they would leave the company.

Though the fate of Metal Gear will be in a state of haze following those departures, some of the company’s remaining fans were more worried about the fate of a game mostly announced, from a franchise that’s been in a similar haze for years: Silent Hills. Kojima hasn’t been able to say anything about its status, along with the rest of Konami’s development team. But knowing Konami’s history, some understandably feared the worst. It’s why the aforementioned tweet resonated with Silent Hill fans who have been mostly neglected since Team Silent was disbanded after 2004’s Silent Hill 4: The Room, over a decade ago.

The first hint towards its fate came last night, when someone visited the official P.T. (as in, “Playable Teaser” for Silent Hills) website and discovered an ominous update. A note was posted at the bottom of the page saying the distribution period for the free title will end after April 29th — this Wednesday. It’s a peculiarly sudden time for the game to be removed from PlayStation Network, coming so soon after the Kojima fiasco mentioned in the previous paragraphs. It’s as if Konami intended for fans to think that Silent Hills is dead, because why else would they need to pull it?

The latest comment came from collaborator Guillermo Del Toro, who’s directed several Hollywood movies including Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim. Kojima is a big fan of movies, so having him along with The Walking Dead actor Norman Reedus on board was somewhat of a dream for him. Since no one at Konami could talk, Del Toro was the next best source.

His answer was blunt when he clarified his current status on the project after being asked on stage at the San Francisco International Film Festival, saying “It’s not gonna happen, and that breaks my greasy heart.”

Further clarification came later, saying Del Toro was only talking about his collaboration with Kojima. But you’d have to hate your money to bet against the game still being alive. Its likely cancellation marks not only a huge blow to dejected Silent Hill fans, but everyone who enjoys horror games.

We seldom receive horror games with a sizable budget behind them these days, and within P.T. resided the promise that Silent Hills could have delivered the kind of experience we’ve been without for far too long. It’s cruel for a company to promise something spectacular and strip it away in an instant. It appears Kojima was integral in shaping this experience, and Konami doesn’t have anyone who could adequately take his place on the project.

This is also enough to prevent anyone from taking Konami’s claims that Metal Gear will continue without Kojima seriously, though I hope no one did in the first place. Anyone in-the-know is keenly aware of how they operate nowadays. Don’t expect anything good from them, as far as gaming on dedicated platforms goes. It’s astounding that the company spent years crafting an internal game development engine for big budget titles in the Fox Engine, but will only end up using it for two full titles.

I’ve seen a few say they plan on boycotting Konami’s titles after MGSV releases in September, and my response to them is “boycott what?” They don’t have anything that will interest the core gaming audience in the pipeline, with their future lineup will consisting of mobile titles aimed towards an audience that doesn’t know or care about this fiasco. That is, unless you care about Pro Evolution Soccer, though the whereabouts of this year’s installment are currently MIA.

The best we can do with Konami is remember the excellent experiences they provided for those of us who grew up playing video games, and lament what they’ve become. (Fun fact: You can also apply this to every other Japanese game development giant not named “Nintendo.”) The best we hope for is that Kojima continues to create and direct games with some Kojima Productions members after he’s free of Konami at the end of 2015.

Update: There was little chance of the game being still alive, but Konami went ahead and confirmed Silent Hills’ death this morning. They claim the company will continue developing Silent Hill products in the future, but I sincerely hope no one thinks they’re referring to video games. What a great company.