Konami has canceled ‘Silent Hills’ made by Guillermo del Toro and Hideo Kojima
For the last few months, Konami Corp has been a stone wall when it comes to rumors about game legend Hideo Kojima’s exit from the studio, but now the Japanese game developer has announced that it has canceled Silent Hills, a new entry in Kojima’s popular survival horror franchise that was being developed through partnership with director Guillermo del Toro.
Silent Hill is one of gaming’s most beloved horror series thanks to its creepy environments, deep story, and use of symbolism. The now canceled Silent Hills originally developed a significant amount of hype last year thanks to P.T., a “playable teaser” game demo released on PlayStation Network, which challenged players to solve a series of puzzles that ultimately revealed the game would be a new Silent Hill title.
Rumors about the game’s cancellation came to a head last week when Konami stated that P.T. would no longer be available on PSN after April 29, and today the studio officially confirmed that it had halted production on the game.
“Konami is committed to new Silent Hill titles, however the embryonic ‘Silent Hills’ project developed with Guillermo del Toro and featuring the likeness of Norman Reedus will not be continued,” Konami said in a statement to Eurogamer.
“What a waste”
The news of the cancellation comes just days after del Toro referenced his involvement with the project at San Francisco International Film Festival, saying, “I tell you right now, officially, it’s not happening, and that breaks my greasy heart.”
Actor Norman Reedus, who is best known for his portrayal of Daryl Dixon on The Walking Dead, voiced his disappointment at the news. “Super bummed about this was really looking forward to it,” Reedus wrote on Twitter. “Hopefully it’ll come back around. Sorry everyone.”
While video games get canceled all the time, most do not involve game design icons, critically acclaimed horror directors, or high profile actors from hit TV series, and fans are understandably disappointed.
“Complete tragedy,” wrote one Reddit user. “The Kojima-Del Toro partnership gave this game more potential than any other game I can think of. P.T. is probably the scariest hour of gaming I’ve ever played, and I really, really hope something is done with it. What a waste.”
