2015 was a mostly good year. It left us with some fun games to play and more to look forward to in 2016 and beyond. It knew exactly what we wanted — more zombie games — and that’s what it gave us. H1Z1 came first, followed by the Resident Evil remaster, Dying Light, the Zombie Army Trilogy and Resident Evil Revelations 2. By April, we were smitten.
And that’s when it made its move.
In the final week of April, news broke that Silent Hills might be cancelled. It seemed impossible. Why would Konami destroy the series’ final chance to be relevant again? Why would any company go against their best interests by throwing away a game that would’ve combined the talents of director Guillermo del Toro, Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima, horror manga artist Junji Ito, and “The Walking Dead” star Norman Reedus.
It was a bewildering move that I’ve spent more than enough time complaining about. It sucks, but Silent Hills wasn’t the first horror game to get cancelled, and it certainly won’t be the last.
The point of no return came when Konami set fire to every single thing that had any relation to Hideo Kojima. All mentions of him suddenly vanished from the promotional materials for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Kojima Productions was forcefully disbanded and P.T. was removed from the PlayStation store.
Konami had become the sort of thing you might expect retching into a bush in the Alchemilla Hospital parking lot. Their position as a respected publisher of amazing franchises like Castlevania, Metal Gear and Silent Hill was ruined. They no longer cared about the community that had supported them for decades.
The reason for this spectacular implosion is, unfortunately, deeply lame. When Hideki Hayakawa took over as Konami’s new head honcho, the company announced a “corporate restructuring” so they could focus less on creating stunningly ambitious works of interactive art that go on to define entire console generations so they could churn out more mobile games.
This led to a “power struggle” between Hayakawa and Kojima, otherwise known as the guy who guides the development of all those stunningly ambitious works of interactive art that go on to define entire console generations.
Now, this series does still has a future — it just won’t be using the Silent Hill name.
What might’ve been lives on through the bits and pieces that were deemed salvageable by a growing number of talented indie developers that have since used them as the foundation for games like Allison Road, Layers of Fear and Visage.
Everyone had their own idea of what Silent Hills would’ve been like, and that was enough for some to invest a significant amount of time and money into realizing that potential, in part, for the nearly 200,000 fans who rallied together to petition for its return.
That petition didn’t give us exactly what we wanted, but it couldn’t have anyway. Konami can’t hear us anymore. They’re in Pachinko heaven now, oblivious to the fact that their fate is about to align with the beloved survival horror franchise they so unceremoniously ended.
We can only hope that Silent Hill will stay true to its genre and survive this horror. It’ll probably be some time before we hear from it again. Until that time, we can take some comfort in knowing that the admin who went bonkers for baby penises on the Silent Hill wiki a couple weeks ago has had his reign snipped by a popular vote.
It’s been a real roller coaster ride of a year, but it’s over now. The New Year is almost upon us. I know you’ve grown tired of this conversation, so if you’d like to sneak one final jab at Konami, this is your chance. Don’t hold back. They’ve done plenty to earn it.
With his studio restored and a partnership with Sony in his back pocket, Kojima has gotten back to work doing what he does best. It could be just about anything, and that’s exciting. So…
What would you like to see come next from the new Kojima Productions?
