Hideo Kojima, known for his Metal Gear series, initially wanted to be a filmmaker before entering the video game industry. He had a family tradition of watching a film every night before bed and discussing the themes with his parents. Kojima could not pursue his dreams due to the limited opportunities for Japanese filmmakers at the time. As an economics student, Kojima saw Nintendo’s Famicon and thought of it as an alternative way to make film-like experiences. Going against his peer’s objections, he left university for the video game industry and would later work with Konami for over three decades.

With a love for cinema, and video games as his creative outlet, Kojima teamed up with director, Guillermo del Toro, and Norman Reedus for a new entry in the Silent Hill franchise, titled Silent Hills. Initially revealed as P.T. or “playable teaser,” a demo for an upcoming horror game. It was revealed to actually be the demo for Silent Hills with Reedus portraying the protagonist. At Gamescom, Kojima stated, “we are aiming for a game that will make you shit your pants. So please make sure you have a [change of clothes]."

Intertwined with this story is Kojima’s falling out with publisher Konami (we’ll get to that one). There was a power struggle between Konami and Kojima which led to them parting ways. Konami removed all production credits from Kojima’s studio, Kojima Productions, in all promotional material for Metal Gear Solid 5. Konami then announced it would be removing P.T. from the Playstation store. “The distribution period of "P.T. (Playable Teaser)" on PlayStation Store will expire on Wednesday, April 29, 2015.”

In a statement to Polygon, Konami confirmed the sad news, "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." As of now, P.T. can no longer be accessed unless it was downloaded prior to the removal.

After the cancelation, del Toro spoke with IGN about his ambitions for Silent Hills, and stated, “What we wanted to do with the game – and we were very much in agreement on this – was to take the technology and make it as cutting-edge as we could in creating terror in the house. The idea was very, very atmosphere-drenched.” This was Del Toro’s second attempt at being involved in a video game, and it fell through. He stated, “I don’t know if I’ll ever come back to the form. In one instance, the company went down, and in the second, the completely unexpected happened, which was Kojima and Konami separating. It’s kind of left me reeling.”

Resident Evil was able to successfully return to form and it’s possible for another classic horror game to make the same comeback. Kojima is known for his cinematic approach to the Metal Gear series which came from his childhood hobby of watching films. Alongside a film director who knows horror, Kojima and del Toro were a perfect match for a new Silent Hill game. It was a bonus treat to have Reedus star as the main character. Sadly, Konami had other plans for Silent Hill. Konami became a joke when they announced, much to fans’ dismay, a Silent Hill pachinko machine.

Although we will never see Kojima and del Toro’s Silent Hills starring Reedus, del Toro did say he hoped to work on something new with Kojima. Del Toro told IGN, "I love working with Kojima-san. We are still in touch. We are still friends and working into doing something together, but that’s not going to be [Silent Hills]."

To sum up the experience on Silent Hills, del Toro stated, “We were hoping to actually create some sort of panic with some of the devices we were talking about and it is really a shame that it’s not happening. When you ask about how things operate, that makes no fucking sense at all that that game is not happening.”

As a fan of fellow countryman, del Toro, I was upset he didn’t get to make this game, especially given that it was a Silent Hill game and with Kojima. We lost Silent Hills, but new projects will come from these two. For fans, there is Kojima’s new game that will have del Toro as a character. It definitely “makes no fucking sense” Konami canceled a sure hit from the creative minds of Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, but I’m sure that pachinko machine made absolute sense for Konami.

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Playing the Same Old Game

The Cancelation of Silent Hills - "We were talking about really pushing the boundaries of the new consoles, and making the game really mess with your head"