So the bad news is out – ‘Silent Hills,’ the brain child of Guillermo Del Toro and Hideo Kojima, starring Norman Reedus as the main character, possibly creating what might have been the horror game of the decade, was unceremoniously canceled. But it gets worse – the game’s playable teaser has been pulled off the Playstation Store and is no longer available for downloads.
Known simply as ‘P.T.,’ the ‘Silent Hills’ playable teaser quickly became a hit with horror game fans. While short, ‘P.T.’s’ intense graphics, terrifying if unelaborated story, and horrifying imagery captivated its growing audience, and even earned Gamespot’s Game of the Month back in August despite not technically being a game. Even if big names like Del Toro, Reedus, and Kojima weren’t tied to ‘Silent Hills,’ ‘P.T.’ was more than enough to convince players that the upcoming game was something to be excited about, which is probably why the abrupt canceling of the title stung fans so deeply. And now with the title gone from the store, only those who already downloaded ‘P.T.’ will have access to it.
(An important note: Those who downloaded ‘P.T.’ before it was taken off the store can still delete and re-download the playable teaser as they please. Thank goodness.)
Konami has yet to give much explanation as to why they decided to take down ‘P.T.’ or even why they canceled ‘Silent Hills’ in the first place, but it’s possibly due to Hideo Kojima leaving the studio. Konami already has begun to strip Kojima Production’s name from ‘Metal Gear Solid’s’ art, Twitter, and website, as if to quickly move the franchise as far from its creator as soon as it can. This suggests Konami might also want to pull the plug from Kojima’s take on their ‘Silent Hill’ franchise as well and try to erase its existence from ever being a possibility, but until the company elaborates more, if they ever do, we can’t know for sure.
If you’re one of those who still have ‘P.T.’ on your PS4, then this news has at least good thing in your favor – PS4s installed with ‘P.T.’ are now a hot commodity on eBay, with some selling for over $1000. So while the final product will never make it to your PS4, at least its predecessor has increased the value of your console.
If this news truly upsets you, then you can check out the Change.org petition that, at the time of writing this article, already has over 30,000 signatures begging Kojima and Del Toro to continue development of ‘Silent Hills’. Who knows, in the future the two might try their luck in the crowd-funding sector.
