Update: Konami have sent out a new press statement, confirming that Silent Hills has been cancelled. It states: “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.”
Original story: “Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd will continue to develop the Silent Hill series,” Konami said in a pre-written question-and-answer comment sent to the press this morning. The publisher did not, however, comment on the status of Silent Hills, the Silent Hill project that is—or was—in development at Kojima Productions.
The statement follows rumours of Silent Hills’ cancellation, which began after Konami issued a notice that it would be taking the game’s demo (titled P.T.) down from the PlayStation Network. Meanwhile, director Guillermo del Toro, who was involved with the project, voiced his dismay at not being able to work with Konami game designer Hideo Kojima any longer.
Kojima and his Kojima Productions studio were in charge of Silent Hills’ development. Over the last several weeks, reports have indicated that Kojima himself will be leaving Konami at the end of the year, once his ongoing contract with the publisher expires.
Regarding the removal of P.T. and actor Norman Reedus, who was supposed to play Silent Hills’ protagonist, Konami made the following statements:
Why is “P.T.” no longer available on Playstation Network?
Because the distribution period has expired.
Why has the image of Norman Reedus disappeared from the official website?
This is because our contract period with him has expired.
In other words, don’t get your hopes up for Silent Hills being released in its originally-intended form any time soon. If you’d like to download the free P.T. demo for the game, you’ll need to do that before April 29th, after which Konami will take it down.
