After several weeks of speculation, Konami's "Silent Hills" has officially been canceled. The game was meant to be a collaboration between film director Guillermo del Toro ("Pacific Rim," "Hellboy," and "Pan's Labyrinth") and "Metal Gear Solid" creator Hideo Kojima. Actor Normad Reedus ("The Walking Dead") would star as the game's lead.
According to Kotaku, problems with the project began when relations between Kojima and Konami were beginning to break. It was later reported by IGN that Kojima and his staff were being treated more like contracted workers instead of full-fledged employees, indicating that Kojima was indeed leaving after the completion of "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain."
Following this report, del Toro posted via Twitter that the "Silent Hills" game was not going to see the light of day now that Kojima is no longer under Konami. Konami then confirmed this by issuing a statement directly to Kotaku:
"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. In terms of Kojima and Del Toro being involved, discussions on future Silent Hill projects are currently underway, and please stay tuned for further announcements."
The statement clearly confirms that "Silent Hills" has been scrapped but the company will be developing the title in the future, just not the one being developed by del Toro and Kojima.
In relation to the cancelation of the title, Konami will also be pulling out the game's playable teaser, titled "P.T.", from the PlayStation Network by the end of this week. Players still interested in trying out what could have been should download the demo while it is still available.
While "Silent Hills" is no more, "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain" will still see completion and is expected to hit U.S. store shelves on Sept. 1 for consoles and Sept. 15 for Windows PC.
