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Kotaku: Silent Hills officially cancelled

Overside

Banned
Wow, this dimension sucks.

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Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
I highly doubt Konami had any choice but to cancel this if Kojima is leaving.

Their problem is that they've placed all their eggs in a Kojima-shaped basket for far too long, and if he's gone the actual degree of disruption is basically incalculable as how many senior staff members he takes with him isn't known at this point.

Essentially although they get to keep the "ship", they get a ship without a captain, a course, and an uncertain number of loyal crew-members. Not to overdo the nautical metaphor, but they are kinda scuppered.
 
If Kojima took to Kickstarter to make a horror game in the same vein as P.T. I would put $100 down instantly. I'm pretty sure he could get a huge budget by doing KS in the near term because of all the feels from the community.

I wonder if anything would prevent him from doing so.

lol Kojima doesn't need Kickstarter to do whatever he wants to do next.
 

weevles

Member
If Konami has any heart and soul, they will just put their console game IPs on auction and at least let someone else continue making those games.

They surely can't make that much more money slapping "Silent Hills" or "Metal Gear"on a pachinko machine or smartphone app, can they? Oh, shit...
 

televator

Member
So Konami is 100% shit now, right? I mean what else do they have that matters outside of mobile? Well I guess we should see how they handle Metal Gear going forward...
 

vpance

Member
I highly doubt Konami had any choice but to cancel this if Kojima is leaving.

Their problem is that they've placed all their eggs in a Kojima-shaped basket for far too long, and if he's gone the actual degree of disruption is basically incalculable as how many senior staff members he takes with him isn't known at this point.

Essentially although they get to keep the "ship", they get a ship without a captain, a course, and an uncertain number of loyal crew-members. Not to overdo the nautical metaphor, but they are kinda scuppered.

I am sure they are actively shopping buyers right now while the IP is still hot off of the renewed interest. Same goes for MGS after V releases.
 

weevles

Member
So Konami is 100% shit now, right? I mean what else do they have that matters outside of mobile? Well I guess we should see how they handle Metal Gear going forward...


Gambling machines, Sports Clubs, and Health and Fitness equipment in Japan.

If they keep the gaming division, it's all going to be phone apps. I wonder if they even need the Las Vegas office or the Australian one now.

Edit: maybe they will keep Las Vegas for the gambling machines here and ditch El Segundo instead. IDK. This is kind of messed up. :p
 
I really hope this shake-up lands Kojima with a publisher who appreciates him. I would love to see a new IP or a re-imagining of the horror concepts he had in P.T. This could be great news but it's way to early to tell unfortunately :\ Puts a big shadow over MGS 5 for me as well.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
I am sure they are actively shopping buyers right now while the IP is still hot off of the renewed interest. Same goes for MGS after V releases.

How can they shop it around when the key people driving these projects are not under any sort of contractual obligation to comply with their future plans?

Its a really bad situation for Konami to be in, and its one of their own making.
 

vpance

Member
How can they shop it around when the key people driving these projects are not under any sort of contractual obligation to comply with their future plans?

Its a really bad situation for Konami to be in, and its one of their own making.

The key people don't matter anymore since they're on their way out if not already. Konami is ultimately the owner of the IP so they're free to do with it as they wish. The name is still worth a few million after all.

Hopefully Sony saw the potential in the P.T. demo and snatched it up. Kojima can just circle back and rejoin the project next year.
 

Mar Nosso

Banned
I think we need to start questioning the management at Konami. Have there been changes to it recently? Who's in charge now and when did they start their tenure? What are their aims for the company? What is the focus going to be?

This is a company that has been one of Japan's videogaming staples for decades and yet they are now turning their backs to their most avantgarde developer, shutting down projects with enormous amounts of interest behind them and seemingly backing away entirely from the videogames business.

Who is/are Konami's boss at present and what do they want for the company? And why?

Can we get a journalist(s) to actually investigate and report? I mean a real journalist, not videogame reviewers.
 

Hopeford

Member
Now all they have to do is piss off the Pro Evolution Soccer fans, and they're fully dead.

...Are there even any PES fans on GAF?

I'm kind of a fan, but only in the sense that it's my most tolerated soccer game. I kind of prefer old, more unrealistic games like International Superstar Soccer. Current ones do what they want to do pretty well - they have wonderful animations and amazing presentation. But what I'm really a huge fan of is the old, absolutely idiotic "press A for unrealistic physics to happen."

So what I'm saying is they need to make a Silent Hill game where a real soccer player is trapped in International Superstar Socer 64.
 
Honestly, Kojima was the only thing holding Konami's games division together. For years, Kojima was the last source of genuine talent the company had. Team Silent had left years before, and God knows what happened to the guys that made Castlevania. Konami's inability to replace those that left made them rely on Kojima and outsourcing to maintain and revitalize their dying franchises. I mean, Kojima was the ONLY one that had any clue how to make games and run a business. Just look at Konami's situation; they can't do ANYTHING right without Kojima:

-Konami backstabs Kojima after Metal Gear 1 by make the god-awful Snake's Revenge, he returns to direct Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and rights the wrong.

-Konami runs console Castlevania into the ground, so Kojima steps in to make the series relevant by producing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, revitalizing the series. As soon as he steps away from the sequel, they manage to fuck it up again.

-Kojima builds a new team to cultivate new talent and leadership for Metal Gear Solid: Rising, team can't make a proper game without him, so Konami (what else?) outsources to Platinum (not a bad idea, but it was probably Kojima's).

-After years without a decent Silent Hill game (and some more outsourcing to boot), Konami personally asks Kojima to handle a Silent Hill reboot, P.T. becomes huge, gaining praise, some mainstream publicity, Hollywood talent, and general hype from fans and newcomers alike, basically publicity other publishers would kill for. As soon as he's off the project, it's cancelled and Del Toro/Reedus back out. Silent Hill fades back into obscurity.

See how it works? After everything Konami put Kojima through, it's no wonder Kojima has had such fatigue and wants to leave. He should have been made freakin' CEO for what he did for this company.
 

GrayChild

Member
http://kotaku.com/its-official-silent-hills-is-cancelled-1700379816

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.

I really don't understand this.

"Hey guys, we know we cancelled that Silent Hill game made by Kojima and Del Toro, but we have an awesome idea for a new Silent Hill game made by Kojima and Del Toro, so stay tuned for more details".
 

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
Honestly, Kojima was the only thing holding Konami's games division together. For years, Kojima was the last source of genuine talent the company had. Team Silent had left years before, and God knows what happened to the guys that made Castlevania. Konami's inability to replace those that left made them rely on Kojima and outsourcing to maintain and revitalize their dying franchises. I mean, Kojima was the ONLY one that had any clue how to make games and run a business. Just look at Konami's situation; they can't do ANYTHING right without Kojima:

-Konami backstabs Kojima after Metal Gear 1 by make the god-awful Snake's Revenge, he returns to direct Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and rights the wrong.

Konami runs console Castlevania into the ground, so Kojima steps in to make the series relevant by producing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, revitalizing the series. As soon as he steps away from the sequel, they manage to fuck it up again.

-Kojima builds a new team to cultivate new talent and leadership for Metal Gear Solid: Rising, team can't make a proper game without him, so Konami (what else?) outsources to Platinum (not a bad idea, but it was probably Kojima's).

-After years without a decent Silent Hill game(and some more outsourcing to boot), Konami personally asks Kojima to handle a Silent Hill reboot, P.T. becomes huge, gaining praise, some mainstream publicity, hollywood talent, and general hype from fans and newcomers alike, basically publicity other publishers would kill for. As soon as he's off the project, it's cancelled and del Toro/Reedus back out. Silent Hill fades back into obscurity.

See how it works? After everything Konami put Kojima through, it's no wonder Kojima has had such fatigue and wants to leave. He should have been made freakin' CEO for what he did for this company.

Great post.
 
Honestly, Kojima was the only thing holding Konami's games division together. For years, Kojima was the last source of genuine talent the company had. Team Silent had left years before, and God knows what happened to the guys that made Castlevania. Konami's inability to replace those that left made them rely on Kojima and outsourcing to maintain and revitalize their dying franchises. I mean, Kojima was the ONLY one that had any clue how to make games and run a business. Just look at Konami's situation; they can't do ANYTHING right without Kojima:

-Konami backstabs Kojima after Metal Gear 1 by make the god-awful Snake's Revenge, he returns to direct Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake and rights the wrong.

Konami runs console Castlevania into the ground, so Kojima steps in to make the series relevant by producing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, revitalizing the series. As soon as he steps away from the sequel, they manage to fuck it up again.

-Kojima builds a new team to cultivate new talent and leadership for Metal Gear Solid: Rising, team can't make a proper game without him, so Konami (what else?) outsources to Platinum (not a bad idea, but it was probably Kojima's).

-After years without a decent Silent Hill game(and some more outsourcing to boot), Konami personally asks Kojima to handle a Silent Hill reboot, P.T. becomes huge, gaining praise, some mainstream publicity, hollywood talent, and general hype from fans and newcomers alike, basically publicity other publishers would kill for. As soon as he's off the project, it's cancelled and del Toro/Reedus back out. Silent Hill fades back into obscurity.

See how it works? After everything Konami put Kojima through, it's no wonder Kojima has had such fatigue and wants to leave. He should have been made freakin' CEO for what he did for this company.

Shit, when you put it like that it's even worse than it first seems. So glad Kojima got out of there but my heart weeps for Silent Hills.
 

BriGuy

Member
So Konami is 100% shit now, right? I mean what else do they have that matters outside of mobile? Well I guess we should see how they handle Metal Gear going forward...

Kind of amazing in a way. This is the studio that brought us Contra, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Suikoden, Goemon, Silent Hill, Sparkster, Gradius, TMNT, and a whole slew of other classic games... and each and every last one of them is dead.

You can't even attribute this to mismanagement. This is deliberately, spitefully, not giving a shit any more.
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
Kind of amazing in a way. This is the studio that brought us Contra, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Suikoden, Goemon, Silent Hill, Sparkster, Gradius, TMNT, and a whole slew of other classic games... and each and every last one of them is dead.

You can't even attribute this to mismanagement. This is deliberately, spitefully, not giving a shit any more.

Man, that's such a strong portfolio. Okay, maybe the gambling division is more profitable, but let's be real here, the Video Games industry is bigger than damn movies. They're leaving billions on the table here.
 

Eusis

Member
Playing devil's advocate, I was wondering if we know whole heartedly that Konami corp. is to blame? What do we really know about what transpired? From working somewhat in the gaming industry, there are so many moving parts to things that never see the light of day and would surely help sculpt the perspective of people here.
I think a lot of it has to do with how Konami's been acting on a whole lately. If it was JUST Silent Hills, or even if it was JUST kicking out Kojima that'd be one thing, but there's a barren release schedule and seemingly more focus on their other ventures. It'd be like if SE forced out Nomura entirely during FFXV's development rather than just off that game, scrapped KH3, and had nothing announced for the future like SO5 or even higher profile mobile games.
 

Mellahan

Concerned about dinosaur erection.
Taking some advice from Stephen Hawking, theoretical physics tells us there may indeed be a universe out there where Silent Hills wasn't cancelled and all is well at Konami. One day we will traverse the multiverse and play it.

This is what I will tell myself as I lay my head down tonight.
 
This sucks for this particular game, but it's sadder to see how far some publishers have fallen since the PS2 era. Man have the times changed.
 
I've been too heartbroken to post in this thread. Two of my favorite people from motion pictures and gaming working on one of my favorite franchises was a dream come true. I genuinely look forward to the truth coming out regarding this fallout because this just doesn't make sense to me financially.
 

LifeLike

Member
Anybody think its good news Kojima is out for good and in its own? Maybe it will bring us something he wasnt able to achieve with konami...
 

Chiggs

Gold Member
Anybody think its good news Kojima is out for good and in its own? Maybe it will bring us something he wasnt able to achieve with konami...

I feel like this is the end for both parties. In theory, it should be a dater's market for Kojima, but in reality he'll probably sign with Microsoft and get stuck with some garbage project that will make us all groan.

Kojima should just take a year off.
 
Kind of amazing in a way. This is the studio that brought us Contra, Metal Gear, Castlevania, Suikoden, Goemon, Silent Hill, Sparkster, Gradius, TMNT, and a whole slew of other classic games... and each and every last one of them is dead.

You can't even attribute this to mismanagement. This is deliberately, spitefully, not giving a shit any more.

Hey, same thing for sega.
 

Kama_1082

Banned
I feel like this is the end for both parties. In theory, it should be a dater's market for Kojima, but in reality he'll probably sign with Microsoft and get stuck with some garbage project that will make us all groan.

Kojima should just take a year off.
And everything will be rainbows and lolipops with Sony?
 

Dunk#7

Member
Can we make some sort of mega thread or petition to request that Kojima make a survival horror game as his next project? Just don't call it Silent Hill.


I want this so badly.
 
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