“The Impact of Silent Hills’ Cancellation – How Hideo Kojima’s Departure Shook Fandom and Transformed the Gaming Industry

Hideo Kojima might be one of the most influential and one of the weirdest directors in gaming. He has made games that fans have not been able to get over for years. As a game developer, he has earned the respect of numerous critics as well as fellow developers.

And that is why when he released that unusual teaser for Silent Hills along with Norman Reedus, fans took it seriously. When he said it would be so scary that it would ship with extra underpants, people laughed, yet they took it seriously. After so much hype and anticipation, the cancellation of the title really hurt not just gamers but the industry as a whole!

How the cancellation of Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hills changed a big part of gaming

Silent Hills was a surprise for the masses; its teaser was dropped out of nowhere, and it even got a playable demo called PT. Kojima and Oscar-winning filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro worked on this demo, and they were so proud of it that its references were all over in Metal Gear Solid V.

And a few months later, all of a sudden, everything fell apart. The game was canceled; Kojima was removed from Konami; heck, they even removed that demo from PS Stores.

The situation was so ugly that people hated Konami for years after it happened. Kojima moved on and made Death Stranding with Guillermo del Toro and Norman Reedus. But many fans found it hard to get over that game. Its influence was seen in gaming too; games like Outlast were born, and running and hiding became a norm in modern horror games. A vulnerable protagonist was seen everywhere.

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Even the resurrection of the Resident Evil series happened with ideas from Silent Hills. This game never played out; the playable teaser is nowhere to be seen, but its effect remained. Some fans even tried recreating that demo in various game engines, and some fans even tried making the whole game on their own.

Konami was quick to put down such efforts, citing their rights as owners of that property. What happened in Silent Hills was not sad, but unfair, the serious was aching for a comeback, and Kojima could have given it the comeback it deserved, but nothing came out of it.

And fans are now left wondering what could have been.

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