Kojima’s Konami Exit Could Kill Silent Hills

The in-development Silent Hills, the latest instalment in the Silent Hill horror game franchise starring Norman Reedus of The Walking Dead fame, and co-directed by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima and The Hobbit’s Guillermo del Toro, may be cancelled after Kojima’s speculated fall out with developer Konami.

Silent Hills was released as a “playable teaser” – a fancy name for an early demo – for PlayStation 4 back in August last year to great acclaim, but the imminent departure of Kojima from the Konami fold may hamstring the game before it is ready for full release.

Although Konami owns the rights to the Silent Hill intellectual property, the Fox engine on which Silent Hills is built was developed by Kojima and his team. If the split is as acrimonious as has been suggested, it is feasible that Kojima could withhold permission for Konami to release the game with his engine. At the very least, that would force Konami to remake the game from scratch but, considering the cost, cancellation seems more feasible.

The end of Kojima’s and Konami’s long and fruitful relationship has been all but confirmed, with a source close to the matter telling Gamespot, “After we finish ‘MGS V,’ Mr. Kojima and upper management will leave Konami. They said their contract ends in December.”

Source: International Business Times