For years the Silent Hill fan base had to endure quite a dormant period. Konami, who had once thrived with games like the Silent Hill franchise, had started to dwindle down with their video game releases. After the cancellation of Silent Hills and the departure of Hideo Kojima, Konami seemingly put the IP on the shelf. Fortunately, the IP received a significant resurgence for fans that had to endure several years of silence. Last year Konami held a big showcase last year revealing several Silent Hill projects in the works. Now it looks like the number of projects in the works may increase.
A few video game projects were being developed for the Silent Hill IP. Included was the reveal of a Silent Hill 2 remake by the Bloober Team. Now that the word is out and we know Konami is interested in bringing Silent Hill back to the forefront, invitations for developers have been sent out. Konami is looking for more projects for this IP, and they are asking developers to start preparing pitches. In a recent interview with IGN, Silent Hill series producer, Motoi Okamoto, spoke about having to keep quiet about the franchise’s return.
This franchise return has been kept under wraps for a while despite rumors and supposed leaks suggesting the IP was back in action. According to Motoi Okamoto, there was only so much that Konami could do themselves, which prompted the meeting with different studios. In fact, Motoi noted that some projects never got off the ground. But there is hope that their number of projects will continue to grow. Since the franchise return is no longer a secret, there is an open call for development studios worldwide to start pitching their ideas on a Silent Hill project.
Unfortunately, there are some projects that never actually got off the ground. Still, I think the number of projects we have will only continue to grow. The fact we were reviving Silent Hill was a secret until now, so we couldn’t exactly go out and yell, ‘Hey, everyone! Bring us your Silent Hill projects!’ We can do that now, so if creators from around the world who love Silent Hill bring us their pitches, I promise to look through every one of them. We’re all ears.
Motoi Okamoto – IGN
It seems that Konami is pushing forward with Silent Hill, and that should hopefully deliver some thrilling projects. Of course, some fans might be concerned that the number of projects being tossed at the IP could become too much and create a burnout of the franchise. At any rate, we haven’t received any new title announcements since last year’s Silent Hill showcase, so it’s safe to assume that any new game productions might take a good while before they are officially unveiled.