Opinion: P.T Pulled From PSN Store This Wednesday, But I Still Believe Silent Hill’s Will Happen

• Update: Konami confirm that they “will continue to develop the Silent Hill series“.  You can read more here.

According to the official P.T website, the demo will be pulled from the PSN Store this coming Wednesday on the 29^th.  Many have then naturally speculated furthermore that this spells the end of a new gen instalment of Silent Hills, but does it really?  For example, even though P.T is one of the most fulfilling demos I have ever played, at the end of the day, it’s just a demo (or Playable Teaser if you will) and it’s not uncommon for demos to have an expiry date.  To be honest, I expected P.T to be removed from the PSN Store long before now.

With the recent Hideo Kojima saga and him nor his team not being officially employed by Konami once MGSV: The Phantom Pain is released on September 1^st,  the possibility hasn’t been officially ruled out that after that release date, Kojima or any of his team members may still be employed as contractors as or when they might be needed.  So in that respect, it’s not impossible for him to still be involved with the Silent Hills project.  While there has been doubts over the games existence following Kojimas pending exit, Konami has not once said that the game will not happen and I believe much of its hysteria has been caused by click bait articles implanting those seeds of doubt. I maybe being an over-optimist, but until I hear Konami officially say that it won’t release, I’ll always have that belief.

One of the main reasons that I believe Silent Hills will still happen, is that despite the recent doubts, the franchise has obviously been around long before Hideo’s involvement and at the end of the day, the game belongs to Konami and not Kojima.  So even though I’m sure Kojima wanted to lead this project, it’s never been his choice as to whether the game will happen or not, that decisive choice belongs to Konami and I very much doubt that they will have the attitude “No Hideo, No Silent Hills.”  At the end of the day, they’re a business and while there’s huge interest in Silent Hills (which there clearly is), Konami will still likely make it happen, whether Hideo Kojima remains involved or not.

At the earliest, Silent Hills will not release until 2016, but if there’s one thing for sure, that release window will now likely be extended somewhat.  So Konami still have plenty of time to get their house in order and prepare for life without Kojima.  If I’m being honest again, while there is still a glimmer of hope, I believe it is very unlikely he will be involved with Silent Hills, as much as I’d love for that to happen.  For me however, the biggest shadow of doubt remains with Guillermo del Toro’s involvement.

Should Konami hire a new lead developer, will del Toro want to work with anyone else other then Kojima or perhaps Konami will still go ahead without the talented Hollywood horror expert ?  After all, that was the dream team partnership he signed up for and he might not be willing to work with anyone else.  Lets also not forget the involvement of The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus, which is a big coup and endorsement in its own right, yet questions must still be asked whether his involvement remains, regardless of whom is leading the project.

I’m sure they’ll be plenty of twists and turns in this saga, but regardless of what people say, until I hear an official announcement from Konami themselves, the wishful thinker in me will always believe that Silent Hills will happen, with or without Kojima.  We’ll all just have to be that little more patient until then.

In the meantime, if you’re yet to play P.T (or removed it and thinking of playing it again), download it now before it’s gone on Wednesday 29^th.