Del Toro hits out at Konami's cancellation of Silent Hills

Director Guillermo Del Toro was as surprised as anyone by Konami's sudden decision to cancel Silent Hills last month, telling IGN that he and collaborator Hideo Kojima were "having a blast" on the project, and that everything appeared to be going really well.

He said the popularity of PT, the "playable trailer" for Silent Hills released last year, demonstrated that there's a widespread passion for the series, and called Konami's decision to remove it from the PlayStation Store and prevent owners from redownloading it a "scorched earth approach."

As we noted when the cancellation was announced, there was never any guarantee that Silent Hills would come to the PC, but it seemed distinctly possible given the recent successes of Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes and with MGS 5: The Phantom Pain on the way. Now, however, it's starting to look like Konami's priorities have shifted away from its focus on traditional platforms.

"I felt strongly that from now on, mobile will be at the heart of game platforms, and that we need a business strategy which creates games in accordance with observations of consumer usage trends. Arcade games, console games, card games; we need to shift from selling 'physical things' to selling 'intangible things'," CEO Hideki Hayakawa told Nikkei Trendy, via GamesIndustry.

"Recently I hear the phrase 'mobile first' a lot, but for our company, 'mobile first' doesn't mean just doing mobile," he said. "Rather, it means that we will combine the use of mobile, the platform which is closest to our customers, with consoles, arcade games and card games, construct a portfolio, expand the styles of play and our customer base."

In spite of that, Del Toro offered a small sliver of hope to fans that while Silent Hills might be dead, it's not quite buried. "Hideo and I have been in touch," he said. "And he knows he would be the only guy I would follow to the ends of the Earth on anything. I think if anything can be rescued, I will be more than happy."

[Editor's note: This story originally ran with quotes from a NeoGAF translation of a report posted at jin115.com. We have since updated with verified quotes from GamesIndustry.]

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.