Horror fans aren't too happy about Silent Hills' cancellation earlier this week. They've started a petition asking Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro to finish the game.
The Change.org petition says that the game's cancellation was "about the most heartbreaking thing horror fans had to swallow this year." It also notes that many players loved the game's PS4 demo, P.T..
"I am begging you along with countless others: Please continue the Development on Silent Hills, if the issue is money related, we would love to see a Crowdfunding campaign like Kickstarter to ensure you are getting all the financial help there is!" the petition says. "We´d love to see it happen at some point and want to thank you for all the great games you have released so far!"
In the days since the petition was published, it's been signed over 63,000 times. I imagine the petition will hit its goal of 75,000 signatures in just a few more days.
I'm inclined to agree with the petition. The Silent Hill franchise has been a mess for years. A series of studios have created sub-par games that only serve as reminders of how good the series was in its earlier years. Silent Hill is due for a revival and it seemed like Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro had the experience and clout to make a proper resurrection.
However, I do think that the petition is addressed to the wrong people. Del Toro and Kojima aren't the ones that need to be convinced of Silent Hills' worth - it's Konami. They're the ones holding all the cards here, too. Konami owns the Silent Hill franchise and the Fox Engine being used to create Hills. They also have the resources to fund a game of this scope. Silent Hills is dead if Konami wants it to be dead.
The only way that Kojima and del Toro could continue the project is if it's not a Silent Hill game. They'd probably have to switch engines too if Konami's not willing to license the technology to them. I don't doubt that the two of them have the star power to have a huge crowdfunding campaign. However, they'd be effectively starting over from scratch.
Del Toro revealed the game's cancellation last weekend during a film festival. Konami then followed up with an official confirmation.
"Konami is committed to new Silent Hill titles, however the embryonic Silent Hills project developed with Guillermo del Toro and featuring the likeness of Norman Reedus will not be continued," the company said on Monday.
As part of the game's cancellation, Konami took P.T. down from the PlayStation Store. Gamers scrambled to download it before that happened. A few opportunists are even trying to sell consoles loaded with the demo through eBay.
