Hideo Kojima Planned To Make A New Horror Game But It Was Cancelled
When it comes to video game legends, they don't come much bigger than Hideo Kojima. Known as the man at the forefront of Konami - before his spectacular split when Kojima Productions branched out on its own - Hideo Kojima had a major hand in the Castlevania and Silent Hill games. However, it's his legacy as the creator of the Metal Gear franchise that has seen Kojima become an icon of the industry. With Kojima's impressive CV on both stealth and horror games, fans might be interested to know he had planned another big horror game until it was reportedly axed. Here's the story of what could've gone down.
Although Kojima's work is almost unrivalled, he has a checkered past when it comes to cancelled horror games. Notably, there are the forgotten ashes of P.T. Titled Playable Teaser, the trailer showed off gameplay for what was planned as Silent Hills to reboot the fan-favourite horror series. Despite casting Norman Reedus as its lead, and P.T. leaving everyone suitably terrified, Konami pulled the plug in 2015. The demo was later removed from the PlayStation store. The latest news is just another of Kojima's ambitious "What if?" projects.
What is the cancelled Kojima horror game?
The latest scoop comes from VGC, which claims Google has several Stadia projects in the works that were eventually cancelled. There's been a recent flurry of news surrounding Stadia, following confirmation it was shuttering the Stadia Games and Entertainment division. As well as moving away from in-house production, there was a wave of third-party games that were reportedly axed too.
According to the site, Stadia had been working on a multiplayer game from a former Assassin's Creed creative and a sequel to Journey to the Savage Planet. There are also claims Stadia turned down a proposal from a Kojima horror game and something from Outrun's Yu Suzuki. A Google spokesperson has denied the claims. When VGC originally published the story, Google was quick to respond and told the site it didn't “have anything, nor have announced anything, with Kojima or Yu Suzuki”. They added, "We talk to partners all the time in situations that don’t result in a project or even a proposal. This is very common. Speculating that two parties that speak regularly in this industry leads to proposals or otherwise, is inaccurate".
Was there a cancelled Kojima horror game?
Ultimately, we'll never know what this mythical game could've/should've been. With Google firmly denying it turned down a pitch from Kojima, it's over to the man himself if he wants to reveal whether there's any truth to the rumours. Last year, Kojima told Japanese site Livedoor that a "major" project had been cancelled. At the time, Kojima explained, "Recently a major project of mine got cancelled so I’m pretty pissed, but that’s the games industry for you".
VGC originally reported that Kojima Productions wanted to innovate in the cloud gaming genre, however, said it was blocked by Stadia GM Phil Harrison. It's unclear where the reports first came from, but either way, Google is keen to distance itself from these claims. Still, the idea of an episodic horror game from Kojima is one that sounds almost too good to pass up on. Despite P.T. bowing out six years ago, there are still hopes it could find a new lease of life in some form.
It's currently unclear what's going on with the dormant Silent Hill name following the release of the underwhelming Silent Hill: Downpour in 2012. Barely a week goes by that we don't hear a new rumour, with the most recent suggesting there could be two separate Silent Hill revivals in the works. While the rights issues are murkier than that tortured town itself, our hopes that Hideo Kojima could once bring Silent Hill back to life are still smouldering away. In the meantime, we'll just have to wait for his eventual return to horror.
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