Silent Hills cancelled

[fudgestix]

^ also, one does not simply change the engine the game is run on, pretty sure they'd have to start again from scratch.

Have you got a reputable source to say that Kojima owns the Fox Engine? The only source I can find is a crappy kpopstarz article citing 4chan, and the Fox Engine logo is still part of the Silent Hills website despite them removing Kojima's logo. Surely the engine is Konami's property?

Either way, I doubt much progress had been made on it. Both Kojima and Del Toro have been busy with other stuff for the past year, and it didn't sound like production had even really begun at the time PT was released.

[Its Gone Now]

Well there is conflicting info on who owns the Fox engine. All I know is that Kojima productions created it.

But saying that Konami could well own it as they own MGS anyway. I'm not even sure what Kojima owns at this point.

Either way I guess it wouldn't be a problem if they havent even started development yet.

[Typographenia]

There is almost zero chance that a sole individual (that created an engine with a team within a company) owns the rights to the engine. Cliffy B doesn't own the unreal engine, after all.

[Number 7]

I think I read that the developers on Kojima's team are actually Konami employees, so even without Kojima they'll still most likely be working on the game.

[dias17se]

^ also, one does not simply change the engine the game is run on, pretty sure they'd have to start again from scratch.

Nail in the head, no way the game will use Fox Engine if Kojima isn´t leading the ship, starting from scratch will give the game/team lots of problems, i already can foresee another Homecoming in terms of teams shifting.

In any case the uniqueness of it is gone. Del Toro was just a consultant, but maybe he can still stay who knows. That great demo is now even more irrelevant, if we already suspected that the game wouldn´t be anything like it.

But i´m sure there´ll be a new silent hill. Eventually.

[SPRINGS02]

I think I read that the developers on Kojima's team are actually Konami employees, so even without Kojima they'll still most likely be working on the game.

I really hope this is the case. They did a great job on P.T. and it would be a shame to see a game made by someone else.

[Its Gone Now]

I'm not sure what to believe now. A couple of sites claim to have info that he is not leaving, that they were simply restructuring some of their branding and that Kojima took the opportunity to wind people up, (he's done this kind of thing in the past).

Other sources claim he is definitely leaving even though Konami are tight lipped on the subject.

In any case Kojima's contract has him at Konami untill december and anything can happen by then.

We really don't know enough and neither Kojima or Konami are saying much. We don't even know what the supposed "falling out" is all about.

[Xev]

Welll needed to stop in to see what the damn is going on with this. Ive been reading conflicting stories here and there and thought the whole thing was on permanent hold. If it was a question of money I would think paying for Norman's likeness and voice would be on the pricey side or wouldnt that make a difference? I personally dont give a shit I would almost rather an anon character.
Shame that corporate minded Konami probably stifled Kojima out of there and what a creative divergence rift which will probably have a crap shoot of an effect on the outcome. Leaving in the middle of production doesnt seem like something someone with any true stock and involvement/care would do. As far as the production goes no one knows exactly where it stands so it could be in the beginning stages still which can be either good or bad depending.

I was all depressed thinking this was on hold and the more I read about Silent hills it has a similar cadence to David Lynch and Showtime. Parting on creative differences. I tell you if corporate entities would just ef off for a bit they would make more money instead the interference leaves so many projects wounded possibly beyond repair.
I have hope though!!!

[jdnation]

From what I can recall from memory.

Here's all we really know:

- Kojima and other KojiPro members are no longer listed as Konami employees.

- Kojima and KojiPro have been imposed with silence not to engage on social media and even limit their public appearances at trade shows

- Metal Gear and the FOX Engine are the property of Konami Corp. NOT Kojima.

- Kojima's name was removed from online marketing. It was also recently added back to some things.

- Kojima Productions at both East and West branches were renamed to Konami.

- Kojima and KojiPro Staff are working on completing MGSV:TPP.

- Konami is hiring any entirely new staff for another new Metal Gear game

- Kojima has openly talked in the past about MGSV being his last and that it may be something that is risky and might get him fired. Though everyone took him to be exaggerating.




With regards to Silent Hills:

- There's been word that some preliminary work was being done.

- Some indication that there was some location reference scouting being done in the U.S.

- Konami has said absolutely nothing about Silent Hills following these recent events.




What's been rumored:

- Kojima and some KojiPro staff will no longer be working at Konami come December 2015.

- All this is due to creative differences or some internal turmoil.

- There is a bad mood going around amongst people within Konami.

- Konami's new head may be responsible for some of this 'restructuring.'

- Kojima is taking too long to finish development. This may be why Ground Zeroes was a separate product and why Kojima mentioned that depending on how sales go, he will either be allowed more or less time to finish TPP.

- Konami may have budgetary concerns about MGSV and it is increasingly apparent that Console games are not a big part of Konami's income which is shifting to other areas, fitness, gambling and mobile apps & gaming. They are perhaps clamping down, and Kojima intended FOX's development to help modernize how they create games based on Western models and cut future costs by investing heavily in FOX up front. The development turmoil over RISING and having to hire Platinum must not have helped.

- Konami wanted Kojima to begin work immediately on MGS6. But Kojima stood his ground and refused.

_______________________________________________


UPDATE: Donna Burke has chimed in saying that Kojima was fired. Konami PR replied saying her claims were 'categorically incorrect.' So a non-denial on technicality as Kojima is obviously still contracted to finish MGSV.
http://www.videogamer.com/ps4/metal_gea ... tress.html

[Lostkitsune]

This is upsetting for multiple accounts. I don't really want Metal Gear without Kojima and a big BIG draw of Silent Hills for me was seeing Kojima put his talents into a horror genre with a large story focus.
Wonder if there is any possibility they will kiss and make up.

[clips]

This is upsetting for multiple accounts. I don't really want Metal Gear without Kojima and a big BIG draw of Silent Hills for me was seeing Kojima put his talents into a horror genre with a large story focus.
Wonder if there is any possibility they will kiss and make up.

Highly unlikely they will resolve whatever issues they may have. I like kojima, but this was more about P.T. and SH's for me. It could have been a guy names "Joe Blow" and i still would have wanted Konami to have let "Joe Blow" finish the project that would have been SH's.

It's just baffling in how you have a game in P.T. that has over a million downloads, then you fire the guy responsible for it.... ....Konami's upper management logic at it's finest....

[Typographenia]

It's just baffling in how you have a game in P.T. that has over a million downloads, then you fire the guy responsible for it.... ....Konami's upper management logic at it's finest....

It's not baffling, it's a lack of information on our part. They wouldn't fire the designer that ranks among the most well known and well received names in the industry responsible for their "biggest" titles without a reason.

[jdnation]

Kojima has tweeted some non-work related things about Del Toro
https://twitter.com/Kojima_Hideo
^ never mind, they're retweets...

[Its Gone Now]

This is FUBAR. Part of me is still praying this is just an elaborate hoax but the more I think about it, the more unlikely that seems.

It has to be something major, Kojima has been working for konami since the 80s.

The fact that he wont be working on any more MGS games in the future means he would not be leaving without a big reason. Konami are screwing themselves by letting him go.

He was about to bring SH back to AA if not AAA status for the first time since SH4. Something that now may never happen, there may still be hope, I just don't know. All I do know is that for the last 8-9 years, SH has been getting crapped on and not treated with the respect it deserves by devs. If the next installment is sub-par, it could kill the IP.

Get the original team Silent back together and none of this would be a problem.

[jdnation]

[clips]

I'm hoping that at the very least, Konami will hire Kojima and his team as contractors to finish SH's....whatever is going on at Konami is a very messy issue since neither party is talking about the details of their current relationship.


"Kojima is not actually fired".....so vague and konami is not letting anybody know what is going on. Again i don't really care about Kojima like that (if he leaves he will find work elsewhere) for me this was more about the completion of SH's since he was more or less the director behind it.

[Mantorok]

Well nothing has been changed regarding Silent Hills as of yet. The game hasn't been officially cancelled or anything. I imagine something would have been said in the last month or so this has been going on.

This is my personal theory, Kojima has become such a force in his own right in Konami that they want to reign him in a bit. That whole Kojima studios thing to me is just them trying to get the Konami brand name gaining the credit instead of it all going to Kojima. That and Konami has been gaining more and more income through smaller mobile games that they question the future of their console gaming if Kojima leaves. Bear in mind this guy has been with Konami 30 years now.

I also can't imagine Kojima owning the game's graphic engine. I doubt that's the case.

[Typographenia]

I imagine something would have been said in the last month or so this has been going on.

You would think, but that isn't always the case. It is not uncommon for many titles that have disappeared/died to never get an official statement on their ending.

[Droo]

I think this one is rather too high profile to simply disappear without a word.

[Typographenia]

Starcraft: Ghost, The Last Guardian, Duke Nukem Forever, and even Valve are no stranger to this.

I'm not crossing my fingers for it to be cancelled or anything. I'm just saying, it's not an impossibility for us to go a long stretch of time without any official statement.