Silent Hills

An interactive teaser for Silent Hills was released on August 12, 2014 as P.T. (Playable Teaser), marketed as a demo for a horror game by the non-existent 7780s Studio.[4][5] Published on the PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 4 as a free download,[6][7] P.T. uses a first-person perspective, in contrast to the usual third-person perspective often found in the Silent Hill series, and centers on an unknown protagonist who awakens in a supposedly haunted house and experiences supernatural occurrences;[5] the only actions available are walking and zooming as the player character explores the continuously looping corridor.[8] After the player solves the final puzzle, a trailer reveals that it is a "playable teaser" for a new Silent Hill title being directed by Hideo Kojima and Guillermo del Toro, with the protagonist portrayed by Norman Reedus.[9] On 1 September 2014, Sony revealed during its pre-Tokyo Game Show press conference that P.T. has been downloaded over a million times.[6]

P.T. received praise from video game journalists. GamesRadar's David Houghton praised it as well-executed, immersive horror and wrote: "By spreading out into the real world, by forcing solutions by way of hearsay, internet whispers, and desperate, rumoured logic, it has become its own urban myth."[10] IGN's Marty Sliva ranked it as an honorable mention on his list of the best video game trailers for 2014,[11] and another reviewer for IGN, Lucy O'Brien, described the game as "the most genuinely frightening interactive experience in recent years."[8] Giant Bomb gave the Best Horror Game award to P.T. in 2014.[12] P.T. won "Scariest Game" at Bloody Disgusting's FEAR Awards.[13]

In March 2015, sources reported that due to conflicts with Konami, Kojima and his senior staff planned to leave Konami following the completion of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. Concurrently, Konami announced a restructuring of its video game business, and removed references to Kojima and Kojima Productions from the promotional materials for its games.[14] A Konami spokesperson initially denied that Kojima was leaving the company, and stated that he would still be involved with Konami and the Metal Gear franchise.[15]

At a San Francisco Film Society event on April 26, 2015, assistant director Guillermo del Toro reportedly told attendees that Silent Hills had been cancelled. The next day, Norman Reedus also made statements on Twitter stating that the game had been cancelled. The same day, Konami announced that P.T. would be pulled from the PlayStation Store on April 29, 2015, and Polygon reported that an anonymous tip by a person familiar with the game's development had also confirmed the game's cancellation.[16][17][18][19] On April 27, 2015, Konami issued a statement to Kotaku confirming that Silent Hills "would not be continued", but that they planned to continue the Silent Hill franchise.[20][21] Fans upset by the cancellation later started a petition on Change.org asking for Konami to continue the project; as of 4 March 2016, the petition has received 194,279 signatures.[22] In a tweet from Guillermo del Toro, he revealed that horror manga artist Junji Ito would also have been involved with the project.[23] Cliff Bleszinski was also asked to work on the project, but declined, later explaining on Twitter: "I don't like LA, I love new IP, and I woulda fucked up SH".[24]

During Sony Interactive Entertainment's E3 2016 press conference, the reformed Kojima Productions unveiled a new game, Death Stranding, which also features Reedus and del Toro.[25]

On July 4, 2018, Simon "Qimsar" Cromwell, a 17-year-old developer and fan of P.T., remade the playable trailer for the PC, using Unreal Engine 4, and released it for free.[26][27] On July 13, 2018, Konami called Qimsar asking him to take down the project due to legal issues, a request he complied with.[28] The Konami representative admitted the remake was very popular within the company, and offered Qimsar an internship.[29]