During a (considerably chaotic) hour-long presentation yesterday, Konami lastly revealed to the world its plans for a revival of the Silent Hill franchise. The collection has lain dormant for the final decade, and the Japanese writer appears lastly able to money in on the cult franchise.

The catch? It’s not growing any new video games internally. All of the brand new titles are being farmed out to builders in Poland, the United States, and Scotland, with the following main installment coming from a separate Japanese developer.

(Why was the presentation chaotic, you ask? Well it kicked off with Konami mistakenly importing the entire thing on YouTube earlier than the livestream was accomplished, mis-spelled the names of 1 presenter, and haphardly switched between subtitles and audio dubs on the drop of a hat, simply to call a couple of highlights).

All video games unveiled through the presentation might be made by exterior builders, together with Bloober Team, No Code Studios (in partnership with Annapurna Interactive), GenVid Technologies, and NeoBards Entertainment. The 4 studios are engaged on these respective video games: a remake of Silent Hill 2, a sport referred to as Silent Hill: Townfall, an interactive expertise referred to as Silent Hill: Ascension, and Silent Hil: f, a brand-new sport set in Nineteen Sixties Japan.

Notably, the remake of Silent Hill 2 might be a console-exclusive launch on the PlayStation 5.

Konami additionally introduced a brand new film directed by Christopher Gans, the French director behind the primary Silent Hill movie in 2006. The new film might be referred to as Return to Silent Hill. During the printed, Konami famous that manufacturing of the movie was a key motivator for reviving the franchise as a online game collection.

Silent Hill goes international

Ever since Konami disbanded Team Silent (the unique inner crew behind the primary 4 Silent Hill video games), the corporate has opted to work with exterior builders on new titles. The final of those was Silent Hill Downpour, launched in 2012.

For a short second, it regarded like Konami was keen to deliver the collection again in-house with the assistance of Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima. He and movie director Guillemot Del Toro have been engaged on a Silent Hill sport referred to as Silent Hills that was sadly cancelled after Kojima and Konami cut up methods in 2015. The solely artifact of that mission is the critically acclaimed sport teaser P.T.

The decade-long lack of releases within the collection has left loads of pent-up buyer demand that different sport studios have tried to make the most of. Konami’s return to the franchise makes loads of sense, as a result of there’s loads of income to be mined from a profitable revival of the once-dominant horror model.

It is attention-grabbing to see the writer return to the technique of getting exterior growth studios create new Silent Hill video games, regardless of the lackluster crucial and business outcomes of its efforts in 2007 to 2012.

But a lot has modified within the final decade. First and foremost, there’s been sufficient time that younger followers of the unique video games are actually sufficiently old to be skilled builders themselves. Second, mentioned builders are actually capable of market themselves as veteran horror builders. Developers like Climax Studios and Vatra Games couldn’t make the identical claims upfront of their Silent Hill releases.

Third, the financial shifts within the sport business have meant that Konami can pursue a number of several types of Silent Hill video games without delay with out risking an excessive amount of cannibalization. Each of the 4 video games fulfills a special function within the market, with smaller titles like Townfall and Ascension serving partly as a advertising and marketing bridge between the remake of Silent Hill 2 and the all-new Silent Hill f.

In the late ’00s, Konami’s solely hope at an identical effort would have been releasing video games on the PlayStation Portable or Nintendo DS.

Building ties to Hollywood

Konami has additionally neatly positioned itself to money in on the leisure business’s renewed curiosity in online game diversifications. Christopher Gans’ unique 2006 movie offers the corporate a novel jumping-off level to draw curiosity in a brand new adaptation.

Not solely was that film a business success (It grossed $100.6 million worldwide on an estimated $50 million funds), it was famous on the time for being an unusually sturdy adaptation, partially as a result of Gans himself was an genuine fan of the collection.

Gans’ return to the franchise is not Konami’s solely play into Hollywood although. GenVid’s Silent Hill: Ascension is being produced in partnership with Bad Robot Games, a subsidiary of producer and director J.J. Abrams’ movie and TV manufacturing firm Bad Robot. Though Bad Robot and GenVid look like sticking purely within the interactive realm in the meanwhile, any success with that mission would possibly arrange Bad Robot as a accomplice for different live-action diversifications.

Abrams himself made an…unconventional look throughout Konami’s presentation. The firm was excited to share a message from Abrams that turned out to be the presentation of a quote probably written by a 3rd occasion.

“Genvid’s expertise presents a wild, epic, and progressive new strategy to immerse your self within the horrors of Silent Hill,” mentioned Abrams. Abrams didn’t seem on vide and even learn the quote. (Again, this presentation was utter chaos to look at.)

Oddness within the presentation apart, this all appears to be a really savvy enterprise play from Konami. Investing time and inner sources into growth on a single long-awaited entry within the collection got here with huge dangers.

By diversifying the quantity and kind of Silent Hill video games hitting the market, the corporate can reliably handle expectations, collect information on what gamers need out of latest Silent Hill video games, and offload danger onto its growth companions.

Having a Hollywood revival (in a second the place the horror style is without doubt one of the few non-superhero money-makers for theatrically launched movies) is simply icing on the cake.