The man behind Pan’s Labyrinth and Pacific Rim has had two big-deal video game projects crumble into nothing all around him. He’s kind of doubtful about ever trying to make another one. Can you blame him?
Folks everywhere are mourning the sudden stoppage of development for Silent Hills, the title that would have followed up on previous games in Konami’s well-loved horror franchise. As one of the men who was spearheading the game, Guillermo Del Toro knows their pain. The acclaimed director gave an interview to IGN, where he talked about some of the vision he and iconic Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima had for the game:
“What we wanted to do with the game — and we were very much in agreement on this — was to take the technology and make it as cutting-edge as we could in creating terror in the house. The idea was very, very atmosphere-drenched.
Del Toro also talks about how the cancellation of Silent Hills was even more surprising, given the success that its demo PT had at attracting a large audience. The never-to-be Silent Hills is Del Toro’s second stillborn video game creation, coming years after the implosion of THQ led to the death of his Insane project. He’s not sure if he wants to pursue another game-making misadventure:
“Well, you know, I’ve tried twice and I don’t know if I’ll ever come back to the form. In one instance, the company went down, and in the second, the completely unexpected happened, which was Kojima and Konami separating. It’s kind of left me reeling.”
image courtesy of Getty Images
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7 responses to “Guillermo Del Toro Says Dead Video Games Have Left Him ‘Reeling’”
Guillermo Del Toro is curses , everything time he try make a game and got cancellation. Stay way from game industry 🙁
He also had his film adaptation of H. P. Lovecraft’s At The Mountains Of Madness yanked out from under him, too. Poor old GDT seems to have a struggle getting anything onto any kind of screen. Which is a shame, because when he does get something made it’s always worth watching. His new one, Crimson Peak, looks pretty cool, too.
But yeah, I’ve said it before – he and Kojima should take the Silent Hills project somewhere else and get it made under a different name. I’m sure there would be a publisher somewhere willing to back a game with those two people attached to it.
Kickstarter. I’d be willing to bet that it’d get funded in record time.
Third times the charm. Don’t give up Guillermo.
C’mon Willy the Bull, you can do it!
Just make a horror movie anyway, and call it something else, Mute Mountains…
If Del Toro and Kojima just started up a kickstarter with the intention of making a horror game called something like “quiet ridge” or “muted cliffs”, I’m certain it would get funded in a second.
I think they could announce anything and it would get funded in seconds.
I can’t help but think he’s teaming up with the wrong developers. He should try finding an indie dev that’s had some success and go from there. Start less ambitious and work your way up to the AAA game he wants to make. Big dev houses are fine, but they burn through money and can be surprisingly inefficient.