Guillermo Del Toro’s SILENT HILLS Has Been Canceled

In a super-depressing turn of events, Guillermo del Toro has revealed that Silent Hills-- his forthcoming video game collaboration with Metal Gear mastermind Hideo Kojima-- has been canceled. The announcement came last night, during a Q&A del Toro was participating in at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Someone in attendance Tweeted out the news:

On the heels of that, Walking Dead star Norman Reedus (who was set to play the game's lead character) confirmed the same this afternoon:

So, what the hell happened? No official statement has been made by either del Toro, Kojima, or Konami, but right now it looks like the cancellation of Silent Hills is just the latest bit of collateral damage in Kojima's ongoing falling-out with Konami. The details of that situation aren't very clear, either, so...who knows? Also unknown: how much work had actually been completed on Silent Hills.

As anyone who played Silent Hills' "playable teaser" can attest, this is a real shame. The demo (see the walkthrough clip above) was legitimately terrifying, and seemed to indicate that GDT and Kojima were on track to deliver something special. PS4 owners can still download the demo (it's listed under P.T.) until April 29th, at which point it will be removed from the PSN. If you've got a PS4, I strongly suggest giving it a whirl before it disappears forever.

Ugh. What a bummer.

UPDATE: Kotaku received a statement from Konami on the matter, and yup: Silent Hills - this iteration of it, anyway - is dead. Here's what they're saying:

Konami is committed to new Silent Hill titles, however the embryonic ‘Silent Hills’ project developed with Guillermo del Toro and featuring the likeness of Norman Reedus will not be continued. In terms of Kojima and Del Toro being involved, discussions on future Silent Hill projects are currently underway, and please stay tuned for further announcements.

Seems like Konami's hedging its bets on somehow sweet-talking Kojima and del Toro back to the table, but I wouldn't hold my breath. The rift between Kojima and Konami seems to be getting worse by the day.