The Silent Hill rumor mill has been churning away for quite some time now, arguably ever since the hugely-anticipated Silent Hills project was cancelled back in 2015. In the intervening time, fans and media alike have desperately latched on to any nugget of information they can find about the future of the series. A recent announcement from Konami may give them all something to get excited about, though.
According to a press release early today, Konami has joined forces with Polish company Bloober Team, the developers behind Layers of Fear and survival-horror title The Medium, in a "strategic partnership" that will open the doors to future collaborations. It seems that some work may already be under way, in fact: according to VGC, one of the projects Bloober Team is working on is "Silent Hill-related."
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This would seem to confirm the rumors of a Bloober Team-developed Silent Hill game that circulated back in February, when CEO Piotr Babieno revealed that the company was working on "another horror IP...with a very famous gaming publisher." Despite the attempted vagueness of Babieno's comments, fans quickly took them to mean that the company had joined forces with Konami and had received the green light for a Silent Hill project.
If VGC's source is correct, it could also lend credence to the rumors that Konami is partnering with several developers to work on multiple Silent Hill projects simultaneously. Since some of the more recent titles in its big franchises have met lackluster sales figures, it would seem Konami is becoming more open to the possibility of trusting third party developers with its big names, such as Metal Gear, Contra, and Silent Hill.
Hopefully these reveals will pan out well, and fans won't be subjected to the back-and-forth confusion of the rumors surrounding Abandoned developers BlueBox Game Studios. Following a cryptic Tweet reading "Abandoned = (First letter S, Last letter L)," the internet exploded with excitement at the idea that the team might be developing the new Silent Hill, only for those hopes to be dashed in hurried denials just a few hours later. The fact that Bloober Team is actually associated with Konami now certainly puts this latest batch of rumors in a stronger position already, though fans should naturally keep their hopes in check until an official announcement.
Regardless, this certainly appears to be good news for Silent Hill fans. Ever since the series' creator, Keiichiro Toyama, moved on to pastures new, the possibility of a new, authentic Silent Hill game seemed to be dwindling, despite Toyama's promises that his next game would prove to be just as much of a psychological horror experience. The fact that the franchise appears to be safe in the hands of a company like Bloober Team with reliable horror credentials can surely only be a good thing going forward.
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Source: VGC, Bloober Team