Motoi Okamoto, producer on the Silent Hill series, says Konami purposely announced multiple Silent Hill projects during its 2022 broadcast to show the franchise had a future beyond a single remake.
The 2022 “Silent Hill Transmission” introduced a trio of projects: a remake of Silent Hill 2, a Japan-set entry called Silent Hill F, and a narrative title, Silent Hill: Townfall. The broadcast also revealed an interactive streaming series, Silent Hill: Ascension, which ran for 21 episodes and later drew mixed critical response despite winning an Emmy for Outstanding Innovation in Emerging Media Programming.
Okamoto made the comments in a recent post on X, and his remarks were translated and shared by Automaton. According to that translation, Okamoto said the point was not to “test the waters” with a single remake but to make clear Konami intended a longer-term plan for the IP.
https://twitter.com/obakemogura/status/1979174851308032466
“We didn’t want to just announce a single remake to ‘test the waters’. We wanted people to feel how serious we were about reviving the series,” the translation quotes him as saying. He added that announcing new titles alongside a remake helps players sense that an IP has ongoing potential, which can affect whether they return to it.
Both the Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill F have since launched to generally positive reactions, and the latter’s performance has been notable, as seen in coverage of Silent Hill F hitting 1 million sales. The remake’s revival of the classic also led to partnerships behind the scenes; for context on one of the teams involved, see reporting on Konami and Bloober Team joining forces.
Okamoto has previously argued that remakes must be designed to appeal to returning fans and newcomers, because an old fanbase alone often doesn’t return in full for a remake. That emphasis on reaching new players helps explain why Konami presented multiple projects together rather than spacing them out.
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