Konami Has Lost It: Silent Hill is Now a Slot Machine

If ever there’s been a more tragic, painful and almost calculated capitulation in gaming than Konami’s, I would love to see it. It seems like all they are doing is trying to ruin decades of good work with decisions that are just…fucking stupid.

Now, I am not crazy about Silent Hill games and doubtless never will be. The way in which its fans have been treated lately, however, is almost a horror in of itself. I was almost not even surprised when it was revealed that a new game will be released in the form of a slot machine.

Foregoing any pretense of being a fully-fledged games journalist to look at this story as a gamer and nothing else, Konami are just imploding in the most ridiculous way. It’s not as if their hand has been forced into radically changing their strategies, but as someone who grew up on Pro Evolution Soccers and Metal Gear Solids, their recent business moves have been tragically misguided.

Whatever happened with Hideo Kojima (arguably the face of the company) only reflects poorly on Konami as a whole. Whether it was a stylistic disagreement or out of sheer spite, scrubbing his name from the upcoming MGS was a big warning sign that something is inherently wrong within the company. Many fingers have been pointed at their new CEO as being money-minded and nothing more. It’s hard to argue with that.

By releasing a slot machine version of Silent Hill so shortly after cancelling Silent Hills, Konami have effectively turned around and given the finger to their fans. They have completely lost touch with the modern gamer and, although they have never been great with PR, continue to completely fail at almost every aspect of fan service.

IF the Japanese giant keep going the way they are, I will be extremely surprised if they last longer than another couple of years. Worse still, I don’t think anyone would even be that cut about it. If they turn Metal Gear Solid into a pinball machine though, I will cry.