Bloober Team is one of many developers that are currently in charge of bringing the Silent Hill series back to life. Currently, this development team is in charge of working on the Silent Hill 2 remake which has led to some wild speculation about Konami’s decisions. Let’s not mince words here; the latter company has made a few decisions that have jeopardized the series’ integrity, from the whole P.T. controversy to the Pachinko machine.
Still, Bloober Team believes that Konami has changed its ways since then, and they are more set on reviving the franchise than ever. In an interview with IGN at DICE Summit 2023, Bloober Team CEO Piotr Babieno stated that Konami has been receiving ire from audiences over the years after the aforementioned incidents on top of the dehumanizing work culture. After this preface, Piotr talks about how the people who are in charge of Konami currently are better than before:
Those people who are in charge of Konami Gaming right now, of course I can’t tell you all the details, but I believe that they do understand how gaming works. They came from companies which worked on many great projects, and I’m pretty sure that they are making great choices by choosing partners, by choosing projects…And I do understand that people are a little bit angry at Konami for the stuff which happened in the past, but I would like to say, give them the time, because they do know what they are doing.
Bloober Team’s defense of Silent Hill is definitely something that speaks about the attitude of Konami over the last few years, especially with the number of projects that are currently in development, all focused on different mediums. Now, whether or not that lives up to the expectations of the gaming community remains to be seen. It’s not like the last few years of the company’s tepid history can just be forgotten in a snap.
In regards to Bloober Team itself, the CEO talked about how the company is seeking to undergo a transformation where they move away from games that lean on simple mechanics.
We still would like to make meaningful games, we still would like to keep our DNA to tell [stories] about things which are important to us. However, not by environmental storytelling, but by full action, to have much more mass appeal. And I think that this is the reason why we have chosen Silent Hill.
It’s clear that Piotr wants Bloober Team to become a studio that pioneers the future of horror gaming and helps carry the Silent Hill franchise toward the future. We’ll see whether or not this mission they set out to do will succeed once the remake releases this year.
