Great news! Silent Hill is back! Bad news- it’s a slot machine. Konami has been moving further and further away from video games, and other than their PES and Yu-Gi-Oh games and the recent (not very good) Contra: Rogue Corps, their focus has mostly been on slot machines and pachinko stuff. Silent Hill is the latest victim of that business tragedy.
In a press release, Konami’s Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer Tom Jingoli describes the the Silent Hill slot machine – called Silent Hill: Escape – as “a striking combination of sleek entertainment, premium packaging, and player comfort”, while also saying that it’s “a first glimpse at great things to come from Konami.”
From financial perspective, Konami is more secure now than it’s ever been, so while this might make sense for them from a business perspective, fans of the company and their rich catalog of properties will be disappointed with the direction they’ve taken. I’m sure that this is the last thing anyone had in mind while thinking of a Silent Hill revival, especially after the cancelled Silent Hills. Sometimes, nothing is better than something.