Bloober CEO defends Konami: 'They do know what they are doing'

Konami's Team Silent, sadly, no longer exists, and so development is being handled by Bloober Team, a studio that now styles itself as a specialist in horror. Bloober CEO Piotr Babieno is ambitious about what the developer can achieve on a project with a larger scale than it's typically worked on, and has recently been talking about moving beyond the oft-derided term of "walking simulator" in how it sets up and spooks out players.

Babieno also went on, perhaps unsurprisingly, to defend Konami, the Japanese publisher behind Silent Hill which has, in recent years, been letting a whole bunch of beloved gaming series gather dust. Konami's reputation among elements of the gaming community is, however unfairly, at an all-time low, and the hangover from Hideo Kojima's acrimonious departure continues to this day.

[-Foxtrot]

Ha, I don't think they do lets be honest.

Bloober, after your past hit and misses, do you guys?

[cammers1995]

Just because a company has past flops doesnt mean they cant improve.

[MadLad]

When even their "flops" are still solid enough games, I think you're doing pretty good as a small studio punching above your weight.

[Angyobangyo]

At what point have they shown they want to improve? Gutting Metal Gear and giving us a generic zombie game which you have to pay extra for save slots, completely dropping Pro Evo for the terrible E-Football because live service monetization, farming out development of Castlevania and Silent Hill over the years to lesser studios to save a money with nothing to show for it.

The only good thing Konami has done in years is the Suikoden 1 and 2 Remasters and even then it speaks volumes when titles from the ps1 era is the highlight title for Konami in 2023. Let’s hope the actual release is not a bug ridden mess.

They’re more than happy making easy money from Yugioh mobile games filled with gacha mechanics and using their iconic IP for pachinko machines.

[PapaBop]

This is so true. That new Hogwarts game for example, my friend was talking it up before release and I had never seen a Harry Potter film, checked the game out and looked up the developer and was instantly put off going by their previous games.. not played it yet but seems like their new game was a big success.

[DarXyde]

We can look at this from two angles:

Konami selecting Bloober Team to handle Silent Hill 2? I mean, there's a template there for them. I think there are far better teams, but we'll see with Bloober. If nothing else, The Medium is their most recent work and reception was between mixed and positive. Bit of a gamble from Konami, but, again, there's a template.

Konami handing off a beloved IP for someone else to develop? Absolutely the best move. I wouldn't trust Konami to develop feelings for me, let alone any Silent Hill games (or Castlevania, Contra, or Metal Gear while we're at it).

[Huey_My_D_Long]

Beat me to it.
Imma be real.
Once I read the headline, I was on my way here to ask bloober that exact question.
Bloober does not how to do horror.

[masterfox]

question: user can you tell us something about your boss? , we will disclose this information to the public

user: oh ok, uhmm, is awesome, is the greatest boss evar!!!

seriously the hell you expected as a response lol XD

[jambola]

yeah, it's why i never trust any reviews for example, if someone wouldn't be able to be negative

[GoodGuy09]

They need to prove themselves first. The remasters and new silent games are a good first step...if the silent hill games will even be good that is.

[jambola]

Not usually

[BandarHub]

They have given studios who have experience with horror rather than some random studios.
Silent Hill F has me the most intrigued written by Ryukishi07...that going to be an interesting one. Also Anapurna Interactive is working on one as well. That has me intrigued.
I will give them the benefit of the doubt. The rest of the Konami Ip are dependent on how these games are received. If they perform well then they may give other studios the chance to work on new games.

[senorfartcushion]

Now I can get on Konami’s care for purposefully being a ba d company then, can’t I.

[cammers1995]

Konami is just the publisher and owner of these projects. The games being developed are being handled by outside studios and the movie is being handled by a different film company. We are fine.

[MadLad]

The Silent Hill games only started getting bad AFTER not being handled by internal teams.

Though I still consider Downpour underrated.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Konami knows how to make money, but they don’t know how to keep their golden goose happy.

FucKonami for cutting Mission 51.

[Angyobangyo]

Their actions over the last few years say otherwise…unless he’s talking about pachinko

[CrimsonWing69]

Look, I’m willing to give Bloober a chance with this. After what Konami did to Metal Gear and Contra, I’ve lost all faith that they can develop something good.

I will say this, if Bloober drops the ball on this then they will get some seriously backlash that I don’t think they can recover from.

[kingnick]

It's best to have no expectations when it comes to Konami and be pleasantly surprised if they deliver something good.

I'm not a fan of any particular Konami IP but it seems they don't respect the IPs they own nor the people who created said properties so it's no surprise they're outsourcing development to third parties. All the formerly good internal talent is likely long gone.

[Vanfernal]

The question is, does Bloober know what they're doing? I feel like this studio just made enough noise to get Konami's attention and SH was just handed to them without them proving that they can do a good job with the series.

[hotnickles]

Recently I would agree. The tmnt games, the dead cell castlevania dlc, the sh2 reboot. I wouldn’t say they have redeemed themselves yet but they are certainly going in the right direction.

[Auron]

But do you bloober?? "Made for modern audiences"
smdh

[TheColbertinator]

Nobody expected Bloober to say otherwise. Konami is keeping their lights on after all

[Chocoburger]

Nope, Konami is still trash. They don't respect their employees, nor their IPs. They release garbage like Metal Gear Survive (which I admittedly played a lot of), the newest Contra game was pathetic as well.

A game company is nothing without TALENT! Over the past 15 years Konami's talented developers left the company. Now they have nothing left but their IPs, old source code for awesome classic games, and a ton of money from Pachislot. Meaning they are still worthless until proven otherwise.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

I will hold all judgement until I see the game myself. Until then you got alot of work to do Bloober.

[richardmmorales]

I just find it funny how playstation fanboys were saying Bloober sucks just because The Medium was released on Xbox and PC first as a timed exclusive. Than released on Playstation. Than they praise them for doing Silent Hill as a PS5 exclusive. I've at least heard of Bloober Team. I still need to play The Medium and Blair Witch. Backlog just keeps growing. But I have not heard of some of the other companies working on Silent Hill stuff that was announced during that whole Silent Hill Konami briefing they had last year.

[jznrpg]

Of course they defend them they got a bag from them . The problem with Konami is they don’t make games anymore but own some great Ip. There are much better devs than Blooper they could be selling these too it at least developing them.

[ROCKY28]

Bloober is a team that is far from being the best in horror (not even close)
I can name 5 pubs/devs that do horror so much better !
Time will tell if this will be another Bloober atmospheric game with awful gameplay mechanics ? 🤣

[MADGameR]

All of the pressure is on you with this Silent Hill 2 remake Bloober......... It better live up to if not exceed the standards of the original and not just graphically.

[Knightofelemia]

They don't if they did they would bring in Team Silent back together and build a game from the ground up. Every time Konami has farmed the franchise out the game has been shit. As for this game I got it free in a $10 Xbox I actually liked the game. As for this I am on the fence about it and will study it before I drop cash on it.

[ZwVw]

Like heck they are. Konami will forever be an eyesore for me just off the fact that they purchased Hudson, only to do absolutely NOTHING with it's ips (still to this day), then unceremoniously killed off the games that they had in active development such as Bloody Roar 5 and Bonk: Brink of Extinction.

Konami doesn't deserve credit for Castlevania Advance Collection or Cowabunga Collection, as those consists of classics from over twenty years ago, back when they actually developed games. Anyone slap together a collection of classics. Easy money.

Konami is bar none the worst publisher as of recent years, next to Ubisoft.