Less than a year after it was announced, Guillermo del Toro and Hideo Kojima’s Silent Hill project is dead. R.I.P., Silent Hills - we hardly knew ye.

The cancellation is a nasty little period at the end of a very public - yet frustratingly obscured - spat between Silent Hill publisher Konami and Kojima, its golden-boy-gone-rogue. Konami’s subsequent voluntary delisting from the NYSE has fueled speculation that it’s on its way to the great publisher graveyard; particularly angry folk are arguing that it belongs there.

I’m not overly worried about Konami. The publisher is clearly going through a clunky reshuffle, sure, but the delisting is likely a cost-cutting measure rather than a sign of impending doom (as Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter points out to Ars Technica, Konami never traded much in the United States to begin with).

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“ The true victim in this feud is Silent Hill... a series in desperate need of reinvention as the modern horror landscape flows and morphs around it.

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Konami’s presence in the gambling sector continues to grow, and it’s a very real possibility that the publisher is - for now - moving away from game development to focus more on this space and its mobile division. And let’s face it, Konami still has Metal Gear; a series that can trade on its name alone.I’m also certain Kojima will be fine. An independent spirit, I suspect he will find working outside of the publisher umbrella liberating (and on that note, while we may never know the details of his split with Konami, to conjure up a scenario featuring him as the genius put-upon by a cruel corporation is likely extremely disingenuous).Kojima’s departure also gives him the opportunity to work in areas more aligned with his tastes. His love of the West, and more notably, of Hollywood, is commonly known. While it might sting to consider an industry without Kojima, I’d be unsurprised to see him indulge these obsessions more seriously in the future.‘Silent Hills’ looked real, and vital; it had a beating heart. Led by two visionaries who both specialise in The Bizarre, the game not only sounded great on paper, but it had a great proof-of-concept that we could actually play. Psychologically screwy and despair-heavy, ‘P.T.’ was classically Silent Hill, yet graphical prowess and streamlined mechanics ushered it into the present. This was a Silent Hill in step with modern horror trends; one that left you weak at the knees and whittled down your mental resolve. The resurrection, Silent Hill fans cried. It’s here. The one we’ve been waiting ten years for.Described as an ‘embryonic’ idea in Konami’s recent clinical statement , it’s clear now that Silent Hills never reached early development.What does this mean for Silent Hill, now more stranded than ever? Konami says it remains committed to the series, but I can’t help but wonder if 'Silent Hills' has left an indelible mark. In the shadow of such a high-profile project and in the wake of so many shattered hopes, it’s hard to envision another attempt at resurrection in the immediate future. After all, what could possibly live up to what we were promised?So, perhaps it’s time we admit that Silent Hill's best days are likely behind it. Perhaps it’s time to take stock of the horror genre right now and be comforted that it’s going through something of a renaissance, that developers across both the indie and mainstream space are rediscovering how to scare us again. Perhaps we don’t need Silent Hill anymore.Perhaps, like all of Silent Hill's best endings, this one is bittersweet?

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN’s AU office. Follow her ramblings on Twitter.