Horror curio P.T. (short for Playable Teaser) was notable for a couple of reasons. It was one of Hideo Kojima's last projects before leaving Konami, and - once he left - was expunged from the PlayStation Store, so it couldn't even be redownloaded by those that had owned it. Now, a project to rebuild the nightmarish nugget for PC has been quashed by Konami.
17-year-old developer Qimsar decided to remake the game for PC, and released a free downloadable build via the site GameJolt. Now Konami has stepped in to put a stop to the project, but has offered Qimsar a small consolation prize.
"I got a phone call that I was expecting at about 5am from someone who worked at Konami. He essentially told me that he was very sorry for being the bearer of bad news, but I would have to take down my remake," says Qimsar.
"I was told that he and many other people at Konami saw and really liked my remake, but legit due to legal issues that were out of his or anybody else’s control really, he had to ask me to take down my remake project. I said that I would be willing to do so, and from there, the conversation went from really bad for me to, in my personal opinion (I’m sure you all will have differing opinions), really really good."
The Konami spokesperson then told Qimsar they would be sending him some Konami games and merchandise, and offering him an internship with Konami. Interestingly, the call also hinted that the remake had inspired the Konami development team.
"Because of my remake, Konami had a strong resurgence of a desire to make legitimate games again."
Konami hasn't yet responded to our request for comment, so you'll have to take Qimsar's word for it all, but his long explanation certainly sounds believable. He goes on to say that even though the project was very close to completion, the cancellation means that "a giant burden" has been removed from his shoulders.
"I no longer have to worry about if I’m going to get sued or anything because what’s done is done (and what was done ended up being really good for me)," he says.
"I’m personally surprised that Konami acted this way, I was really scared that they would just hit me up with a C&D and that would be it but nah, they politely called me to take it down and they’re giving me a freaking internship - dude what even is that?"
P.T. fans will just have to go back to sadly watching videos of the original, checking out the P.T. remakes Konami hasn't shut down yet, and hoping the publisher finds another way to bring the Silent Hill series back from the dead.
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