Recent rumors point to a potential bid by Sony to purchase Konami's most famous IPs, likely as PlayStation exclusives. That includes iconic gaming franchises like Castlevania, Silent Hill, and even Hideo Kojima's Metal Gear series. Each respectively has seen itself fall out of relevance in the games industry while Konami has re-structured its development and publishing towards microtransaction-based games.
This recent revelation comes off the heels of an earlier rumor from the same source claiming a Silent Hill reboot was incoming from Konami in partnership with Sony. Pair that with some lesser rumblings about some kind of connection between Konami and Sony, and it seems we may be hearing some big news from Sony soon, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Castlevania, Silent Hill, and Metal Gear
We've seen these once staple franchises of the games industry fade away to various degrees of disappointment. Castlevania helped inspire an entire sub-genre of Metroidvania games that's seen an incredible resurgence in popularity in recent years. Silent Hill was a revolutionary horror game for its time that subverted tropes and helped inspire some of the greater horror games found today. And of course, Metal Gear helped pioneer the stealth game genre as a whole and redefined what video game storytelling was capable of.
Despite how significantly impactful these games were, they've fallen by the wayside in recent years in favor of more popular modern titles, though not by any fault of their own. The truth is that Konami's support its powerhouse gaming franchises wavered in favor of continuous revenue streams in games with microtransactions and Pachinko machines, some of which even incorporated Konami's most famous franchises like Metal Gear in an almost parody-like way, frustrating fans deeply. Even if it's not its inherent purpose, it's clear Konami shows no interest in developing their core franchises any further.
Resurrection by Sony
That's where Sony (allegedly) comes in. Assuming this 4chan rumor that Sony intends to purchase Konami's greatest franchises is true, fans could see a serious comeback for these forgotten and disgraced franchises. Not only would this be a huge step in gaining the edge over Microsoft for the upcoming console generation, but it would diversify PlayStation's exclusive lineup even further. It also gives each individual series another chance to shine once again, redeeming series like Metal Gear Solid 5 and the unfortunately cancelled Silent Hills project.
Players have already seen and experienced the power of Sony's exclusives from Uncharted to Horizon Zero Dawn to Marvel's Spider-Man, showing that PlayStation is dedicated to delivering fantastic gaming experiences. To see that kind of support behind the genre-defining games of Konami's past could revitalize these gems of video game history for the modern era. Whether they're some form of a remake or a full-on reboot after all, we've seen in the cases of Resident Evil 2 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Remake that nostalgia still holds strong for many players. A resurrection of Castlevania, Silent Hill, or even Metal Gear by Sony, especially with their strong connection with Hideo Kojima, could be potentially be another massive success for the company.
Potential for the Future
Sony supporting its exclusive developers has proven fantastic results for its games in the past. The most notable example is Marvel's Spider-Man, developed by Insomniac Games. Spider-Man was one of the most insanely popular games from 2018, a massive feat considering the sheer amount of amazing games that came in 2018. Insomniac Games, at the time, was still a studio that prided itself on its independence. For good reason too, as the studio was fully capable of putting out great games like Sunset Overdrive and Ratchet & Clank. But with Spider-Man's massive success, especially for a comic-book-inspired game, eventually prompted Sony to acquire developer Insomniac Games as an exclusive studio.
Strong support from Sony would certainly help kickstart the return of Konami's former icons from a place of irrelevance. Sony has had a proven track record of propelling exclusive games with ambition and potential to the forefront and yielding great results. Even when putting the sales success aside, these exclusives have all reviewed extremely well along with a very positive general consensus of opinion from fans. It's been a long time since a Castlevania game has seen the limelight at all, despite the series' heritage. The last game's cancellation and widespread fan disappointment shows there's still a vested interest in a new Silent Hill title. And Metal Gear Solid 5, for both its innovations and its shortcomings, still remains fresh on everyone's minds compared to its highly controversial and upsetting successor Metal Gear Survive.
If this rumor is true, PlayStation fans could be in for a real treat for the next console generation, and should be excited about what's to come in the future of PlayStation.