Transcript of The Kojima-P.T. Conspiracy (Silent Hills|Konami) - Monsters of the Week Special (feat. Fungo)
RagnarRox
0:04Ragnar: Oh, I bet he was.0:06But you know who was an even bigger drag?0:09With Hideo Kojima finally being free from his decades long employer after his departure in October0:15- or officially in December - 2015,0:18people instantly started speculating and hoping that his newly founded studio's first major title would be...0:24a horror game!0:25A spiritual successor for Silent Hills that realises the ideas planned for the project under a different name.0:32Quiet Mountains, maybe?0:33Fungo: Maybe!0:34Ragnar: We don't know.0:35All parties involved have been highly secretive so far,0:39but all things considered, the speculations do make a lot of sense as the events surrounding the cancellation of0:44PT last year have generated and maintained such an enormous amount of media attention for months.0:50Denying the community the eagerly anticipated conclusion to the potential horror masterpiece0:55PT had so cleverly teased, ultimately just made everybody crave it even more.1:00Fungo: As Kojima stated at the DICE summit this February, he is 100% aware of the enormous expectations1:06by his fans and considers this to be the biggest motivation to actually work on it.1:33He didn't explicitly say it, but it's safe to assume that a large part of this community1:37feedback consists of fans, friends, associates and hundreds of thousands of people signing petitions!1:42who are all urging him to finish what he had started with PT and Silent Hills, with a brand new IP.1:48Without a doubt it would result in an almost guaranteed win for all parties involved,1:52especially from a financial point of view.1:59Ragnar: But what if I told you that the entire PT debacle was not an unfortunate succession of bad events as we are led to believe?2:06That it was not just Konami taking a dump on their black sheep?2:10That it was an elaborate coup d'état staged by Kojima and his closest associates for quite some time?2:16To not only finally break loose from his former employer, but to,2:20instead of just leaving in quiet mutual agreement2:23play Konami like a -2:27Oh, what's that you're smelling? Tin foil?2:29Fungo: What does tin foil smell like?2:30Ragnar: Well - you're right, this is a theory based on speculation, circumstantial evidence2:36and maybe a generous pinch of confirmation bias here and there.2:40So... be wary of conspiracy.2:44But that never stopped us before, did it?2:47So, let's crawl down this rabbit hole of conspicuous leads and clues once again2:52because way down at the bottom we have something for you,2:56something that has been hidden in plain sight all along that might just3:00blow your mind.3:01(that was a metaphor)3:03Fungo: So, after Silent Hills had officially been cancelled3:06people were eagerly awaiting to hear where the road would lead Hideo Kojima next.3:10On December 16th the founding of his new studio, Kojima Productions, was finally confirmed3:15- this time without any ties to Konami.3:18This press statement was immediately followed by a video statement from Andrew House,3:22President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment,3:25announcing that his company had partnered with Kojima Productions as their future publisher.3:29House, a long time friend and close associate of Hideo Kojima, also added that3:33Kojima's studio was already in the process of developing their first game as a PS4 exclusive title.3:38Fans and journalists had been trying frantically to get more detailed information about this title from Sony and Kojima Productions3:44but they were unanimously met with silence.3:47Ragnar: Now, what's interesting to notice here is how fast and dedicated Kojima's transition from Konami to Sony went ahead.3:53His definitive departure was reported by multiple sources in late October 2015.3:59The inception of his new studio, including the partnership with Sony, was made public only 58 days later.4:05Fungo: It seems extremely likely that he had already been in negotiations with4:09Sony a good while before his departure from Konami was officially confirmed.4:13Another peculiar coincidence is that the PT demo was solely released on Playstation 44:18even though Konami usually releases all their games on as many platforms as possible to reach the largest customer base!4:25Ragnar: Which was after all the primary reason for developing the Fox Engine in the first place.4:29But of course that doesn't prove anything on its own,4:32so, for now let's just keep that in the back of our minds.4:35After keeping relatively quiet for a while Kojima then started to stir up new rumours,4:40by a tweet in January stated that he:4:47- accompanied by a picture of a smartphone cover with a Kojima Productions logo4:52next to a Guillermo del Toro sketch book4:54- igniting new speculations for a renewal of their collaboration.4:58In February 2016, then, he was seen reunited with director del Toro5:03and on another occasion actor Norman Reedus, who was supposed to play the protagonist of Silent Hills.5:10In the following days, Norman Reedus himself added fuel to the speculations5:14by retweeting numerous articles covering the re-ignition of the PT/Silent Hills hype due to their reunion.5:20Kojima's meetup with del Toro subsequently turned out to be a joint interview of the two friends5:25moderated by Canadian games journalist Geoff Keighley at the annual DICE summit on Februay 18th in Las Vegas.5:32Many people were hoping for an official announcement of their collaboration and the reveal of Kojima's next project,5:38but nothing was explicitly confirmed nor denied during the key note.5:42Fungo: The moment that came closest to confirming the two working together again was5:46was when Geoff Keighley asked del Toro if he'd want to work on a video game again soon in the future.5:51To which he replied:5:52"I'll do whatever the fuck he wants"5:55followed by a question directed at Kojima asking him if he would want to work with del Toro again in the near future.6:01He immediately reacted like this:6:04The eyes on the palms referring to the Pale Man from del Toro's horror movie Pan's Labyrinth.6:09Kojima likes to keep it vague, it could very well be interpreted as a light hearted joke6:13but it could equally be a broad hint that the two will, in fact,6:17work together on something with a similar psychological horror direction as del Toro's movies:6:22Pan's Labyrinth and Devil's Backbone, which Kojima mentioned and admired several times during the interview.6:28Ragnar: They went on to talk about their friendship, about creativity and their love of films,6:32film-making and video games, but close to the end del Toro said something that...6:37well, it might have been an accidental slip-up.6:40Keighley was in the middle of asking Kojima about what makes a collaboration with Guillermo so valuable6:45- well, listen for yourself:6:51Fungo: He made an offhand remark saying "Ito Junji" to Hideo, followed by short laughter,6:56but ultimately it was ignored and Kojima went on to talk about something else.6:59Now Ito Junji, or Junji Ito, is a renowned horror manga artist who also contributed to PT by providing art design and direction.7:06So why did Kojima evade this interjection?7:08He could have just talked about their collaborative work on PT,7:11but he might have been careful not to put Ito in the spotlight at this point in time.7:14Because if they are in fact working together right now his contribution being revealed7:18would be hard evidence that the project is in fact a horror title!7:22Ragnar: This hypothesis is even further substantiated by the circumstance that del Toro and Ito7:28had followed each other on Twitter only in October 20157:31and met each other for the first time only in November 20157:35- a good month before Kojima came back out of hiding.7:38Ito himself had since that day been very actively re-tweeting the official Kojima Productions Twitter account,7:44especially when it concerned brief insights into their current projects.7:48At the same time Donna Burke, known for her voice acting and musical contributions to the Metal Gear series7:54and her roles as Angela and Claudia in Silent Hill 2 and 3,7:58as well as Stefanie Joosten, who played Quiet in Metal Gear Solid: The Phantom Pain8:03both followed Guillermo del Toro on Twitter around the same time and were followed back by him.8:09All three had been affiliated with Kojima for a long time already8:12but had only established social media contact around that time.8:16It has since been speculated that Donna and Stefanie were working together on a project as voice-over artists8:22to which they always simply replied:8:25that they can't announce anything yet.8:28Fungo: Huh - that sounds familiar!8:30Ragnar: But, yeah. All of this is circumstantial evidence at best8:34and nothing so far has 100% confirmed that Kojima Productions is in fact working on that speculative spiritual Silent Hills successor.8:42But enough breadcrumbs have been spread that the assumption doesn't feel like grasping straws at all.8:48Especially considering the enormous business potential such a venture would bring to the table for both Kojima and Sony.8:54Fungo: PT was the most downloaded demo on PSN of all time.8:58Exclusively publishing the game that it would lead to is an absolute no-brainer for a company like Sony!9:03Add to that the fact that Kojima has, more than once,9:06made it abundantly clear that he had desired to move away from Metal Gear Solid9:10to strive for new creative challenges for a very long time already9:14but was always forced to keep delivering the next iteration of Konami's best selling video game franchise9:18under extremely degrading and borderline abusive work conditions.9:22".. and I mean there were times when people I don't think realised the conditions under which9:27Metal Gear Solid V was made, with him, you know, in an isolated room from his team, finishing this game9:31and it still is, you know, up for game of the year and one of the most acclaimed games of last year."9:35Ragnar: It is therefore safe to assume that Hideo Kojima had at least toyed with the prospect of leaving Konami for quite some time.9:42and during his simultaneous efforts on Metal Gear Solid V and Silent Hills in 20149:47he might just have seen the perfect opportunity to make this a reality.9:52Fungo: Now this is where things get a little more nebulous and speculative,9:54but the hypothesis is that it all started with Silent Hill.9:58Kojima had already stated in September 2012 that he was interested in rebooting the franchise10:02with the help of his studio's proprietary Fox Engine.10:05Of course Konami's executives had shown interest in that idea10:08- both names Hideo Kojima and Silent Hill meant potential revenue after all!10:12Geoff Keighley, who was a very close friend and associate of Kojima10:15has hinted at the fact that Hideo had filled him in on some of his current plans10:19in a personal conversation after the DICE summit10:21- and that what he's cooking right now is so incredibly limitless in scale and ambition that we r not red e!10:28Ragnar: But now try to imagine him pitching a concept with such a limitless scale and ambition10:33to a room of corporate executives in pressed suits10:37- people who don't give a flying fuck about video games as a form of artistic expression10:42people who disbanded the original team Silent because their last title was "too experimental to sell enough units"10:48people who only condescended to green-light Sam Barlow's psychologic story telling10:53concept once he agreed to squeeze it into a reboot of Silent Hill 1's story line.10:58All those people see in a pitch like the one Kojima would have approached them with is11:02a highly expensive and risky bet that can't be backed up by any market analytical data whatsoever.11:09"What you can do with the medium... it's, it's limitless.11:12It's only limited by the bastards with the money."11:16In order to convince "the bastards with the money" how well his concept of a Silent Hill reboot could resonate within the community11:23Kojima had to get proof - a sort of proof that he couldn't get on paper.11:28He had to irrefutably demonstrate that he was right.11:31Now, it's actually not an uncommon practice in the game industry that developers create tech demos11:37and prototypes in secret to convince their investors of the viability of a concept that looks too risky on paper.11:44In Kojima's case, simply showing his executives a tech demo wouldn't be enough though.11:49To absolutely airtight proof that his ideas work11:52he had to make an example that displayed beyond doubt11:55that his vision would be critically met with overwhelming approval.11:59But how could he have pulled that off without anyone noticing?12:03Fungo: At the time, as we know, he was in the middle of directing Metal Gear Solid V12:07on a budget of 80 million dollars!12:09In such a massive undertaking it's commonplace to outsource different modular parts of development12:14to external third party developers under the supervision of the game's director.12:18The game had already been developed under the guise of a third party developer studio called Moby Dick Studios.12:23Initially only being referred to as a horror game called Ground Zeroes12:27until it was later revealed to be the fifth instalment in the Metal Gear Solid series.12:32"Kojima Productions? What does that mean?12:35"There's got to be a reason that's there"12:37Ragnar: And even MGSV's prologue, Ground Zeroes, long before Kojima effectively left Konami,12:42featured an unlockable Easter egg mission called Déjà Vu in which the player was tasked to find12:47and remove Metal Gear Solid logos throughout the stage.12:51Fungo: This strongly hinted at the idea that, even back in 2014,12:54Kojima had already anticipated the eventual falling out with Konami.12:58Another interesting fact to notice is that the bonus mission was13:01- just like the PT demo - exclusive to only the PS4 version of Ground Zeroes.13:05And it was so well hidden, so difficult to unlock13:08that it's not at all unlikely if no one at Konami had gotten wind of its existence13:13or at least its subtle hidden messages, during QA before the game released.13:17In the end, the events that Déjà Vu foreshadowed were, in fact, exactly what happened!13:22Shortly before The Phantom Pain's release, Konami actually began removing Hideo Kojima's name from all the covers!13:28"You might be able to erase the markings, but the memories will never disappear."13:33Ragnar: Now, with PT, a strikingly similar pattern was starting to unfold.13:38This demo too had officially been developed by an independent studio called 7780s Studios.13:45The crucial question is, how can Kojima have commissioned the game's production13:49without anyone at Konami noticing?13:51The simplest answer would be: he disguised it as an Easter egg mission for The Phantom Pain!13:57Fungo: Just think about it. Nothing in PT has anything to do with the Silent Hills franchise directly.14:02It felt, and has been stated to be, a completely unrelated game14:05that was meant to be a proof of concept for Kojima's vision of a Silent Hill reboot.14:09The only thing that points at the game being tied to Silent Hill is the trailer,14:13a plain video that is only unveiled once the game is finished.14:16But the entire PT puzzle was designed in such a way that it would take14:20the entire community of gamers worldwide at least a week to solve it.14:24"The PT itself was meant to be sort of a decoy14:29and we were thinking that it would take ten days to solve it,14:33two weeks, and they solve it in like three days!"14:37Ragnar: Kojima and del Toro had also often stated that the game had deliberately been downgraded14:42cutting back the capabilities of the Fox Engine so it would appear to be a lower budget Indie game.14:48"About PT, see Hideo, when we are looking at the PT, he said:14:54"We're gonna do this low-tech, we're gonna do this14:58so that people don't known it's ours until the endings".""15:01Fungo: But, who did they intend to fool?15:04The community?15:05Or Konami!15:07Ragnar: It is even plausible that the developers of PT themselves15:11believed that they were actually working on an Easter egg mission for Metal Gear Solid V.15:17A similar hidden bonus mission had already been included in Metal Gear Solid 315:22In order to unlock it, the player had to save the game right after Naked Snake had been tortured15:28and imprisoned by Colonel Volgin in Groznyj Grad,15:31restart the game and load this saved game.15:34Only then would the player wake up in Snake's dream15:37- a bonus mission called Guy Savage, which had absolutely nothing to do with Metal Gear Solid itself.15:43It's a darkish, horror-themed hack and slash with a completely autonomous control scheme15:49that was written and directed by Shuyo Murata on his own.15:53Fungo: PT itself contains some elements that people still haven't been able to make complete sense of.15:57Think about the negative MR scans of a human brain in the menu.16:01In no way are they related to the events of the game itself,16:03but it could also have made the developer team believe they were working on a coma dream of Big Boss after his helicopter crash.16:10On paper, it would have appeared to "the bastards with the money"16:13that this segment was just another module for Metal Gear Solid V in development - nothing conspicuous!16:18"These aren't the droids you're looking for"16:21"These aren't the droids we're looking for"16:24"Ko ji ma"16:26Ok, assuming this is what happened,16:28how the hell did Kojima get it published without anyone noticing?16:32Ragnar: Well, at the time, his official title was16:36Vice President of Konami.16:37He also had established and maintained a close friendship with Andrew House16:41over many years, so he could easily have convinced Sony to release the demo with Konami's official approval, given by him.16:49And as we've already highlighted, it was only released on PlayStation.16:53Not on Xbox, not on PC.16:56Fungo: We all know what happened after the PT bomb dropped.16:59The "one hallway" phenomenon took the gaming world by storm!17:02and created an unprecedented level of media attention17:05pushing the Silent Hill franchise right back in the spotlight and made it one of the hottest topics in gaming for months to come.17:18Ragnar: But, alright, assuming this is really how it all went down17:21that nobody at Konami knew that they had just released a free demo to a concept they didn't agree on in the first place17:28and that they only found out days after it was already everywhere,17:31suddenly finding themselves in a hailstorm of unexpected media attention from all sides.17:36Assuming this is the case then, well17:39sure, it DID prove that Kojima was right all along, and more importantly for them,17:44that it would easily translate into sales figures beyond anyone's wildest expectations.17:50But, such a coup would have been nothing short of mutiny!17:53which it's no coincidence that more and more news of harsh mistreatment of their star game designer surfaced after this.18:00- Forcing him to direct MGSV under tight surveillance in an isolated room from his team,18:05and even prohibiting him from accepting the Game of the Year award in person.18:10"Mr Kojima had every intention of, being with us tonight,18:14but unfortunately he was informed by18:17a lawyer representing Konami just recently that,18:20that he would, er, not be allowed to18:23travel to tonight's award ceremony to18:25to accept, um, any awards"18:28Why else would Konami feel the need to restrain him in this way if they hadn't felt severely back stabbed?18:35Especially considering the very corporate business culture in Japan18:39It would have been extremely unlikely that Konami's management would suddenly take a step back,18:45apologise to Kojima-san, and admit their initially flawed perception of his prosposal18:50tap him on the shoulder and gladly grant him all the resources to make his vision of Silent Hills a reality.18:56Fungo: Of course not!18:57But, Kojima KNEW that. He knew what would happen and he took that into consideration.19:01Laying low until he could fulfill his remaining contractual obligations by finishing Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain19:08and finally cut ties with Konami for good.19:10He left his old employer as a martyr in the eyes of fans and press alike19:14having the unequivocal support of the community19:17and an overwhelming demand for a prospective horror game project as the foundation of his new company19:21- and Sony had already been waiting outside...to welcome him with open arms.19:26He kew exactly what would happen, and you know what?19:30He had even told us, hidden in plain sight!19:34Ragnar: You DO remember the final soliloquy from PT, right?19:40When you think about it in the context of PT's narrative, it doesn't really make sense.19:46It's the story of an average middle class father, who one day went on to kill his entire family.19:52The monologue is apparently told from the perspective of the son at the time at a preadolescence age.19:57Fungo: Why does he have the voice of a middle aged man, speaking from beyond the grave?20:12Why would the father play video games every day?20:14In the time period we are led to believe the murder occurred20:17that would be uncommon, out of character, or at least highly unlikely.20:43It... it doesn't add up, does it?20:45Ragnar: Well, that's because it's not the son talking to us.20:50It's Kojima himself!20:53"Konami was such a drag.20:55Every day they'd serve the same kind of food,20:59dress the same, make the same kind of games.21:03Yeah, they were just that kind of company.21:06But then one day they go and fire us all!21:10And they couldn't even be original about the way they did it.21:13I'm not complaining... I was dying of boredom anyway.21:17But guess what?21:19I will be coming back21:21and I'm bringing my new toys with me."21:26Kojima knew exactly what would happen21:29and he gave us a plethora of clues, always precisely predicting events long before they actually occurred.21:36And, revisiting PT with this knowledge in mind,21:39puts many of its highly ambiguous messages scattered throughout the game in a completely new light.21:45Fungo: Think, for instance, about the background narration during the bathroom murder scene.21:49On the surface it comes over as a harmless radio broadcast21:52while in the scene's context appearing to be a command that urges the father to murder his family.21:57But at the same time it also features this theme of oppressed hard working people22:01who unjustly lost their jobs for much too long now, so now's the time to finally do something about it.22:23This theme surfaces a couple of times during the events of PT22:27and when you think about it it mirrors Kojima's whole Konami debacle almost too closely to be mere coincidence.22:33Ragnar: In the end it really doesn't matter if leaving Konami in this way was just Hideo Kojima's contingency plan,22:40or if this entire Machiavellian coup d'état had been mischievously planned and orchestrated all along.22:46It remains a decisive victory in the eternal struggle between creative minds and22:51"the bastards with the money"22:53In my eyes he deserves to take as many spoils as possible from his life's work22:58of defiance against an oppressive system that perpetually, but ultimately without success, tried to keep him on his knees.23:06If you put all of this together - even if half of the evidence brought up for this theory turns out to be untrue -23:12it still remains highly plausible to assume that sometime soon23:17we WILL see an announcement of a new horror game that carries out the limitless ambition and scale23:22of what Silent Hills was meant to be.23:25Am I delusional?23:26I don't think so.23:28I'm looking forward to it.23:29Fungo: Hey, me too! Don't leave me out of this, Rag.23:33Ragnar: Hey guys, thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video - if so then please leave a like,23:37a comment, or subscribe to my channel. That'd be highly appreciated!23:41Just a quick heads up for my long term subscribers:23:43I've been working on a whole new set of Monsters of The Week episodes, and the show is going to come back soon!23:49If you'd like to support me directly, then why not hop over to my Patreon and leave a small contribution?23:54Also, please make sure to visit my friend Fungo over on his channel.23:57This video wouldn't have come together without his massive help and I'm sure that if you like what you saw24:02you'll enjoy the hell out of his deeply analytical videos24:05about video game lore, reviews and a lot more!24:08So, thanks for watching Monsters of the Week!24:12Until next time, remember...24:14... the truth is out there.
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