Tale of Tales (ToT): Silent Hill is still going. There’s been a Silent Hill 3, 4 and soon 5, all without your involvement. Silent Hill 3 was a lot less complex than Silent Hill 2. And Silent Hill 4 was completely different. How do you feel about the evolution in the series without you?

Takayoshi Sato (TS): It’s normal that a change of team changes the feel of the product. That’s what happened with Silent Hill 3 & 4.

ToT: What did you think of the Silent Hill movie?

TS: I like many of its visual elements. And their use of the exact same camera shots and lighting in several scenes as in my cinematics, made me smile nostalgically. But as a whole, the movie is a different thing. Seeing it was like being reunited with your child for the first time in 10 years and being surprised by how different it had become. I had a lot more ideas for game gimmicks and story elements for the realm of Silent Hill, but the movie took a different path. You can not control what your children grow into once they leave home.

ToT: Silent Hill 2 is one of the few games that continues to be used as an example of the direction that games could take if you treat them as an artistic entertainment medium, rather than just fun toys to play with. What do you think makes that game so different? And do you feel that the games industry has evolved much in this respect since Silent Hill 2 (published in 2001)?

TS: Usually there are many people to satisfy in game development. When there’s too many cooks in the kitchen, you get products that lack focus, have no edge and are simply boring. But Silent Hill 1 became very successful and I got three awards for it. That allowed me to pursue my own creative vision. Now I realize that that was a very rare situation. But it offered me a chance to prove that a highly artistic project can sell without any particular marketing elements. I am more interested in profound artwork that remains in people’s hearts for a long time than quick money-raking products. I thought that if Silent Hill 2 remained a masterpiece for a long time, its profits would exceed major products eventually. Hit products tend to be born like this: simply as the result of someone’s creative pursuit.