It won't even sell that many. The entire SH series sold around 9 million copies TOTAL. Silent Hill is not that big - expecting it to launch up to 4M on one platform is laughable.
I think the brand awareness boost that
Silent Hill got from Kojima and (to a much lesser extent)
Dead by Daylight would help a lot in sells. It's also important to note that, around 2001-2004, survival horror as a genre was on the decline.
Resident Evil only continued to sell because it hopped genres after the 2002 remake underperformed, and the three action-based sequels
Resident Evil 4-6 are still the highest selling ones.
There is no smoke. There's just one rumor being regurgitated over and over and over and over and over again.
Ito isn't working on it. Yamaoka isn't working on it. Toyama left the company and is making his own horror game independently of Sony now. Why would someone bail on Silent Hill midway through development, before it's even announced, just to make a new studio and make a different horror game?
If anything, there was an ATTEMPT to make one, the attempt fell through and the project died, and Toyama bailed.
We continue to get recent updates from one person. I have seen zero evidence that this game is happening and, I'm sorry, but I've seen much more compelling evidence that it is not happening than evidence that it is.
Remember: Toyama left and is now working on his own horror project with his own studio, which has been together for about six months now. Ito has repeatedly said he's not working on Silent Hill. Yamaoka is busy with other projects.
I don't believe insiders sight unseen. You want to show me a screenshot? You want to PM me some proof? I'll believe that. But I don't believe "trust me".
Exactly! Not to sound rude or anything, but why does anyone still believe this ridiculous rumour? Other than "I want it to be true." Basically every bit of smoke this rumour had can be directly attributed to other stuff.
- Toyama making a Silent Hill game since 2019? Toyama has been planning to leave Sony, go independent, and develop a new horror-themed action/adventure game since 2019.
- Masahiro Ito involved? Ito has been working on a new game since 2019, and he has already said it has nothing to do with what Toyama is doing.
- The 2019 thing in general? Konami renewed the trademark in 2019 (and released a pachinko machine in the USA), and announced that they are getting back into AAA gaming. They stated in January 2020 that they are considering what to do next with the series, and they said a few months later that major rumours surrounding the series are false.
- Kojima in talks for Silent Hills? Kojima said in November 2019 that he was preparing for a horror game, and then announced in May 2020 that the major game he was working on was cancelled.
On top of that, none of the leakers (not naming any names) who have supported this thing have been consistent on the details. They all have similar information with some major difference. Is Kojima working on
Silent Hills? Is he just in talks? Is it a Telltale-style game? Is the Telltale-style game something else that Konami was shopping around for? Is Sony working on the soft reboot? Is it just a random Japanese studio? Ask any of these leakers and you will get totally different answers.
I don't consider myself a doomer, but it's been obvious to me for a few months now that it has been a game of telephone between insiders hearing bits and pieces of info from behind-the-scenes, with wires getting crossed along the way. I think all of this hype would be better directed at what Toyama and Ito actually are working on.