In late 2024, Bokeh Game Studios – a company led by Silent Hill and Siren series creator Keiichi Toyama, released its first ever in-house title, the action-adventure horror Slitterhead. Commemorating a recently held Slitterhead concept art exhibition in an interview with Famitsu, Toyama talked about the game’s sales so far, his ideas behind establishing Bokeh Game Studio and the company’s goals for the future. He also teased a brand-new game that is already in development.
Reflecting on the performance of Slitterhead, Toyama says that the team intended to create a game that would sell a lot more than it did, but that it ended up being a “cult favorite” kind of game. However, he admits that this kind of reception may be due to the confusion regarding whether Slitterhead is an action game or a horror game.
At the same time, Toyama stresses that commercial success was far from the studio’s only goal with Slitterhead. He comments that he is very satisfied with how his team was able to showcase its individuality through this game and do many things that wouldn’t be possible if they were an AAA studio.
While he says that they are very determined to continue taking on new challenges as a team, Toyama is also anxious about how long that could last, given his age. “As for how long we’ll be able to continue, it becomes a difficult topic especially if we take my age into consideration. However, I believe that moving forward, I also have to pass the baton to the next generation. As a studio, we’re still midway to reaching our goal.”
Bokeh Game studio already showcased their creative capabilities and freedom with the morally ambiguous occult action-adventure Slitterhead, but with further expansion in mind, they seem to be planning to tackle many more different genres and incorporate more ideas from younger generations. While there still aren’t any concrete plans for a Slitterhead sequel, a brand-new title with the goal of expanding the scope of the studio is in the works, Toyama says.
“I can’t reveal the exact details, but we have started working on our next title. In the beginning, we wanted this to be a studio where we could do many different things, like implementing the ideas of younger generations and even working on more light-hearted projects.” While Toyama has a lot more creative liberty at Bokeh Game Studios compared to major game companies, he emphasizes that there is still a lot of work to be done before they’re able to achieve the versatility and freedom they’re aiming for. “Once again, we have to pour in all our efforts as a studio and prove that we are up to the task. We are currently working towards that goal. However, we’re still in the beginning phase, so I believe we’ll be able to reveal more details [about the new game] somewhere in the future.”
Related articles: Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama made a prototype for an “AAA Siren successor” while at Sony, which became the basis for Slitterhead
