Abandoned developer Blue Box Game Studios says it's received numerous death threats over the last few months, "online but unfortunately also physically."
The studio has been dealing with a looming conspiracy theory that started in June. Despite the game's announcement having relatively little fanfare in April, some Silent Hill fans are now convinced that the game is secretly a new instalment in the survival horror series. It's spawned its own subreddit called The Blue Box Conspiracy, which has a healthy mix of light ribbing and real convoluted, messy theories.
Despite numerous protests from Blue Box Game Studios on its Twitter page and an attempt from director Hasan Kahraman to defuse the rumours, the Silent Hill theory still runs rampant. The developer has played into the speculation on occasion, but still firmly maintain that it has no relation to Konami, Silent Hill or Kojima.
A message from us. Human beings. pic.twitter.com/q2V5j4f4ZBOctober 17, 2021
The whole situation has drawn a lot of attention to Abandoned and Blue Box, unfortunately not all of it good. The developer released a statement on Twitter earlier this week, revealing it's been dealing with death threats over the last few months, seeing a recent uptick.
"We have been dealing with death threats the past few months and the last few days we have been dealing with it again, especially physically. This not only affects us as a team, but everyone within our environments," the statement read. The studio also threatened to "take action" against anybody sending death threats.
"We are fully aware of the negative situation that we have created and we truly understand your frustration," the statement continued. "But what we don't understand are the death threats."
It's unclear specifically what the studio means by physical death threats—whether that be people turning up to the studio's address or otherwise. Despite frustrations around Abandoned, death threats are never okay.
