P.T., inSANE and Karaoke With Kojima: Why Guillermo del Toro Swears He Will Never Make Another Video Game
Eleven years after declaring at San Diego Comic-Con that he would never step foot in video game development again, Guillermo del Toro is sticking to his guns. Speaking during a retrospective interview celebrating IGN's 30th anniversary, the acclaimed Mexican filmmaker made it crystal clear that his position has not shifted by a millimeter. With his trademark warmth and sharp self-deprecation, the Oscar-winning director readily embraced his unofficial title as the industry's resident bad luck charm.
"I am the albatross of video games," he joked, nodding to Baudelaire's famous cursed seabird. Looking back at his track record, it is easy to understand his reluctance: his ambitious psychological horror trilogy inSANE vanished into thin air when publisher THQ went bankrupt, while the masterwork tease that was Silent Hills (P.T.) was abruptly canceled amid the bitter corporate fallout between Konami and Hideo Kojima.
Shabu-shabu, karaoke and true friendship with Hideo Kojima
Yet despite those painful project cancellations, del Toro's love affair with the gaming medium never cooled down. His deep bond with Hideo Kojima, forged well before their ill-fated Silent Hills collaboration and immortalized through his physical likeness as Deadman in Death Stranding, is built on much simpler and far more enjoyable foundations than corporate pitch meetings.
"With Kojima, I had pitched an idea that he ended up not using, which I hope to adapt into another medium someday. But with Hideo, the best part is heading out for karaoke and sharing a great shabu-shabu meal. Whether a game actually gets made or not is completely secondary. He knows the best restaurants in Tokyo. Dinner and karaoke come first. I love that man, he is a true Renaissance genius."
That genuine camaraderie reflects how Kojima continually draws creators into his creative orbit, a collaborative energy seen across the industry, including recent shocks like Xbox stepping in to fund Kojima's PHYSINT following Sony's strategic retreat.
Why adapting video games into movies remains an uphill battle
Frequently approached by major studios to direct big-screen adaptations of popular gaming franchises, del Toro has repeatedly turned them down. The filmmaker revealed that after sitting through several tense development meetings, he recognized an inherent clash between the two storytelling languages.
In his view, film and interactive games operate on diametrically opposed narrative mechanics. On screen, the viewer does not solve environmental puzzles, manage inventories, or experience pacing dictated by input on a gamepad. Attempting to force interactive agency into a linear two-hour passive cinematic frame almost always dilutes what made the original game compelling in the first place.
From shedding tears in Death Stranding to three stars in Angry Birds
While he has closed the door on directing games or films based on them, del Toro remains a dedicated, passionate player. The director shared that the quiet melancholy and haunting beauty of Death Stranding moved him to tears, while pointing to Shadow of the Colossus and BioShock as timeless works of interactive art.
He is also a massive fan of indie roguelikes, though he jokingly pleaded with the developers of Dead Cells for a merciful update: "Please, give us an old-age mode with no respawn penalties, so we do not have to restart the entire run from scratch every time we die!" That playful honesty capped off a personal confession: every single day, the Oscar-winning creator still pulls out his phone with one relentless goal in mind, unlocking three stars on every single stage in Angry Birds.
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles 'Grimtag' Ronchain is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
