Abandoned has had an odd time of it in the press. It started life as a supposed Kojima game or Silent Hill project, despite Blue Box stating otherwise - even going as far as contacting Konami to clear concerns over the comparisons. The wild fan theories even led to people sending the developer death threats.
Now, a since deleted accusation has been made that the game isn't in development at all and the developer actually leaked fake Silent Hill images to make it seem like a Kojima title. A new statement has emerged that claims the images were shared privately and not planned to be in the final project.
Lance McDonald shared the initial allegation earlier today but has since deleted the Twitter thread and been in contact with Blue Box CEO Hasan Kahraman. The statement shared confirms that the leaked images were real, but that they had been stripped of context. These leaked images included part of a script.
The statement reads that the images were shared privately with some dedicated fans and although they were original assets, they were not planned for the final project. Silent Hill 5 "jokes" were made, but it seems it was not intended for the images to be perceived as genuine Silent Hill materials as the original accusation from a now deleted Twitter account claimed.
If the statement is to be believed, the leaked images are just pieces of in-progress work shared among friends, and not part of a wider conspiracy to scam investors or make people believe Blue Box is working on a Silent Hill game.
Kahraman thanked McDonald on Twitter for clearing up the confusion.