For years, video games have fought to be taken seriously in the entertainment industry. In a single fell swoop, Silent Hill: Ascension might undo all that progress. Is it a game or a miniseries? Yes. There’s computer-generated cinematics and also mini-games you can play to determine the fate of the characters, struggling to battle their inner demons and real world trauma as they face off against delusional monsters.
This premise is nothing controversial in and of itself. Rather, it’s the backstory to how Ascension got made, and how it is being monetized that is reaping the discontent of fans. The inclusion of elements like a chat box makes it feel more like a bizarre CGI-rendered improv skit, where the audience is shouting out how the scenes will play out, or as one writer put it, a beloved franchise “shaped by the hivemind.”
Masterminded by the Genvid Entertainment producing team, debuting on Halloween, the reviews indicate that everyone is confused. The producers wanted viewer engagement. They got it, but belligerent Reddit threads and insults on social media were not what they were dreaming of.
In a bold gamble to revive live TV and the water-cooler show, Genvid put their money where their mouth is, incentivizing viewers to participate. The danger being that those who missed the first few episodes or were voted down could lose interest altogether. Did the gambit pay off?
Choose Your Own PR Disaster
Based on the cult video game series that has lodged itself in the consciousness of gamers for decades, Ascension is the newest installment in the Silent Hill franchise, hitting the small screen albeit with some new tricks (and with no direct relation to the 2006 Silent Hill film). The show can be viewed on your PlayStation console (but only 4th and 5th generation models) and certain apps, per Genvid’s official website. Why Genvid thought this arrangement was the best is a head-scratcher for generations of business and marketing students to mull over.
The Apple App Store states it is free, but it “offers in-app purchases.” An odd phrase for a TV program. The catch is that you must pay to really make your voice matter, Genvid trying to monetize television with microtransactions the same way that gaming has been beset for the last decade by nickel-and-dime in-game purchases. CEO Jacob Navok strongly denied that the show is a scam on X (Twitter), but his explanation of how the currency system works sounds eerily similar to how disreputable video games operate.
In the post, Navok even explicitly used the dreaded term “season pass” to illustrate how users could skip tedious activities, time-gated content, and grinding. The $20 (USD) Founder’s Pack shows the microtransaction infection is spreading, bad buzz plaguing the show before it hit the air.
Yup, Genvid is trying to turn your TV viewing into a mobile gaming experience, so if you really want to play, get your wallet out. If that wasn’t bad enough, Silent Hill: Ascension is advertising a kind of raffle ticket, winners’ avatars to be featured in the show.
“Massive Interactive Live Events”
Live experiences are meant to take advantage of the internet to gather feedback to determine the outcome of episodes and the whole series. Genvid publicly unveiled their scheme to democratize TV entertainment back in 2021, announcing their push to turn several other games and yet-unnamed media properties into choose-your-own adventures.
They dubbed it “massive interactive live events,” or MILEs, the storyline and fates of the characters of the series hinging upon fan voting, all becoming official canon lore. According to a Variety deep dive from ‘21, Genvid’s parent company stated that over $160 million had been raised to kick-start the endeavor, implying that many more streaming series were in the works.
To paraphrase Stephan Bugaj, the Chief Creative Officer for Genvid, we are witnessing nothing less than TV 2.0. Citing Bandersnatch and the work of video game developer Telltale Games as primary inspirations, he guarantees that Silent Hill: Ascension will be “the next evolution of interactive television.” That said, he adds that the show’s main obstacle will be maintaining the balance between needing to “reward” those loyally tuning into the live show and not alienating the Johnny-come-latelys who have no clue what is going on and may detest their fellow viewers’ decisions.
Bugaj’s claims are accurate. Movies took a stab at fan voting back in 1961, when the supreme huckster of horror, William Castle, released his film Mr. Sardonicus, wherein individual viewers were given the false promise of voting to determine, in a choose-your-own-adventure style, the fate of the title character in the finale. However, the vengeful ending was always the only one shown. The happy ending never existed in reality, another one of Castle’s pranks. Time will tell if reviving the concept will prove itself.
Out Come the Pitchforks and Flaming Torches
Luckily (unluckily for Genvid and property holder Konami), we don’t need to wait as long to see how fans reacted. Konami, a company that has been losing fan support for the better part of the last decade due to bad decisions, is at the center of the backlash.
This isn’t what anyone really wanted. Disgruntled fans, or trolls — possibly both — quickly laid siege to the live-broadcast communication tool, spoiling the chat stream with obscenities, random nonsense, in-jokes, and coordinated spam messages. The chat was switched off to prevent any more jokes at the show’s expense, but the damage, in the form of humiliating press, was already done. The general fan consensus does not see the show as a hivemind shaping their favorite piece of media, but whales holding it hostage.
Anyone who’s been on the internet 10 minutes in their whole life could have anticipated this inevitability, but apparently no one running this show knows of the necessity of some form of moderation on a live stream. It isn’t clear how much longer this show can last between the bad reviews, disabled features, and general scorn surrounding Genvid’s vision. If the producers don’t figure it out, Silent Hill: Ascension could mark the beginning and end of the MILE model.
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