The official "realtime" experience for Abandoned was supposed to launch on PlayStation 5 at 12 PM PDT/3 PM EDT on August 10, but it isn't working at press time. Viewers were told they'd get the first real look a the game if they downloaded a dedicated Abandoned PS5 trailer app, allowing them to get a better idea of how the game could look and perform on their console as opposed to just streaming a video on YouTube. In an another potential setback for developer Blue Box Game Studios, the app doesn't work.
Abandoned has been a marketing oddity over the past several months. A teaser trailer was revealed in April, showing a character roaming photorealistic woods with cryptic narration. No one really knew what to make of it, but many speculated that it was a convoluted Silent Hill reveal stunt, with a popular conclusion being that Hideo Kojima was somehow behind Abandoned. That said, developer Blue Box Game Studios has directly stated it's not affiliated with Kojima or Konami and is not a Silent Hill game. Still, some hold that they're being tricked, and they've been waiting for the Abandoned trailer app to go live in order to know for certain.
Abandoned's PS5 Realtime Experience app was already delayed once. At launch time on Tuesday, another unexpected delay came at the last minute. Upon launching the app, users were met with a screen reading, "Check back soon..." Some fans, such as Twitch streamer Bawkbasoup, started speaking into their controller, hoping it would trigger something like in P.T., the teaser for Hideo Kojima's Silent Hills, but to no avail. Blue Box Game Studios eventually tweeted out that it's experiencing a "technical issue" with the app and is working to resolve the problem as soon as possible. The developer tells waiting viewers, "We will inform you once we resolved the issue." In another follow-up two hours after the app was supposed to go live, Blue Box apologized again and said it's "still working on it."
Prospective fans of Blue Box's game are already a bit annoyed with the game's marketing, and the studio says that Abandoned rumors have hurt its development. Blue Box Game Studios has perhaps unintentionally fed into a some of the Silent Hill-related speculation surrounding the game with its marketing featuring ominous images, videos, and tweets that resemble what fans seem to be expecting from that series and Kojima. The messaging has been perceived as inconsistent, leading to many to wonder what the game actually is.
The studio's history has also drawn attention, as Blue Box hasn't made anything of note but was able to land a deal of some kind with PlayStation. Whether or not there's more to Abandoned than meets the eye is anyone's guess, but fans are hoping something noteworthy will happen when the PS5 app does begin to work.