Original Silent Hill art director and Pyramid Head creator Masahiro Ito has said he was too busy making Silent Hill games to get a girlfriend.

PC Gamer spotted a handful of X/Twitter posts from Ito who made clear that his time as a game developer wasn't all sunshine and daisies — and not just because he was working on the terrifying survival horror franchise.

For a four-year period between 1999 and 2003, Konami released Silent Hill, Silent Hill 2, and Silent Hill 3, and Ito was heavily involved in their creation.

"All the time I was attending my art university or was developing Silent Hill 1, 2, 3, and a cancelled title, I never had any girlfriends cause I had no time for it," Ito said. "I never thought I was a genius, but I was terribly competitive. The only way to beat geniuses is to give yourself up entirely to what you wanna accomplish."

Though Ito didn't say he regrets his time working on the series, which is currently enjoying a resurgence thanks to the criticially and commercially acclaimed Silent Hill 2 remake, Ito has been blunt about the series in the past.

"I wish I hadn't designed f**kin Pyramid Head," he said in a 2022 post. This comes alongside criticism of publisher Konami too. "To use [Pyramid Head] in so many titles makes [Pyramid Head] cheaper," Ito said in a now deleted post.

Konami partnered with developer Bloober Team to recreate the game where Pyramid Head debuted. It arrived October 8 to glowing critical reception and strong sales too, leaving many fans of the previously dormant horror franchise eager for more.

In our 8/10 review, IGN said: "Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.