Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro has quit working on video games after seeing too many of his projects face cancellation.

Speaking to Shacknews, the Hellboy and Pacific Rim director said he has "proven to be the albatross of video games."

"I joined THQ, and THQ goes broke. I join Kojima, and Kojima leaves Konami. I have decided, in order not to destroy anyone else's life, I have decided I will never again get involved in video games. Otherwise, I'll join someone and his house will explode, or something."

His most recent attempt at a video game, Silent Hills, blew up spectacularly when co-director Hideo Kojima left developer Konami earlier this year.

According to del Toro, the game had been outlined, mapped out, and its script written before the shutdown.

It's not the first game project del Toro has seen fall from under him: previous attempts at horror games Sundown (with Terminal Reality) and Insane (at THQ, which subsequently folded) also got cancelled before completion.

In the cinema world, the poor director was set to make The Hobbit for years, before delays forced him to leave the project to Peter Jackson.

Del Toro says he learned a lot from working with Kojima: "He's a master, and I can gladly say that we are friends and I love his work and I will continue learning from him as a friend."

"[But] if I join another video game, World War III will start."

Crimson Peak, the director's latest film, which was completed with no wars breaking out, releases in the United States this October.