Hollow Knight: Silksong is rewriting expectations, but not every developer is thrilled about it.
Hollow Knight: Silksong finally arrived, and for the industry, they bring one message: it’s not over till the fat lady sings. At long last, Silksong’s here, and it has shattered every metric out there. Over the weekend, the game pulled in more than half a million concurrent players on Steam alone, overwhelming storefronts and even causing hiccups for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo’s online services.
While some players didn’t personally run into connection issues, the massive surge in traffic just showed how hyped the game truly was. Sales tell the same story. Silksong, priced at just $20, took no time to make the top spot its very own across multiple platforms. And it’s pretty comfy sitting up there on the top, so you know it will take something to take Silksong off its perch.
That low price point might look modest compared to most $60 blockbusters, but when you factor in the volume of copies being sold, the revenue adds up fast. To match one $60 game sold, Silksong only has to sell three, and considering how high it’s charting, it’s safe to say the numbers themselves do the talking.
But the celebrations are cut short when the industry itself has been thrown for a loop. The game’s release date was announced just two weeks ahead of launch, something you rarely see for a title of Silksong’s stature, and it caught many developers and publishers off guard.
Some studios even pushed their games out of the way. Silksong’s sudden but swift launch became such a force that it spoiled the party for smaller titles while having one of its own. The $20 price tag has also raised eyebrows. Devs are questioning what it means for them when such content-rich Metroidvanias can be sold so cheaply.
One indie dev behind Lone Fungus expressed their concern online, admitting that they had planned to price their smaller project at $20 but now feel pressured to reconsider. “I can’t afford to give it away for free,” they said, pointing out that their game was made by one person with limited resources compared to Team Cherry’s larger team effort.
It’s a fair worry. Silksong risks becoming a “new standard” in the eyes of players, but you know that’s not realistic. There’s only one Silksong, built over nearly seven freaking years. Expecting every indie dev to meet that same bar for the same price would be like comparing every open-world release to GTA 6. Yes, they’re all video games, but the scales are worlds apart.
Even when you look at other recent successes like ANIMAL WELL, which launched last year for $25, it’s clear there’s room for flexible pricing. That game was celebrated in its own right, and being included in PS Plus didn’t stop people from paying full price. Silksong itself launched day one in Game Pass, proving that other release strategies can work without devaluing the game.
As for the gameplay, early impressions line up with expectations; it’s more Hollow Knight, and that’s exactly what we wanted. Players are praising the tight combat, but more than that, the content-to-price ratio is just bonkers. That doesn’t mean it’s some reinvention of the genre, but for most, the familiarity is what works in Silksong’s favor. The one area that’s sparking debate is the difficulty.
Silksong feels tougher than its predecessor. Bosses hit harder, sometimes dealing double the damage of normal enemies. The aftermath has led to PC mods that rebalance fights to make them easier. Some fans are calling for official difficulty settings, while many think there’s no Silksong without the difficulty. Team Cherry designed Silksong with a single intended difficulty, much like FromSoftware does with its Souls games.
Learning enemy patterns and pushing through failures until success finally comes—basically, the grind is what’s so appealing about Silksong. If you can’t be patient, don’t bother playing it. You will be dying a few times, but once you get the hang of the patterns, you beat bosses after a handful of attempts. As easy as it may sound, it’s not.
Now the headline is not about how hard Silksong is or isn’t. It’s about how its success affects everyone else. Smaller studios are nervous when a game of this magnitude dominates attention. Yet some see opportunity instead of competition. Clever developers are already leaning into Silksong’s spotlight by creating playful crossover images to share on social media. It’s a way of riding the wave rather than fighting against it.
In the end, Silksong is proving that the indie space can still deliver cultural moments that rival AAA launches. Team Cherry’s long-awaited sequel has earned its hype, no doubt, but it’s not a template that every studio can or should try to follow.
Silksong is more than just a game right now; it’s a phenomenon, and one that is currently busy reshaping the market. You’ve waited nearly a decade for it, and Silksong has not disappointed. For Team Cherry, $20 never looked so powerful.
