The global release of Hollow Knight: Silksong on Friday crashed several major digital storefronts. Steam, Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store and Microsoft Store all buckled under the traffic surge as players rushed to buy the long-awaited sequel. Purchase and download systems stayed broken for hours after launch.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Hits 100k Players
Widespread Technical Issues
Downdetector logged over 3,700 problem reports within minutes of the game going live. Error codes blocked purchases, checkout pages froze, and the chaos lasted nearly three hours before platforms stabilized.
Players flooded social media with screenshots of failed transactions and complaints about the lack of preorders, which might have spread the load. Humble Bundle briefly pulled Silksong from its storefront with a high-traffic warning before restoring access later that day. Despite the mess, Steam reported more than 100,000 concurrent players within 30 minutes, proof that plenty of fans fought through the bottlenecks and got in.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Hits 100k Players
Sequel from a Small Adelaide Team
Team Cherry built Silksong with three people. The Adelaide studio — Ari Gibson, William Pellen, Jack Vine, plus composer Christopher Larkin — became an international name after the first Hollow Knight sold over 15 million copies following its 2017 release. That game combined hand-drawn art with Metroidvania structure and turned into a word-of-mouth phenomenon.
The original Hollow Knight earned praise for its detailed environments, punishing combat, and distinctive visual style. Critics called it a modern Metroidvania classic, and its depth kept players talking long after launch, building a dedicated global community.
Anticipation and Industry Response
Silksong shifts focus to Hornet, the sword-wielding character from the first game. Demand ran so high that other studios moved their release dates to avoid the collision. At least seven games — including Baby Steps and Demonschool — postponed launches in the weeks before Silksong dropped.
Hollow Knight: Silksong Hits 100k Players
Lengthy Development Cycle
Silksong took seven years. Gibson said the timeline reflected the team's approach: a small studio taking the time needed to build the game they wanted, with no external drama slowing things down.
Pellen previously explained that the first Hollow Knight succeeded by drawing on older game design while avoiding dated presentation. The team aimed for something that felt both familiar and fresh. He said they hoped Silksong would hit the same balance.
Recognition in South Australia
The South Australian Film Corporation celebrated the launch on LinkedIn, calling Team Cherry an example of Adelaide's creative output and noting the global scale of the release.
The technical meltdown proved the intensity of demand. Early player counts suggest Hollow Knight: Silksong has already become one of the biggest independent game launches in years.
