Given that the hype for Hollow Knight: Silksong has been thunderous enough to shake the internet to its core throughout the past several months, it's hardly a surprise that the game has rocketed out of the gate now that it finally launched on September 4. What is surprising, though, is just how explosive that release has been (it even briefly crashed the Steam store).
As SteamDB data shows, Silksong near-instantaneously shot up to over 500K concurrent players on Valve's PC gaming platform Steam after launch, and it hasn't dipped below 300K since then — even during the least active hours in the dead of night. As I write this, it stands at just over 480K, and earlier on Friday, it achieved an astounding peak of 562,814.
Earlier on Friday, [Hollow Knight: Silksong] achieved an astounding peak of 562,814 ... making it the 18th most-played game in Steam history, and raising it past the peak 521,079 player count of August's Battlefield 6 Open Beta
This makes it the 18th most-played game in Steam history, and also raises it past the peak 521,079 player count of August's Battlefield 6 Open Beta. The beta's performance was awe-inspiring in its own right, with Electronic Arts and DICE's playtest surpassing Call of Duty's Steam record and forecasting what looks to be a major comeback for Battlefield as a series.
For Silksong to top it by a little over 40,000 concurrent players, then, is nothing short of remarkable — especially for a project built by an independent developer like Team Cherry that doesn't have the depth of resources and manpower available to AAA studios.
Something worth noting, too, is that these are just Steam numbers alone. Undoubtedly, many, many more players are diving into the feverishly anticipated Metroidvania sequel on Xbox, Xbox on PC, PlayStation, Switch, Linux, and macOS; on Xbox and Xbox on PC specifically, it's also playable through Xbox Game Pass.
That so many are playing on Steam despite Game Pass availability speaks to how strongly fans will support a game directly when they're chomping at the bit to play it. It's also indicative of how beneficial a low barrier-to-entry can be to a title's success, as Silksong costs just $19.99 across all of its platforms.
Silksong has long been one of the most looked-forward-to games in the industry, with fans extremely eager to get their hands on it after years and years of waiting.
On top of that, Silksong has long been one of the most looked-forward-to games in the industry, with fans extremely eager to get their hands on it after years and years of waiting. Originally announced as a DLC for 2017's beloved Hollow Knight in 2019, it quickly grew in scope and was reintroduced as a full-fledged sequel, with Team Cherry slowly working on it for half a decade.
Indeed, the wait for Silksong has been a very long one, especially since its developers showed almost next to nothing of the game throughout its development.
Based on early reviews, though, it was well worth biding our time; critics didn't get an early copy, so there's no Metacritic consensus yet, but on Steam, the sequel has an "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating, with 95% of its ~20,000 user reviews positive.
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It's hard not to be reminded of 2022's Elden Ring in some ways, as FromSoftware's ambitious open-world take on its Soulsborne formula was also propelled to stardom in the wake of a relatively quiet lead-up to launch. The classic proverb proves itself true yet again: if you build it — "it" being a high-quality game that delivers, in this case — they will come.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say the lack of trailers and pre-release details for Silksong actually helped the game. When such a highly anticipated experience only drops a scarce few breadcrumbs of marketing, its fanbase gets ravenous for any shred of news they can find — and that's a big reason why the community was sent into such a frenzy when Team Cherry suddenly announced Silksong's release date two weeks before launch.
I'd go so far as to say the lack of trailers and pre-release details for Silksong actually helped the game ... I can't help but wonder if we'll see Silksong soar to even greater heights.
Now, with the weekend ahead, I can't help but wonder if we'll see Silksong soar to even greater heights. The chances of that happening seem pretty high, and even though I'm not the biggest fan of 2D platformers myself and likely won't play the game for a while as a result, I'm excited to see just how high this indie darling will skyrocket.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is available now for $19.99 across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Windows PC, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, Linux, and macOS. You also have the option of playing it on Game Pass through PC Game Pass (Xbox on PC) or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (console and PC), with Xbox Play Anywhere supported between Xbox and PC.
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