Hollow Knight: Silksong
29 documents in the library are about Hollow Knight: Silksong, from writers such as Alinea Analytics, GameDiscoverCo and Video Games Industry Memo, the newest from 2026. Each has a summary and key insights with the page they come from.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is the epic sequel to Hollow Knight, the epic action-adventure of bugs and heroes. As the lethal hunter Hornet, journey to all-new lands, discover new powers, battle vast hordes of bugs and beasts and uncover ancient secrets tied to your nature and your past.
- Released
- Sep 4, 2025
- Developer
- Team Cherry
- Genres
- Platform, Adventure, Indie
- Platforms
- Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Linux, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac, Xbox One
- Links
- Wikipedia
Game data from IGDB.com
Key figures
Team Cherry's seven-year development cycle for Hollow Knight: Silksong was driven by a lack of financial pressure, as the original Hollow Knight achieved 15 million copies sold, providing the developers with generational wealth.
Jason Schreier, 2026 · Why Hollow Knight: Silksong Took Seven Years To Make, p. 1
Slay the Spire 2's Steam revenue has surpassed the lifetime Steam earnings of Hades II ($82 million) and Hollow Knight: Silksong ($83 million).
Game World Observer, 2026 · Slay the Spire 2 Surpasses Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II in Revenue on Steam
Hollow Knight: Silksong sold 4.2 million paid units on Steam in September 2025, significantly exceeding performance expectations.
GameDiscoverCo, 2025 · September 2025's Top New Steam & Console Games
Hollow Knight: Silksong achieved 19 million hours watched and 512,000 peak concurrent viewers in its debut week, making it the most successful Metroidvania launch on live-streaming platforms to date.
Stream Hatchet, 2025 · Hollow Knight: Silksong & Metroidvanias on Live Streaming
Hollow Knight: Silksong currently leads all 2025 releases on Steam with 4.8 million wishlists, driven by high community engagement despite a sparse marketing cycle.
Alinea Analytics, 2025 · Steam's Top 5 Most Wishlisted 2025 Games
Documents about Hollow Knight: Silksong
Are Steam Players of Particular Genres Less Accepting of AI?
This analysis examines whether Steam player sentiment regarding the use of artificial intelligence in game development varies by genre, age, or specific game preference.
- Steam players of 'handcrafted' genres like roguelike deckbuilders, idlers, and boomer shooters show higher resistance to AI, with Balatro players reporting a 51.8% non-acceptance rate compared to only 26.9% acceptance.
- Players of gritty, realistic AAA and strategy titles are more open to AI, with 53.9% of Frostpunk players and 41.8% of Battlefield 6 players expressing acceptance of AI inclusion.
- Hardcore strategy genres, including 4X, grand strategy, and base-building games, consistently rank at the high end of AI acceptance among Steam users.
The 10 Games I've Played Most On Steam
This analysis examines the personal gaming habits of a prominent industry commentator, focusing on the ten most-played titles on their Steam account.
- Larian Studios' titles Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity: Original Sin II are highlighted for their high-quality, non-filler combat systems and their ability to 'say yes to the player' through deep, interlocking mechanics.
- CrossCode, a Zelda-like RPG, is noted for its brilliant concept of an MMO-within-a-game, earning 155.1 hours of playtime across multiple playthroughs.
- Hundred Line Last Defense Academy is described as an extreme example of a slow-burn narrative, where the initial 30-hour playthrough functions primarily as a prologue to the actual game.
Why Hollow Knight: Silksong Took Seven Years To Make
The seven-year development cycle of Hollow Knight: Silksong was driven by the creative ambitions of the small, Adelaide-based studio Team Cherry rather than technical failure or external pressure.
- Team Cherry's seven-year development cycle for Hollow Knight: Silksong was driven by a lack of financial pressure, as the original Hollow Knight achieved 15 million copies sold, providing the developers with generational wealth.
- The studio maintained a highly efficient internal development pipeline that allowed for rapid iteration, enabling the team to implement and test new ideas within minutes rather than hours.
- Development was characterized by continuous 'over-scoping' and a commitment to quality over deadlines, with the team intentionally avoiding public release dates to ensure the sequel matched the scale of the original.
Slay the Spire 2 Surpasses Hollow Knight: Silksong and Hades II in Revenue on Steam
Slay the Spire 2 has achieved significant commercial success on Steam, grossing over $92 million within its first 14 days of release.
- Within 14 days of its Steam launch, Slay the Spire 2 generated over $92 million in revenue from 4.6 million copies sold.
- Slay the Spire 2's Steam revenue has surpassed the lifetime Steam earnings of Hades II ($82 million) and Hollow Knight: Silksong ($83 million).
- The game achieved a 31% wishlist-to-sales conversion rate during its debut week, significantly outperforming the industry average of 7-10%.
Indie Projects Generated a Quarter of Total Game Revenue on Steam
The gaming industry experienced a significant shift in market dynamics throughout 2025, as independent projects secured a substantial portion of total platform earnings.
- Indie games generated approximately $4.4 billion in revenue on Steam in 2025, accounting for 25% of the platform's total $17.7 billion in game revenue.
- The top five highest-grossing indie releases of 2025 were Schedule I ($151 million), R.E.P.O. ($147 million), PEAK ($87 million), Hollow Knight: Silksong ($75 million), and Escape from Duckov ($53 million).
- Five individual indie releases collectively accounted for 3% of all game revenue generated on Steam throughout 2025.
The World Design of Hollow Knight: Silksongs
Hollow Knight: Silksong establishes a sophisticated world design that balances structured, goal-oriented progression with expansive, non-linear exploration.
- Hollow Knight: Silksong utilizes a concertina-style architecture that alternates between linear, goal-oriented sequences and open-ended exploration to manage player pacing.
- The game features a total of 45 boss encounters, split between 20 mandatory battles and 25 optional challenges that reward thorough exploration with power-ups.
- The progression structure evolves from a guided, key-and-lock first act into a highly open second act, concluding with a third act that introduces a corrupted world state.
Video Games Year in Review: Part 2, 2025
The second half of 2025 in the video game industry was defined by significant geopolitical shifts, regulatory challenges, and major corporate consolidation.
- Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund acquired Electronic Arts for $55 billion, while Paramount Skydance launched a $108.4 billion hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros.
- Tencent secured a 26.32% stake in a new Ubisoft subsidiary following a €1.16 billion investment.
- The Asia and MENA gaming markets reached a combined valuation of $88.97 billion in 2025, representing 2.7% growth and a total player base of 1.7 billion.
GOTY Nominees: Market Performance Analysis
This analysis examines the post-nomination market performance of Game of the Year (GOTY) candidates across Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation platforms.
- Expedition 33 emerged as the top-selling Game Awards nominee following the November 17 announcement, moving nearly 400,000 copies across Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation.
- Strategic pricing adjustments acted as a force multiplier for Expedition 33, with a minor $2 price cut to $47.99 helping drive a 20,000-copy sales surge on November 22 following nomination-related media coverage.
- Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 saw its PS5 sales triple after implementing an aggressive 40% discount to $41.99, allowing the console version to temporarily outperform its Steam sales.
The Game Awards Nominees by Copies Sold
The 2025 Game of the Year nominees represent a significant commercial milestone for the industry, with collective sales exceeding 20 million units across major platforms.
- The Game Awards nominees have collectively sold over 20 million copies across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms.
- Hollow Knight: Silksong leads the nominee sales with 5.5 million copies sold and approximately $100 million in revenue, while also reaching 2 million players via Game Pass.
- Expedition 33 has sold 5.3 million copies, demonstrating strong market demand for JRPGs despite industry skepticism, supported by 3 million Game Pass users.
September 2025's Top New Steam & Console Games
September 2025 was a highly dynamic month for the video game industry, characterized by significant new releases across PC and console platforms.
- Hollow Knight: Silksong sold 4.2 million paid units on Steam in September 2025, significantly exceeding performance expectations.
- Borderlands 4 became the top-grossing new Steam title, generating $135 million in revenue through its premium pricing strategy.
- The free-to-play title Skate. achieved high market penetration with over 18 million downloads across console and PC platforms.
Flying to Paris to Dance With Pikachu, and Writing for New York Times Again
This industry update provides a curated overview of significant developments in the gaming sector as of late September 2025.
- A consortium including Saudi Arabia and Jared Kushner has acquired Electronic Arts in a transaction valued at $55 billion.
- Hades 2 has officially transitioned out of its early access phase as of late September 2025.
- Hollow Knight: Silksong continues to face significant development challenges following recent updates.
GMTK Digest: September 2025
The September 2025 edition of the Game Maker’s Toolkit digest serves as a curated industry update, focusing on significant software releases and critical analysis within the gaming sector.
- Hollow Knight: Silksong is defined by its expansive world design and precise, experimentation-focused gameplay mechanics.
- LEGO Voyagers failed to deliver a compelling co-op experience due to repetitive puzzle design and cumbersome construction mechanics.
- The September 2025 market landscape shows a distinct divide in quality between highly anticipated Metroidvania titles and underperforming puzzle-based projects.