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Hollow Knight: Silksong’s September 4, 2025 launch brought reports of temporary access and purchase problems on Steam and the Nintendo eShop, as well as on PlayStation Network and Xbox/Game Pass. The disruption was not universal: some players could buy and download the game while others could not. Team Cherry later said the unexpectedly large audience was enough to crash storefronts, but the available sources do not identify a technical cause or establish how long each platform’s problems lasted.
What happened when Silksong launched?
Silksong released on September 4, 2025. On launch day, GameSpot reported that users were having trouble accessing Steam and adding the game to their carts, alongside problems reported on the Nintendo eShop, PSN, and Xbox/Game Pass. Experiences varied, and some players were able to purchase and download the game. These reports describe temporary storefront disruption, not permanent damage or a confirmed outage affecting every customer.
Team Cherry’s official Steam announcement, dated September 5, said, “Hollow Knight: Silksong is available now!” and invited players to explore, fight, and survive in its setting. The Steam listing identifies Team Cherry as both developer and publisher and describes the game as a single-player action-adventure sequel to Hollow Knight, starring Hornet.
How many people were playing on Steam?
Launch-day coverage reported Steam concurrent-player counts at several points. These are snapshots of people playing at the same time on Steam—not sales totals, unique players, or figures for every platform.
#1 Best Overall
![Hollow Knight: Silksong Standard - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51mOgOC8xEL._SL160_.jpg)
- Discover the fallen insect kingdom of Pharloom! Explore mossy grottos, gilded cities and misted moors as you ascend to the shining citadel at the top of the world.
- Engage in lethal acrobatic action! Wield a huge suite of deadly moves as you dance between foes in swift, beautiful combat.
- Craft powerful tools! Master an ever-expanding arsenal of weapons, traps, and mechanisms to vanquish your enemies and explore new heights.
- Solve shocking quests! Hunt down rare beasts and solve ancient mysteries to grant the wishes of the downtrodden and restore the kingdom’s hope.
- Face over 200 ferocious foes! Beasts and hunters, monsters and knights. Defeat them all with bravery and skill!
| Reported point in time | Steam concurrent players | Source and scope |
|---|---|---|
| First 10 minutes | 75,000 | GameSpot’s launch-day report |
| First 45 minutes | More than 100,000 | GameSpot’s launch-day report |
| Later on launch day | More than 478,000 | GameSpot’s later update |
| During the first day | More than 500,000 | PC Gamer’s first-day report |
GameSpot also reported that Silksong reached No. 1 on the Switch 2 eShop in a later launch-day update. It noted that comparable player counts were not available for consoles, so the public Steam numbers cannot establish which platform had the most players or the greatest demand.
What did Team Cherry say about the storefront problems?
In December 2025, Team Cherry said more than seven million people had purchased Silksong, with millions more playing through Xbox Game Pass. The developer described that audience as “enough to crash all of the storefronts!” The figures and explanation appeared in a community post reproducing a Team Cherry update; they are the developer’s stated numbers, not independently audited platform totals in that source.
Rank #2
- Hollow Knight: Silksong is the epic sequel to Hollow Knight, the award winning action-adventure.
- Journey to all-new lands, discover new powers, battle vast hordes of bugs and beasts and uncover secrets tied to your nature and your past.
That later statement offers the developer’s broad explanation for the launch disruption. It is not a technical incident report. The cited material does not establish which systems failed, the precise duration of each platform’s issues, or a technical root cause. Nor does the later purchase figure mean seven million people were playing simultaneously: purchases, subscription access, and concurrent-player counts measure different things.
What is Silksong?
Silksong is the sequel to Hollow Knight, with Hornet as its playable character. Steam describes it as a single-player action-adventure game involving exploration, combat, quests, tools, and boss fights. The Steam product page advertises more than 200 foes and more than 40 bosses; those counts are publisher product-page claims, not independently measured totals.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsRank #3
- Classic side-scrolling action, with all the modern trimmings.
- Tightly tuned 2D controls. Dodge, dash and slash your way through even the most deadly adversaries.
- Explore a vast interconnected world of forgotten highways, overgrown wilds and ruined cities.
- Forge your own path! The world of Hallownest is expansive and open. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face and find your own way forward.
- Evolve with powerful new skills and abilities! Gain spells, strength and speed. Leap to new heights on ethereal wings. Dash forward in a blazing flash. Blast foes with fiery Soul!.Equip Charms! Ancient relics that offer bizarre new powers and abilities. Choose your favourites and make your journey unique!.An enormous cast of cute and creepy characters all brought to life with traditional 2D frame-by-frame animation..
What is confirmed about the Sea of Sorrow expansion?
On December 15, 2025, Team Cherry announced Sea of Sorrow as a free expansion for all players, planned for 2026. The cited announcement did not give a release date or further confirmed timing details.
Quick Recap
Rank #4
![Hollow Knight - Nintendo Switch [Digital Code]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51nXCF+sf5L._SL160_.jpg)
- Classic side-scrolling action, with all the modern trimmings.
- Forge your own path! The world of Hallownest is expansive and open. Choose which paths you take, which enemies you face and find your own way forward.
- Evolve with powerful new skills and abilities! Gain spells, strength and speed. Leap to new heights on ethereal wings. Dash forward in a blazing flash. Blast foes with fiery Soul!
- Equip Charms! Ancient relics that offer bizarre new powers and abilities. Choose your favorites and make your journey unique!
- An enormous cast of cute and creepy characters all brought to life with traditional 2D frame-by-frame animation.
Sources
- Hollow Knight: Silksong on Steam
- GameSpot’s launch-day report on storefront issues
- GameSpot’s later launch-day update
- PC Gamer’s first-day Steam player report
- Community post reproducing Team Cherry’s December 2025 update
- Team Cherry’s Steam announcement of Sea of Sorrow
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