Hollow Knight: Silksong launched September 4, 2025, and immediately drew massive crowds. The indie metroidvania hit over 530,000 concurrent players on Steam within hours of release.
This number only counts Steam players. Console and other PC storefront numbers aren’t included. The peak arrived during weekday hours when many US players were still at work or school.
The timing matters. Steam typically sees its highest daily traffic around 2–3 PM UTC. With global time zones still catching up and the weekend approaching, Silksong‘s player count will likely climb even higher.
At $19.99, the game costs significantly less than typical AAA releases. This accessible price point helped fuel the rapid adoption. Players jumped at the chance to finally experience Team Cherry’s sequel after years of waiting.
The Australian indie studio first announced Silksong in 2019. What started as downloadable content for the original Hollow Knight grew into a full standalone game. Team Cherry went mostly silent during development, only speaking up when they had something concrete to share.
Silksong‘s launch numbers put it among the strongest single-player indie releases on Steam. For comparison, Elden Ring peaked at 953,000 concurrent players. Baldur’s Gate 3 hit 875,000. Helldivers 2 reached 458,000. For a small indie team, breaking half a million on day one is remarkable.
Players control Hornet, the fan-favorite character from the first game. She explores Pharloom, a new kingdom with faster, more acrobatic gameplay than the original. Early impressions highlight the tighter movement controls and steeper difficulty curve after the first few upgrades.
The original Hollow Knight released in 2017 and became a beloved metroidvania classic. Its sequel spawned countless “Silksong when?” memes as fans endured years of sparse updates. Today marks the end of that era and the beginning of players actually experiencing what Team Cherry built during their long silence.
