Tag: Hollow Knight Silksong

The long-awaited release of Hollow Knight: Silksong has finally arrived—and it’s safe to say the hype was every bit as massive as expected. Fans have been waiting for this sequel for nearly six years, ever since it was first teased as a DLC for the original Hollow Knight before evolving into a standalone game.

But when the game officially launched at 10 AM EDT on September 4th, excitement quickly turned to chaos. Instead of diving into the world of Silksong, players were met with crashes, store errors, and frustration on a global scale.

Storefronts Struggle to Handle the Demand

The moment fans rushed to buy or download Silksong, popular storefronts began to buckle under the pressure.

• Steam: Within 30 seconds, Steam started throwing a “Something Went Wrong” message. Some players couldn’t even open the game’s store page, let alone add it to their cart or purchase.

• Nintendo eShop: Gamers encountered error codes, sluggish menus, and frozen pages, making the purchase process a nightmare.

• PlayStation Store: The Silksong listing vanished for some regions, while others were stuck on “Wishlisted” without the option to buy.

• Xbox Store & Game Pass: Although Xbox handled the rush slightly better, players still reported slow downloads and occasional blank screens.

For the first 30 minutes post-launch, most storefronts were essentially unusable. Some players attempted workarounds like VPNs to access servers in other regions, but with limited success.

Unsurprisingly, social media erupted, with frustrated fans flooding X (Twitter), Reddit, and Discord to share their struggles. After about half an hour, most storefronts began to stabilize, though smaller issues persisted for several hours.

Why Did Silksong’s Launch Crash Stores?

So how could a game release in 2025 still cause this kind of chaos? The explanation is simple: overwhelming demand.

• Fan anticipation: With Hollow Knight selling over 15 million copies, Silksong’s hype had been snowballing for years.

• Price point: At just $19.99, Silksong was a must-buy for millions of players worldwide.

• No preorders or preloading: Unlike many modern titles, Silksong skipped both preorders and preload options. This meant everyone rushed to purchase and download at the exact same moment—overloading servers.

In short: Silksong’s popularity outpaced what storefront servers could handle.

Record-Breaking Numbers Despite the Chaos

Interestingly, the technical chaos didn’t stop Silksong from smashing records:

• On Steam, the game hit 100,000 concurrent players within 30 minutes and peaked at 535,213 players in 24 hours (SteamDB).

• Reviews rolled in fast, hitting Overwhelmingly Positive status with 10,000+ reviews in just half a day.

• On Twitch, Silksong peaked at 357,462 concurrent viewers, as many fans tuned in to watch streamers while waiting for their own downloads to complete.

What started as a messy launch actually fueled even more attention. The buzz around the crashes may have amplified Silksong’s visibility, cementing its place as one of the biggest indie game launches in years.

Final Thoughts

While the launch of Hollow Knight: Silksong was marred by storefront crashes and server overloads, it also proved just how massive the demand is for this long-awaited sequel. The chaos was a reminder of Silksong’s popularity, and despite the rocky start, fans quickly embraced the game—pushing it to record-breaking heights.

If this momentum continues, Silksong may very well surpass the original Hollow Knight’s success and solidify itself as one of the most iconic indie games of the decade.