Nine years of waiting pays off as Hollow Knight: Silksong finally drops, immediately breaks the entire gaming internet

The day that millions of gamers around the world have been waiting for has finally arrived. After nearly a decade of development, Team Cherry’s highly anticipated sequel Hollow Knight: Silksong officially launched on September 4, 2025. The indie Metroidvania title became available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC platforms, priced at $19.99 across all stores.

The game’s release marked the end of one of the longest waits in gaming history. Originally announced in February 2019 as downloadable content for the original Hollow Knight, the project eventually grew into a full standalone sequel. The wait became so notorious that Hollow Knight fans had turned into a running joke, with supporters often posting clown imagery whenever gaming showcases failed to deliver Silksong news.

However, the massive anticipation surrounding Silksong created an unprecedented situation that literally broke the entire gaming internet. Within minutes of the game’s launch, every major digital storefront experienced severe crashes and outages. Steam went completely down with error messages preventing any purchases, while the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Store, and Xbox Store all buckled under the enormous traffic load. The situation was made worse because Team Cherry chose not to offer pre-orders for the game, meaning all interested players had to purchase it at the exact same time.

Steam hits 100,000 players in first hour as Silksong demand crashes all storefronts

The scale of Silksong‘s impact became clear when the game reached over 100,000 concurrent players on Steam within just 45 minutes of release. This number already surpassed the original Hollow Knight‘s all-time peak of around 72,000 concurrent players, showing just how much anticipation had built up over the years.

Reports flooded social media as players struggled to access the various digital stores. Some users managed to add Silksong to their shopping carts but couldn’t complete the purchase process. Others found that Xbox Game Pass subscribers could download the game but couldn’t launch it due to overloaded verification servers. The PlayStation Store was particularly affected, with the game’s listing completely disappearing for several hours.

The technical issues highlighted the unique nature of Silksong‘s release strategy. Unlike most major game launches, which typically allow weeks of pre-ordering and pre-loading, Team Cherry decided to make the game available for purchase only when it officially launched. This decision, while creating excitement, also meant that the full force of pent-up demand hit the digital infrastructure all at once. The situation drew comparisons to other major gaming events, such as when Grand Theft Auto V became free on Epic Games Store and crashed their servers back in 2020.