The launch of Hollow Knight: Silksong has been nothing short of a massive success. Recent data from Alinea Analytics confirms the metroidvania sequel, released on September 4, has already attracted over 5 million players in just a few days.
Rhys Elliot, Alinea`s head of marketing analysis, reported on Substack that Silksong sold more than 3 million copies on Steam within its first three days. Furthermore, out of the 5 million total players, 1 million accessed the game via Xbox Game Pass on consoles. Elliot hailed this as “the single biggest indie launch we’ve ever tracked in that time period,” highlighting the impressive $50 million generated from Steam sales alone.
An interesting insight from the Alinea report concerns the prior gaming habits of Silksong players on Valve`s platform. For instance, 78% of these players had also experienced the original Hollow Knight, while 32% had played Celeste. It`s worth noting, however, that these figures do not account for players who may have played these titles on other gaming platforms.
Elliot attributes Silksong`s strong launch partly to its mysterious marketing approach, which involved infrequent development updates (sometimes only once a year). He cautioned, however, that this strategy might only be effective for a select few titles. As a potential successor to this marketing phenomenon, Elliot pointed to Haunted Chocolatier, the upcoming game from Stardew Valley creator Eric `ConcernedApe` Barone.
Over the past weekend, Silksong recorded a peak of over 587,000 concurrent players on Steam. Developer Team Cherry has announced an upcoming patch aimed at adjusting the game`s difficulty, including an option to make it easier, alongside a `cheat code` for those seeking an even greater challenge.
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