Hollow Knight: Silksong has finally arrived, making an impressive debut on Steam with soaring player counts. Within the first five minutes of its launch today, the game saw 5,000 concurrent players, rapidly escalating to 50,000 in 30 minutes, and 100,000 within 45 minutes. It has now surpassed 478,000 concurrent users.
Despite significant technical difficulties on Steam preventing many from accessing the store or even playing the game, Silksong currently ranks as the third most-played title on the platform, a testament to its immense popularity.
In comparison, the original Hollow Knight from 2017 achieved its peak concurrent player count of 72,916 just recently on September 3rd, likely driven by renewed interest generated by the sequel`s impending release.
Silksong`s Steam player figures are projected to continue their upward trend, as historical data indicates that PC games typically experience a surge in popularity during weekends when players have more leisure time.
While comparable player data isn`t publicly available for consoles like PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or Switch 2, reports confirm that Silksong has secured the No. 1 spot on the Switch 2 eShop.
The game`s inclusion on Game Pass for Xbox and PC complicates direct sales data analysis for those platforms. Furthermore, the console launch of Silksong also encountered various deployment challenges.
The critically acclaimed predecessor, Hollow Knight, has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
In related news, players can earn a unique Hornet badge through Twitch Drops, celebrating the iconic playable character of Team Cherry`s highly anticipated follow-up.
The development of Silksong spanned several years, but developers clarified that this extended timeline was not due to development struggles. Instead, the monumental success of the first game afforded the small development team the freedom to craft the sequel at their own deliberate pace. The project`s evolution from an initial expansion for Hollow Knight into a full standalone release also contributed to the lengthy development cycle.