Team Cherry’s recently released Metroidvania Hollow Knight: Silksong became a launch so large that it caused several major online storefronts and websites to crash in only three hours after its release. This includes Steam, PlayStation, Xbox and the Nintendo E-Shop. It started on Sep 4, 2025 when the game was released to the public.
Reportedly, there was a short window where some users were able to install the game normally and without any issue. However,there were many who were stopped by error messages forbidding them to download the game. This was reflected on troubleshooting platform Downdetector, where there was a massive spike of 3,500+ user reports shortly after the launch.
It was also reflected heavily on social media, with many claiming the outage was “ridiculous,” “stupid” and that “nobody foresaw this, nor took any precautions in case this were to happen.” Most notable reactions came from Bluesky. “STEAM, LET ME PLAY SILKSONG,” said one Bluesky user. “First boss of #Silksong is really tough” said another, accompanied with a picture of Steam’s error message. Some users who installed the game using the aforementioned time frame boasted about their success as well. “God’s favorite,” said one user with an image of Silksong on his Nintendo Switch 2.
Hollow Knight:Silksong is the sequel to the critically acclaimed game, Hollow Knight. It was praised by New York Times for being “a modern metroidvania classic,” with lots of, “ charming and detailed hand-drawn animations, difficult boss battles and twisting, secret-filled corridors.” Although its popularity primarily spread via word of mouth, Hollow Knight managed to sell 15 million copies and fans were eager to see what was next for Team Cherry, the small three man developer team that made things possible. They announced Hollow Knight Silksong in 2019, however there was very limited information available afterwards, and fans were left waiting. Team Cherry would later make a surprise announcement towards the end of August, with two weeks until release. “ We’re a small team, and games take time. Ari Gibson of Team Cherry wrote, ”There wasn’t any big controversial moment behind it,”
http://www.wired.com/story/hollow-knight-silksong-is-already-causing-online-gaming-stores-to-crash/.
