After such a long time, Hollow Knight: Silksong finally launched today! And just a few seconds after release, demand was so intense that Steam crashed, carts failed, and checkout pages returned error messages.
Team Cherry’s decision not to allow pre-orders or preloads meant millions of people all rushed the storefronts at the same time, overwhelming servers.
Gamepass Availability
On top of its massive Steam start, Hollow Knight: Silksong is also available day one on Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. Even Microsoft’s service felt the strain, with some players reporting login issues and slow downloads as the rush to play hit Game Pass just as hard as Steam.
Storefronts in Chaos
Steam is not the only platform that was hit with crashes due to Silksong:
- Xbox Store became heavily unstable, with some players resorting to remote installations through the app.
- Game Pass added Silksong on day one, but also began slowing down as subscribers piled in.
- Nintendo eShop is also down due to Silksong launch.
- Humble Bundle briefly worked but quickly ran out of keys.
- GOG remained one of the few platforms running smoothly, for now at least.
Players compared the chaos to a “friendly DDoS attack” and joked that if Silksong could break Steam, GTA 6 will likely bring down the entire internet.
Breaking Records Already
According to SteamDB, Silksong has already hit over 100,000 concurrent players within hours of launch, eclipsing Hollow Knight’s all-time peak. The launch numbers confirm that Silksong is not just one of the most anticipated indies ever, but one of the biggest PC releases of the year.
The hype around Silksong proves that even without preorders, players are more than ready to drop everything for Team Cherry’s follow-up to Hollow Knight. But it also highlights how fragile storefront infrastructure can be when hit with overwhelming demand.
For now, one thing is certain: Silksong has arrived, and the world is playing it, if they can get the servers to cooperate.
