The game was released in 2017 and received critical acclaim, but did not immediately attract a mass audience. On the day of release, about 2,000 people were playing simultaneously on Steam. The project gained momentum and reached 20,000 players in 2022.
The anticipation for Silksong was immense, despite the fact that details of the sequel remained almost unknown. The silence was broken by Gamescom, and the effect was instantaneous. After the showing, the number of Hollow Knight players skyrocketed, followed by a 50% discount on the game, leading to a record 70,000.
Such spikes are rare, although game sequels sometimes cause a surge of interest in the first part, a 600% increase is extremely rare. Before Gamescom, the average number of players hovered around 9,000, which underscores the scale of expectations.
The popularity of Silksong is so great that several games scheduled for the same period have even postponed their release, demonstrating the respect and caution of other developers in the face of the attention that the sequel attracts.