Pricing Expert Criticizes Hollow Knight: Silksong for Being Too Cheap
Translated with AI from the Russian original.
The game set too high a bar for other $20 projects.
Video game pricing specialist Kassia Curran believes that Hollow Knight: Silksong should have been sold for more. In her opinion, the $20 price tag created additional pressure on independent developers, who now have to compete with one of the most successful representatives of the Metroidvania genre.
Hollow Knight annoyed me a little. I thought: 'Oh my god, please set a higher price. $24.99 would make a big difference for many studios releasing similar games.'
The first Hollow Knight was released in 2017 for $15. Seven years later, Team Cherry set an initial price of just $20 for Silksong, despite the increased scope of the project and an approximately 30-hour single-player campaign. The game became one of the most popular releases on Steam in 2025 and was a contender for game of the year alongside major AAA projects.
Curran analyzes pricing models and maintains a special tool that helps developers study successful pricing strategies on Steam. According to her, studios have to focus on the cost of their closest competitors in their genre. If a developer cannot convincingly explain why their Metroidvania or roguelike should cost more than popular analogues, it becomes more difficult for them to justify a higher price — even if the game's production costs significantly more.
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