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Hollow Knight fans had been waiting years for this moment, and when Silksong finally dropped, the hype was so overwhelming it broke the internet. Literally. Steam crashed within minutes of launch as players across the globe rushed to grab Team Cherry’s long-awaited sequel, leaving thousands staring at error codes instead of Hornet’s first adventure.

It wasn’t just Steam, either. The PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo digital storefronts also struggled under the weight of demand, with players reporting outages, failed checkouts, and plenty of frustration. For a game that’s been teased, speculated about, and delayed for over half a decade, the chaos was almost inevitable.

Silksong’s launch overwhelmed the biggest platforms

At launch (3:00 pm BST), Steam simply couldn’t cope. Pages timed out, checkout carts broke, and anyone trying to buy Silksong was greeted with the dreaded “Something went wrong” message. According to outage tracker Downdetector, reports of issues spiked sharply during the first hour, with thousands of users all trying to smash that purchase button at once.

Hollow Knight Silksong crashes Steam

Image via Steam.com

Social media quickly filled with memes, rage posts, and disbelief. One fan joked they had “beaten the hardest boss” by finally getting their purchase to go through, while others called the outage “ridiculous” and “stupid” for not having pre-orders in place to stagger demand. Humble Bundle even temporarily listed the game as “unavailable” during the surge.

Despite the problems, the game’s popularity shone through. Within half an hour of launch, over 100,000 people were already playing on Steam, proving that while some struggled, plenty managed to get their hands on it. By the time the store began to stabilise, concurrent numbers soared to over 380,000.

Team Cherry’s tiny studio, massive impact

The wild launch day highlights just how big Silksong has become. Created by just three developers at Team Cherry in Adelaide, Australia, the Hollow Knight series has exploded from indie darling to one of the most-anticipated sequels in recent gaming history. The original sold over 15 million copies, and Hornet’s starring role has been hyped for years.

In fact, just days ago Team Cherry officially confirmed Hollow Knight Silksong’s release date, putting an end to years of speculation. That announcement alone had fans buzzing, the launch itself has now cemented Silksong’s place as one of 2025’s biggest releases.

The funniest crash of the year?

For some, the chaos was more entertaining than frustrating. Composer Christopher Larkin even joked that Silksong may have “crashed the internet,” while others on X shared screenshots of endless Steam errors as proof of their suffering. And while the lack of pre-orders might have saved some headaches, it also created one of the most memorable (and chaotic) game launches we’ve seen in years.

As of now, the dust has settled and players are finally diving into Hornet’s adventure without issue. But one thing’s for sure, if you’re a developer eyeing a launch window near Silksong, you might want to steer clear. The Hollow Knight community has proven it can bring the world’s biggest stores to their knees.