Following Hollow Knight Silksong’s release date announcement, several developers who were planning to release their indie games before the big holiday game rush have delayed to 2026.
The prospect of being a big enough industry titan that your release forces others to delay their games is a level of respect few games earn. GTA 6 is the only other recent example that has caused mass delays, with it being a wrecking ball for 2025’s release calendar before it got delayed to 2026.
Article continues after ad
But, considering that the original Hollow Knight has now sold over 15 million copies and hype for Silksong is at a fever pitch, indie devs especially are feeling the pressure with a September 4 release date imminent.
Several developers have come out and said they’re delaying their games to clear the runway for Silksong, wanting to give players a chance to get through it before putting their title on the market.
Article continues after ad
Silksong is forcing other devs to delay their games
When it comes to indie games that don’t have a massive marketing budget behind them, putting enough hype behind the initial release is an absolute make-or-break moment. Word of mouth is arguably the best way for indie games to get noticed, but, if no one knows the game exists, there isn’t anyone to tell others how good the game is.
Article continues after ad
So, in order to give themselves the best chance of getting noticed and creating a game successful enough for them to continue game development as a career, some devs have decided not to risk competing with Silksong and opted to delay.
Aeterna Lucis‘ devs were arguably the most transparent, saying that the game is completely finished but that they’re choosing to delay into 2026 anyways.
“Our initial plan was to launch it this September, but after the announcement of Silksong, we are fully aware that our game wouldn’t have the visibility it deserves. Competing with a phenomenon of that scale would not only be unfair to our team’s effort, but also to you, the community, who expect to experience this adventure under the best possible conditions,” a statement from the developer reads.
Article continues after ad
Article continues after ad
Aeterna Lucis
But, instead of being mad about the change, they’re grateful to Hollow Knight developers Team Cherry and credited them with being an inspiration for Aeterna Lucis and their other games.
“There’s no need to wish [Team Cherry] luck—we know Silksong will be a success and a masterpiece. Instead of rivalry, what we feel is gratitude: thanks to them, the metroidvania genre is more alive than ever and, in fact, they were one of the main inspirations that led us to create Aeterna Noctis and the entire saga now in development.”
Article continues after ad
Faeland, an RPG that’s been in early access for almost 2 years, also delayed their 1.0 release and directly cited Silksong as the reason:
Faeland
“Our v1.0 launch was set for September 9, but with today’s announcement of Hollow Knight Silksong releasing on September 4, we’ve made the tough call to postpone our release.”
CloverPit, a rogue-lite slot machine game, was also delayed, again with a direct mention to Silksong.
Article continues after ad
“Some of you might already have guessed the reason for the delay: Hollow Knight: Silksong.
Article continues after ad
“The release date for Silksong was announced yesterday, and it’s only one day after CloverPit our original launch date. Silksong is the most anticipated and wishlisted game on all of Steam and we think people will love this game and play it right at launch (including us) but that also means it will overshadow all games launching close to it. So if we stick to our original date we would risk the launch of CloverPit a fair bit,” the devs explained.
CloverPit
“We poured our hearts into our little game so of course we want to give it the best possible shot. We hope you can understand – we’ll use the extra time of course to polish the game even further and we hope for your support at launch either way.”
Article continues after ad
These are just a few examples, and consist only of statements where the devs directly admitted that Silksong was the reason their game was delayed. Who knows how many other ways that its release has affected the games industry that aren’t as transparent.
Article continues after ad
Either way, it seems like a lot of devs and other folks working in the games industry will be taking a few days away from work to play Silksong. Probably including myself.
Article continues after ad
