Indie Developers Are Delaying Their Games To Avoid The Release Date Of ‘Hollow Knight: Silksong’
Hollow Knight: Silksong, finally, has a release date. With a development time that bordered on becoming vaporware- though developer Team Cherry insists everything ran smoothly — albeit let down over the game’s release date announcement becoming a meme.
While a Nintendo Direct made an off-hand announcement of a 2025 release date — with Geoff Keighly reiterating that fact at Gamescom — Team Cherry themselves finally announced the month and day their sequel would be in players’ hands. In a move reserved for the biggest AAA titles like Grand Theft Auto VI, other games are being delayed to avoid its release date.
It’s on the Steam wishlist of over 5 million people. It’s at the top of the Steam Wishlist chart, surpassing Battlefield 6, Borderlands 4, Deadlock, and Subnautica 2. The original Hollow Knight keeps breaking its peak Steam player count over and over. So yeah, it seems seven years of development has only fanned expectations and hype.
This puts games wanting to launch in the same week as Hollow Knight: Silksong, launching September 4th, in a bind. While other publishers and developers would be coy about the reasoning, several developers have openly admitted to delaying the game specifically to avoid the competition.
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Frogteam Games and Bee Braun were among the first to announce a delay due to Silksong, and hardly a surprise since Stomp and the Sword of Miracles is also a Metroidvania. What is surprising is that they are delaying even the demo for the game.
“Hey guys! Some of you may know that the Stomp and the Sword of Miracles demo was going to launch on August 29th. I was waiting to announce this, but the Kickstarter was going to launch on September 12th, with the demo giving it a little boost beforehand,” Braun explained on BlueSky.
“Team Cherry has suddenly announced that Hollow Knight Silksong, the mostly highly anticipated metroidvania I’ve ever seen, is going to release on September 4th. Trying to market an indie game is already really, really hard. It’s the task of trying to get attention in a deep sea of other amazing games,” Braun admitted.
“In the case of Silksong, however, I feel like a little krill trying to not get eaten by a blue whale. Tiny devs like me rely on word of mouth and streamers to bring in visibility, and everyone’s gonna be busy with Silksong for quite a white! So, unfortunately, even though it was just a week away, I need to delay the demo for the sake of Stomp‘s development.”
“I want to give the demo room to shine, and I want to do what I can to make sure the Kickstarter is a success so I can make the best version of Stomp I can. I don’t quite know yet when it’ll be coming, but I’ll keep everyone updated as things go,” Braun promised.
Developer Talegames also made the decision to delay their own Metroidvania, Faeland, from leaving Early Access. “Our v1.0 launch was set for Sept 9, but with today’s Silksong news we’ve made the tough call to postpone. A new date is coming soon, thank you all for the love and support,” Talegames revealed on X.
In the accompanying image, the developer elaborated, “We want to share something important with you all. 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.”
“This wasn’t an easy decision.” Talegames explains. “We’ve poured years of work and love into Faeland, and we want to make sure it arrives at a time when it can receive the attention and care it deserves. We’ll be sharing a new release date very soon. Thank you so much for understanding and for being with us on this journey, it truly means a lot.”
Aeternum Game Studios gave a lengthy statement on the state of their Souls-like Metroidvania, Aeterna Lucis. “Dear community, As you know, we’ve been working on Aeterna Lucis for more than four years, our most ambitious project to date. A title that means the world to us and represents the greatest effort of the entire Aeternum Game Studios team.”
“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.”
“In addition, we still don’t have all the necessary development kits to ensure a simultaneous release on all next-generation platforms. To be transparent, we believe the best decision for everyone is to step back and bring you Aeterna Lucis at the right time,” the developer admitted. “That’s why we’ve made the difficult but necessary choice to delay the release to 2026.”
“The game is already finished, and we will use this additional time to keep polishing it, refining every detail, and making sure it delivers the perfect experience our community deserves. We know this change disrupts many of our strategies, but we are confident that with your support we can overcome this major challenge.”
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“We also want to take this opportunity to thank Team Cherry. There’s no need to wish them luck—we know Silksong will be a success and a masterpiece,” Aeternum Game Studios praised.
“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. Thank you for walking this journey with us. 2026 will be a special year, and we can’t wait to live it alongside all of you.”
Stepping away from Metroidvanias. Panik Arcade followed suit with slot-machine roguelike CloverPit. “GAME DELAY. Due to Silksong (can’t wait to play) launching just a day after CloverPit, we decided to delay our release. Our new release date is 26th Sept.”
“We poured out hearts into our little game, so we want to five it the best possible shot. Thanks for understanding!!”
Finally, Vedinad also took succinct approach to announcing their delay of survival roguelike Megabonk. “UH OH MEGABONK DELAY. Megabonk is delayed due to Silksong (peak) announcing they are releasing on the same date, so i am pushing my launch back a little bit. The new date is September 18, be there or be square.”
Not every indie has been delayed; for example Necrosoft Games even previously joked how well Silksong was going to sell, while promoting Demonschool launching on September 3rd. When Silksong finally does launch, it’s going to be interesting to see its effect on not only indie games relesing at that time, but games with far larger budgets as well.
In the first two weeks of September, players can look forward to Hirogami, Demonschool, Hell is Us, Daemon x Machina: Titanic Scion, The Order of Giants DLC for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Everybody’s Golf: Hot Shots, Cronos: The New Dawn, Borderlands 4, and NHL 26.
And, of course, Hollow Knight: Silksong on September 4th.
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