Team Cherry announced Hollow Knight: Silksong on February 14, 2019. However, it has not been keeping fans updated frequently, which led many to believe the game could have gotten canceled. This theory seems to be fueled by the fact Silksong has not been mentioned in recent video game events such as Indie World Showcases.
Because of the success of Team Cherry’s Hollow Knight, fans have big expectations for Hollow Knight: Silksong. Team Cherry set the bar high for itself with a team of only three members, and now that the spotlight is on Silksong, Team Cherry has to fulfill expectations and deliver a game at least as good. Even though there is no confirmed release date two years after the announcement of Silksong, Team Cherry presented a demo at E3 2019, meaning the game is considerably into development.
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Why is Team Cherry Silent?
Team Cherry has been notoriously silent over the past year, which has made fans speculating about the status of Silksong. The last time Team Cherry made its own announcement was through a blog post in December 2019. After this, fans have only gotten indirect information about Silksong from other sources.
The most comprehensive update came from Edge magazine, which released a feature about Silksong on the issue released in December 2020. Finally, about nine months ago, Team Cherry commented on Kickstarter that it has been too busy to update the blog. Even though Team Cherry did not share any more details, it was established that it was still working on Silksong, which has been time consuming.
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Why is Hollow Knight: Silksong Taking so Long?
There are many potential reasons for the lack of a release date for Silksong. For one, the development process of Hollow Knight: Silksong is considerably different than it was when Team Cherry was working on Hollow Knight. In order to release its first game, Team Cherry had to crowdfund through Kickstarter in order to finish the game. Now, thanks to the success of that first title, the development of Silksong is not subject to the same budgetary restrictions.
As a result of Team Cherry’s freedom, the Australian team likely did not have to constrain its creativity, which is both good and bad news for fans of Hollow Knight. On one hand, Silksong could potentially be even better than Hollow Knight. However, this means that the scope of Silksong probably continues to increase, making it even harder for the small team to finish soon.
Furthermore, both the success of Hollow Knight and the anticipation for Silksong means Team Cherry has a huge responsibility to deliver a great game. When Hollow Knight was released in 2017, there were fewer fans jumping on immediately, which that Team Cherry had a chance to patch any bugs that emerged before the game reached a larger audience. With Silksong, there are many players waiting to play from day one, and this supposes a greater risk as Hollow Knight: Silksong needs to live up to the audience's expectations.
All in all, it does not seem like Silksong is being cancelled. If anything, it is more likely that Team Cherry is trying to play its cards right, and is taking its time to deliver the game in the best possible state.
Hollow Knight: Silksong is currently in development.
