Hollow Knight Hits All-Time Peak Player Count, Sells 15 Million Copies

In the wake of the announcement, the original Hollow Knight, which was released eight years ago, hit a new all-time peak player count on Steam today, as reported by Insider Gaming. The game peaked at around 23,840 players a few hours ago.

Team Cherry confirmed in an interview with Bloomberg that Hollow Knight has sold 15 million copies, making it one of the most successful small-studio games ever made. The overwhelming acclaim for the Hollow Knight franchise is an exceptionally rare phenomenon for small dev teams. But, while it is amazing to see Team Cherry getting the love they deserve, the memeified anticipation for Silksong has become so obsessive that fans seem to have missed the point of Hollow Knight entirely throughout the development of the sequel, as players became (very loudly) desperate for more content.

A lot has changed since Hollow Knight came out in 2017. The games industry is now entirely beholden to hype cycles and the whims of out-of-touch executives who think GTA 6 will sell more copies than there are people who own PS5s. Countless game developers have been laid off and can’t find work in the field, despite companies raking in record profits. Payment processors have taken it upon themselves to dictate what games people are and aren’t allowed to buy. Despite the overwhelming amount of passion and brilliance game developers pour into their craft, success like Team Cherry’s is the exception to the rule.

For everyone currently diving back into Hollow Knight or even playing for the first time, I hope you have lots of fun and stay patient while exploring Hallownest. I’ll probably join you over the weekend.