Silksong just dropped, but the massive surge in traffic from buyers crashed many digital storefronts. Read on to learn more about this unprecedented issue.
Silksong's Release Crashes Digital Storefronts
Steam, eShop, PSN–All Crashed; Xbox Store Got Off Light
When Hollow Knight: Silksong finally bowed on the morning of September 4, 2025, buyers soared, but so did server traffic. Within moments of its release, the Nintendo eShop, Steam, and the PlayStation Store collapsed under the deluge of eager players. Amazingly, Xbox was the only major platform to be spared.
Digital queues formed en masse the moment the game was released at 10:00 A.M. ET / 7:00 A.M. PT. Digital storefronts became unresponsive almost immediately; pages vanished, and people weren’t able to so much as type the game’s name on the search bar before getting the boot. Traffic from digital buyers was massive. On Steam alone, not even an hour after launch, the game already amassed a record shattering 103,994 concurrent players. Hours later, that number shot up to over half a million players!
On Nintendo, the eShop staggered under demand; errors and long load times left impatient gamers staring at blank screens. Meanwhile, PlayStation users discovered the Silksong page seemingly disappearing, with some saying it still showed "announced" rather than available, which effectively barred purchases. Xbox storefronts weren’t immune, though they fared slightly better than others. Although not entirely crash-free, Xbox Game Pass access for Silksong proved more stable. There were, however, some players noting that their pages refused to load.
⚫︎ (1st) 30 minutes after launch; (2nd) 10 hours after launch.
But why the crashes? Many point to the lack of pre-orders or pre-loads. This means that everyone hit "buy" all at once. Simultaneous stampede to platforms like Steam, PSN, Xbox, and eShop crashed them all. It didn't help that the game was unleashed globally at the same time, or that it had an affordable $20 price tag.
30 minutes after the game’s launch, these storefronts seem to have started to stabilize. Regardless, the hype remained undeniable. And although fans endured a nail-biting thirty minutes before finally getting to play, the collective excitement over such a monumental release is one worth crashing for.
For our early thoughts on Hollow Knight: Silksong, check out our review below!
Sources:
Hollow Knight: Silksong SteamDB Page
Hollow Knight: Silksong on Steam
