During development, Hollow Knight devs kept costs low with leftover lunches at their tiny office, and then the game sold 15 million copies: “My dad would sometimes pop up and give me $20"

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12 million of those copies were sold after Silksong was announced

Hollow Knight: Silksong
(Image credit: Team Cherry)

Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally coming out, and the developers at Team Cherry have highlighted the stark difference between developing the sequel and the original game.

After what the fans will tell you felt like three decades (it was six years) worth of waiting, Hollow Knight: Silksong is finally dated and ready to come out. In a trailer released yesterday, it was revealed that there are only two more weeks until the saga is over. But perhaps more exciting was the simultaneous release of an article by Bloomberg discussing what took so long in the first place.

Team Cherry co-founder Ari Gibson recalls, "My dad would sometimes pop up and give me $20… I’d be like, 'Oh, I’m having coffee today!'" And while co-founder William Pellen has found great peace of mind through the game's financial success, Gibson's outlook hasn't changed much.

"I live in a very basic two-bedroom apartment," Gibson says, adding, "Sometimes I think, 'You know what would be better, is a one-bedroom apartment.' Because then there’s even less to maintain."

What's perhaps even more interesting is that of those 15 million sales, 12 million came after Silksong was announced, with the original game only having sold around 2.8 million copies at that point. So in a way, the hype around Silksong helped the game stay in development even longer, as Gibson says, "We’re very lucky in that regard."

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Scott McCrae
Scott McCrae
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Scott has been freelancing for over three years across a number of different gaming publications, first appearing on GamesRadar+ in 2024. He has also written for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, VG247, Play, TechRadar, and others. He's typically rambling about Metal Gear Solid, God Hand, or any other PS2-era titles that rarely (if ever) get sequels.

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