We know, for sure, that Hollow Knight: Silksong is coming. It's been confirmed for Xbox, PlayStation, and even the Nintendo Switch. We know that testers are plugging away, squashing bugs and tuning gameplay, and we know it'll hit Game Pass on day one when it eventually arrives. At last year's Summer Game Fest presentation, Xbox showed off a new gameplay trailer and then promised that every game shown--including Silksong--would be playable within the next 12 months.
So far, that promise has been kept. Wo Long is already out, and Redfall has a May release date. The only exception is Silksong, and that has some Hollow Knight fans worried.
A poll from ResetEra user fantalas asked users, "Do you think it's still coming before June 12, 2023?" The response was 10 percent of users still clinging to hope, but 90 percent said that they don't expect to see Silksong by the promised date.
"We had both the Xbox official Twitter account and a playtester on Discord confirm that Silksong should release in the next 12 months from the trailer that came out on June 12, 2022," wrote fantalas. "But that's less than two months away and we still haven't heard anything from [Team Cherry] themselves, I'm starting to have serious doubts... It wouldn't be the end of the world if Silksong got pushed to Fall or December as we have a lot of great games coming out in the following months, but still, I wouldn't mind playing it over the Summer..."
All these great games coming soon might be why we haven't heard anything about Silksong. In just a few weeks, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom arrives, and then June will bring Diablo 4, Street Fighter 6, and Final Fantasy 16. With all these juggernauts on the horizon, Team Cherry might have quietly reconsidered its release plans.
On the other hand, more than a few users (likely from the hopeful 10 percent) suggested that Microsoft could shadow-drop Silksong "just like they did with Hi-Fi Rush." While Hi-Fi Rush made a big splash when it surprise-dropped back in January, there's been some confusion about whether that was a winning strategy. Jeff Grubb said that Hi-Fi Rush "didn't make the money it needed to make," while Microsoft marketing VP Aaron Greenburg said that the game "was a break-out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations."
Maybe Silksong will be the same and fans will be willing to wait on Final Fantasy 16 to return to the world of Hollow Knight. We'll find out one way or another in the next few weeks.