Silksong Can Change the Gaming Industry for Good

If you’re an enthusiast and waited six years for Hollow Knight: Silksong like I did, it was a shock to finally get my hands on this incredible piece of media and for only $19.99. In today’s industry, where $60–$80 has become the “normal” price, that feels almost unreal.

It made me wonder: why is $20 seen as the “irregular,” an unbalanced price, instead of questioning why $60 has become the baseline for games that often don’t deliver even half of what Silksong offers?

Introduction

But first, if you don’t know what Hollow Knight: Silksong is, let me introduce you to this work of art in the form of a game, developed by Team Cherry a team of 3 people.

Silksong is a Metroidvania-style 2D game that blends stunning visuals, beautifully crafted worlds, and flawless, smooth gameplay with its main character, Hornet. The difficulty is noticeably higher compared to the first Hollow Knight yes, Silksong is the sequel to one of my all-time favorite games. And it doesn’t just follow up; it takes everything that worked in the original and pushes it even further.

Even the price tells a story. Hollow Knight, as an indie game, cost only $15 a tiny price even seven years ago. Of course, part of that was because it wasn’t an AAA title, but it also set expectations in a unique way. With that price tag, Team Cherry was basically saying: “Hey, come try our game. It’s just 15 bucks. If you love it, amazing and if you don’t, well, you didn’t break the bank.”

The “Backlash” of a 15$ Game

After Hollow Knight was released, it became an instant hit. Hardcore gamers loved this fresh Metroidvania experience, and it has sold around 15 million copies across all platforms so far. And don’t forget this came from an indie game with almost no marketing, just a modest crowdfunding campaign to bring it to life.

For comparison: Persona 5 sold about 10 million copies in roughly the same timeframe, and that game cost nearly four times as much plus it already had a huge established fanbase.

So you might wonder: was Hollow Knight really that good? The answer is yes absolutely. But I believe one factor, in particular, made a massive difference: its price.

Silk & Song

Now that you know how massive Hollow Knight’s success was, when its sequel was announced back in 2019 (yes, 2019), we all knew this game was going to be amazing. What we didn’t know was that we’d have to wait six long years for it to finally release.

By 2025, game prices had only gone up. With titles like FIFA being sold for $70, it seemed predictable that Silksong, riding on all the hype, would land somewhere in the $50–60 range. But once again, Team Cherry surprised us, announcing the game at a price that felt fair.

The $60 Question

Now lets rewind and try to answer my question from the beginning:

Why $60 has become the baseline for games?

This famous $60 price tag really took hold back in the PS2 and Xbox 360 era, when games became cheaper to produce thanks to CDs. At the time, it made sense there were plenty of extra costs beyond just making the game: the disc itself, the cover, distribution, retail stores, and so on.

But nowadays, with most games being almost entirely digital, does $60 (or even $70) still make sense? Personally, I don’t think so.

The gaming industry today is basically an oligopoly. There are tons of buyers, but only a handful of big publishers. And instead of competing, they mostly copy each other especially when it comes to pricing. One raises the price, the others follow, and players are left with little real choice.

The Problem

As I already mentioned, most sales today are digital. On consoles, less than 20% are physical copies, and on PC it’s even lower barely 2%.

With that in mind, the question becomes: why do game prices still reflect the old model of production costs? This is where the difference between cost and value really comes in.

I believe quantity often matters more than gross value. For example: selling 1,000 copies at $30 each or 500 copies at $60 each results in the same total revenue. But the first option is far better in the long run because twice as many people are playing, talking about it, and sharing it, which increases the chances of selling even more.

Sure setting the price very low can sometimes make games that went bad selling wise be more under risk so it is not that simple.

Silksong Brings a Solution

Hollow Knight: Silksong is more than just a game it’s a quiet manifesto against the so-called “logic” of today’s gaming industry. Team Cherry spent seven years developing it, not because of delays or problems, but out of love and respect for their players.

They wanted to deliver something polished, meaningful, and worth the wait. The result? A game with well over 50 hours of content, priced at only $20 a move that shook the industry and sent a clear message: most games aren’t worth the $60 price tag they carry.

This decision brought the community to a whole new level. Even people who usually pirate games admitted that Silksong deserves to be bought and supported, because fair pricing matters.

Silksong proves that a low price isn’t just a “discount” it’s a strategy. True success comes from care, polish, community, and smart pricing. The game shows us that the industry could be different. It just often chooses not to be.

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As always, this is simply my perspective, and I’m here to share it with you.