Hell is Us boss slams Silksong launch as “callous” after releasing on same day

After six long years of waiting, Hollow Knight: Silksong exploded when it arrived on September 4. It quickly received critical acclaim and crashed multiple storefronts while eclipsing the original’s player count within minutes.

The hype was so great that when the release date was first announced, many indie developers pushed their games back to avoid being overshadowed. Others, however, held firm and decided to take Team Cherry on.

One title that fell into the latter category was Hell of Us, which had the misfortune of launching on the same day. Now, the game’s director has shared the effect that Silksong had on its sales.

Hell is Us director thinks Silksong hurt sales

While appearing on the Skill Up podcast, Jacques-Belletete was asked about Team Cherry “shadow dropping” their release date announcement for Silksong, which happened just two weeks before the full launch.

“They’re allowed to do what they did, there’s no laws or rules against that,” he replied. “When you know you’re that big, I think a shadow drop is like, ‘wow.’ As the GTA 6 of indie…to shadow drop something like this is a little callous.”

Silksong wasn’t shadowdropped in the traditional sense, but the short window between announcement and release gave Hell is Us little time to maneuver. Jacques-Belletete revealed that conversations were had about the possibility of delaying, but they decided to stick to their guns.

“We decided to keep the date, and I’m happy we did. We’re still much bigger than some of the smaller [developers] who would have gotten a lot more affected,” he continued.

Towards the end of the interview, the dev was asked if he thought that Silksong had any impact on the success of Hell is Us, and he was adamant that it did.

“I can’t prove it, I don’t have any specific numbers, at least not at this time, but for sure it did,” he explained, while also pointing out that early September was a busy period anyway. “Getting a window where you’re pretty much alone is almost impossible.”

It’s tough to say exactly how much of an effect this all had on Hell is Us’ performance, but given that Silksong is already one of 2025’s biggest games, it’s unlikely to have helped its cause.