Major online game stores experienced outages on Thursday as they struggled to handle heavy traffic caused by the release of Hollow Knight: Silksong, leaving thousands of players unable to purchase the long-awaited sequel.
The game went live at 15:00 BST, and users reported errors on platforms including Steam, the Nintendo eShop, the PlayStation Store and the Xbox store. Reports of problems persisted through the afternoon, with many users unable to complete purchases until roughly 17:30.
Outage-monitoring site Downdetector recorded a sharp rise in user reports at release, peaking at about 3,750 complaints before declining over the subsequent hour. On social media, players shared screenshots of error messages and purchase failures across multiple storefronts, and some described being unable to add the game to their accounts despite repeated attempts.
Fans expressed frustration online, with some calling the outages "ridiculous" and others criticising the lack of a pre-order option, saying pre-orders might have mitigated the rush that overwhelmed digital stores. Screenshots of failed purchases and server errors circulated widely on message boards and social platforms during the outage window.
Silksong is the sequel to 2017's Hollow Knight, an indie title developed by Team Cherry that the studio says has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. The sequel has been highly anticipated by the game's community, contributing to unusually high demand at launch.
The outages affected multiple storefronts rather than a single platform, suggesting widespread traffic pressure on digital distribution systems. Reports indicated that errors were concentrated in the first hours after release and had tapered off by early evening, according to the pattern shown on monitoring sites.
Team Cherry has not issued a detailed public timeline of the outages in the materials provided with this report. Players continued to post about intermittent problems after the initial downtime, and some said they were able to complete purchases later in the day as services resumed normal operation.
The incident underscores the challenges digital distributors can face when a much-anticipated title from a popular indie developer launches without staggered or pre-order sales that might smooth demand spikes. Retail platform operators frequently prepare for high-traffic releases, but simultaneous multi-platform demand for a single title can still strain systems during peak windows.