Hell is Us Director calls Silksong’s surprise launch “a little callous”

Following years of leaks, rumours and little-to-no official details, Team Cherry finally released Hollow Knight: Silksong just under two weeks ago. Described by many as the GTA VI of indies, a suite of upcoming games were delayed in order to get out of Silksong’s way. While most took this on the cheek, Hell is Us’ Creative Director called the surprise release date “a little callous.”

Making an appearance on the Friends Per Second podcast, Hell is Us Creative Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête spoke on the recent release of Hollow Knight Silksong and how it affected sales for the also-recently-released Hell is Us, stating:

“It's hard for me to not like say like when you know you're that big, I think a shadow drop is a bit…like wow. You know what I mean? Like you as a GTA 6 of indie, right? To shadow drop something like this is a little…is a little callous.”

According to the director, the team considered moving Hell is Us’ release date as a result, however “changing the date of Hell is Us would…would have been a pretty big endeavor,” necessitating a refunding of pre-orders; a realignment with marketing; reviews and more.

When asked whether he believed the release of Silksong impacted the sales of Hell is Us, Jacques-Belletête claimed “I can't prove it. I can't you know I don't have any specific numbers at least not at this time but I mean for sure, for sure it did”. That said, the director made sure to note that September being a relatively busy month for games in general was also likely to have contributed to the impact on sales.

As mentioned, a wide number of indie games were delayed as a direct result of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date announcement. While most of these devs made tongue-in-cheek announcements regarding the situation, it is interesting to hear more about what the developers were likely thinking internally upon hearing the news.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of Silksong’s launch announcement situation? Was it ‘callous’ to not give developers a heads-up? Did Silksong’s release impact your game purchasing decisions for the month? Let us know down below.

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