Indie Devs Fear Hollow Knight Silksong Set Unrealistic Pricing Standard For Industry

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Don't Expect Other Devs To Sell Their Games This Cheap!

Story Highlight
  • Hollow Knight Silksong offers an incredible experience for just $20.
  • This pricing has raised concerns among indie developers, with many believing they may need to adjust their own prices.
  • One developer has even argued that the game’s true value is closer to $40.

Hollow Knight Silksong has become a monumental achievement for the indie gaming industry. Not only did the game smash its predecessor’s concurrent player count, but it also motivated thousands of gamers to play the original Hollow Knight.

Team Cherry has achieved all of this while offering the game at the incredibly affordable price of $20. In fact, this pricing has even sparked concerns among other developers about Hollow Knight Silksong potentially setting an unrealistic pricing standard for indie games.

Why it matters: Pricing has led to multiple heated discussions within the gaming industry recently. These discussions have impacted both indie and AAA teams.

Hollow Knight Silksong
Major Indie Dev Discusses Hollow Knight Silksong Pricing | Image via Blue Sky

Over on Blue Sky, developer rj, who is currently working on the rhythm game Unbeatable, raised an interesting point regarding Hollow Knight Silksong’s pricing and the average gamer’s perception.

He argued that the game would be more appropriate at a $40 price point. RJ believes that Team Cerry selling the game at $20 means that the average gamer will now look at such indie games as being worth no more than this price point.

Silksong honestly should cost 40 bucks.

-RJ

He believes that this perception could ultimately harm games without a huge following. Ivan from Deck13 Interactive agreed with this sentiment, while Tim from Red Squirrel Games chose to consider a different angle while also supporting RJ’s original point.

Perhaps the most interesting response to Hollow Knight Silksong’s reception came from the developer behind Lone Fungus, who wondered whether Lone Fungus would still be appropriately priced at $20 after Hollow Knight Silksong’s recent release.

The developer explained that Lone Fungus is a smaller game that came about as a solo project. As such, selling it any cheaper would not be viable for the indie developer.

Lone Fungus Dev on Hollow Knight Silksong
Lone Fungus Dev Discusses Pricing For Upcoming Game | Image via Twitter

Interestingly, the release of Baldur’s Gate 3 led to a similar debate in a different context. Many developers believed the game had set such a high bar that other teams would never be able to measure up.

It seems Hollow Knight Silksong’s pricing strategy has raised similar concerns among the indie gaming industry.

What do you make of the developers’ opinions? Let’s discuss in the comments and on the Tech4Gamers Forums.

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