Game pricing expert Kasia Curran criticized Team Cherry for setting the launch price of Hollow Knight: Silksong at $20. She argues that this price is disproportionate to the game's scale and could squeeze the pricing space for similar indie games.
Curran stated that if Hollow Knight: Silksong were priced at $24.99, many studios creating similar games might see a significantly different market landscape. The original Hollow Knight launched in 2017 for $15; seven years later, Hollow Knight: Silksong features an expanded scope with approximately 30 hours of single-player gameplay, yet its launch price remains $20.
Her concern isn't about the quality of the game's content, but rather that its price could become a benchmark for consumers when evaluating other Metroidvania or roguelike titles. Curran believes studios must keep an eye on competitors' pricing; if developers can't convincingly explain why their game is more expensive than popular benchmarks, it will be difficult to persuade players to accept a higher price tag, even if the actual production costs are significantly higher.
Curran specializes in pricing model analysis and has developed tools to help developers study successful pricing strategies on Steam. Hollow Knight: Silksong became one of Steam's hit titles in 2025. However, the claim that the "price is too low" and its potential impact on other studios represents Curran's personal opinion, not an official conclusion from Team Cherry.