The developer of Hollow Knight: Silksong has addressed the game’s brief appearance yesterday at Microsoft’s Xbox Games Showcase 2025, when it popped up alongside the new ROG Ally X handheld.
During the show, Xbox president Sarah Bond stated that Silksong would be “available at launch and in Game Pass when Ally releases later this year” — leading many fans to believe the game was being lined up to arrive specifically as a launch title for the new hardware, which has a Holiday 2025 launch window.
But this isn’t the case, Silksong developer Team Cherry has now said.
Writing on the game’s official Discord, in messages seen by IGN, Team Cherry marketing manager Matthew ‘Leth’ Griffin stated that Silksong was not sat waiting for the ROG Ally X to launch — and that the game would arrive before the holidays.
“I confirmed BEFORE Holiday,” Griffin wrote, adding: “we are not tied to a console release.”
And just in case of confusion, when asked which holiday he was referring to, Griffin added: “Christmas yes.”
So, how long before Christmas will Silksong finally release? Remember the fact that the game will apparently be playable in September at an Australian museum, the country’s national museum of screen culture in Melbourne, from September 18. Could the game still be set for launch as early as that?
Silksong fans had hoped for more definitive news on a release date from yesterday’s Xbox Games Showcase, especially as multiple updates to the game’s Steam store page over the last week appeared to point towards an imminent launch, or perhaps even a shadow drop.
Instead, Xbox reserved its usual shadow drop release for the belated arrival of Final Fantasy 16 — and Silksong fans were left still wondering when the long-awaited Metroidvania would finally arrive. Still, Christmas is only six months away now.
IGN has already gone hands-on with the ROG Ally X, should you wish to play Silksong on it, whenever the handheld arrives.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
