When Team Cherry announced Hollow Knight: Silksong’s September 4 release date in late August, it felt like the whole world cheered. For a game seven years in the making that had been developed outside of the public spotlight, the announcement was both a surprise and a sigh of relief—the game is actually being released, and, even better, it’s just weeks away. But there was a small segment of people who had a somewhat different reaction: oh no.
At least eight different developers or publishers saw the news and were forced to make a decision, because their own games were scheduled right in Silksong‘s path. Panik Arcade’s CloverPit, Sunny Side Up’s Little Witch in the Woods, Necrosoft Games’ Demonschool, and Devolver Digital’s Baby Steps are among the games that were originally slated to be released either the day of Silksong‘s release or nearby. Those studios (and others) opted instead to delay their games.
Release dates aren’t idly dropped onto a calendar. Developers and publishers meticulously plan their development schedules and release calendars well in advance of a public announcement. Indeed, Team Cherry certainly had its release date locked in well in advance of that August mic-drop. Devolver Digital chief marketing officer Nigel Lowrie, who was involved in the decision to delay Baby Steps with Silksong coming in hot, said the publisher’s release schedule is primarily driven by a game’s production timeline—something that may even shift several times throughout the year.
Delays (while frustrating) can secure a vital moment in the spotlight
“It’s different for every game, but generally, we say, ‘Hey, we think around this month, or at least this quarter, something is going to be ready to ship,'” Lowrie said. “We look at making sure we’re spacing our own projects, because the resources of the marketing team, production team, localization, whatever it is, needs to be spaced out. Then, as you might imagine, we’re looking at competition. What else has been announced for that time period?”
Lowrie said that includes other games, yes, but also hardware launches, big promotions like Steam sales that take over the platform, and major events like Summer Game Fest. “We try to look at both the storefronts themselves, but as well just what might be happening in games and making sure we’re giving our games the best possible chance at their own time in the spotlight,” he added.
A lot of big games are predictable. It can be easier to predict where annualized games like Call of Duty will fall on a calendar, but then there are the titles that come out of nowhere and cannibalize attention—stuff like Silksong or Haunted Chocolatier. Those are the sorts of games that publishers like Devolver Digital are always mindful of. “They have earned the right to have their own spot and may push you out, and that’s OK,” Lowrie said. It’s about more than just consumer dollars, he said. It’s consumer time. Creators’ time. It’s a platform’s availability to promote your game. Press’ review space.
Brian Kwek of Ysbryd Games, which made the decision to delay Necrosoft Games’ Demonschool to get out of Silksong‘s way, said his publishing company has a flexible release calendar. It’s not about numbers on a profit and loss basis, it’s about following the production needs of a studio. If that means publishing one game a year, so be it. Once a studio has a beta build, Ysbryd can start thinking about a target date. It’s not really about finding the perfect slot on the calendar—there are no concerns about profits and losses related to, say, missing a Christmas window—but about finding the ideal spot for the team that’s building the game, and then working within that window to make sure their title isn’t fighting with a juggernaut like Elden Ring or Silksong.
Flexibility makes it easier, perhaps, to pivot or delay if needed. But that isn’t to say delaying a game is easy. Kwek explained Ysbryd was defensively thinking about Silksong in relation to Demonschool‘s release date; people knew Silksong was expected this year, and this year was running out of months. “We picked the original release date of Demonschool as September 3 because if [Team Cherry] were to drop a megaton announcement at Gamescom or PAX […] it wouldn’t be ideal, but it’s a little bit outside of the blast radius,” said Kwek, who estimated the Silksong studio would make its release date announcement around three or four weeks before launch.
“You’re essentially gambling with someone’s livelihood”
Team Cherry didn’t end up announcing the game’s release date at Gamescom Opening Night Live. It happened a few days later—and the launch date was just two weeks away. Kwek, with Necrosoft Games, immediately got to work figuring out what to do. Should they stick with September or move to November? The problem with September is Final Fantasy Tactics; a direct, big competitor that would certainly eat up people’s time. Specifically people who love tactics games. November it was. Demonschool is coming to both consoles and Windows PC, which means there’s more to delaying the game than changing a date on Steam.
“Moving did require a lot of, shall we say, very high tension, anxious exchanges with the platforms,” Kwek said. “Steam, they’re probably a little bit more easy going about that sort of thing. Let’s just say, the week—the seven days following the announcement of Silksong‘s release date—I think I aged maybe five or six years.”
When Silksong‘s release date was announced, Devolver Digital’s Lowrie said the Baby Steps team reached out: “Hey, I guess we should talk,” he said of the call. “We discussed that while they’re not the same genre, it’s important to take into account your audience and the kind of people that like to play your games—players, creators, press. Why force them to make the decision to play this or that when we can say, ‘Hey, we’ll just find a little more open space.'”
Quickly, Baby Steps developers Gabe Cuzzillo, Maxi Boch, and Bennett Foddy spun up a silly video to announce the delay, putting the Baby Steps character onto what’s essentially a Silksong-themed playground structure. The teams pitched around ideas, but Cuzzillo ended up mocking up a version of what would eventually be released, and Boch used Baby Steps‘ complex soundscape as inspiration for the Hollow Knight sounds that play with the video.
It ended up being one of Devolver Digital’s most watched videos for Baby Steps on its channels. There’s certainly no way to know whether games like Demonschool or Baby Steps would succeed or fail if they stuck with their original release dates. But for Kwek, staying put would have been “reckless.” It will cost a bit more money for Ysbird Games to cover the additional payroll for the months-long gap between the release dates, but the potential loss for both the publisher and developer is worth that addition. “Going up against a Silksong or Elden Ring type of situation, you’re essentially gambling with someone’s livelihood, or putting all that work into a game—a high quality game in the way we’ve done for Demonshool—just to gamble maybe finding a way to those creators and press.”
