Hell is Us Director Calls Silksong’s Two-Week Launch Notice “A Little Callous”
The release of Hollow Knight: Silksong earlier this month was one of the biggest indie events in recent years, but not every studio was thrilled with how Team Cherry handled its short launch notice. Hell is Us director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête has described the decision as “a little callous” given the scale of anticipation surrounding the game.
Speaking on the Friends Per Second podcast, via TWIV, Jacques-Belletête explained that while Team Cherry was fully within its rights to shadow drop the release date, the move had real consequences for other indie studios launching around the same time.
“When you know you’re that big, I think a shadow drop is a bit like wow. To shadow drop something like this is a little callous. As the GTA VI of indie, right, that’s how we were calling such a game.”
Rogue Factor released Hell is Us on the same day as Silksong (September 4, 2025). Jacques-Belletête confirmed that there were discussions with publisher Nacon about delaying the game to avoid direct competition. However, refunding pre-orders and rebuilding sales momentum was seen as too disruptive.
“The real pain in the ass is that you have to refund your pre-orders when you do that. We didn’t say ‘Oh my god, we have to do it but we can’t because of that.’ We were like, ‘No, I think we can get through the storm.’”
Ultimately, the studio decided to stick with its original launch date, a choice Jacques-Belletête says he is “happy” about. He also noted that Rogue Factor, being a larger indie studio than some others that chose to delay, felt more confident about weathering Silksong’s overwhelming presence.
Although Jacques-Belletête did not share specific numbers, he admitted that Silksong likely affected Hell is Us’s launch sales. More broadly, he pointed out that finding a quiet release window is nearly impossible in today’s industry.
“Fifteen years ago, the mid-end of the summer was always a dead period. But there’s no such thing anymore. It’s just constant madness.”
As September sales reports emerge, it will be interesting to see how Hell is Us performs in comparison to Silksong. Jacques-Belletête acknowledged that Team Cherry was simply doing what was best for its game, just as Rogue Factor did for theirs. Whether that decision was callous or simply competitive remains a matter of perspective.
Do you think Team Cherry should have given other developers more notice before dropping Silksong’s release date, or was it just fair competition?
