Team Cherry Dev Says Hollow Knight: Silksong’s $20 Price Tag Is Just “Reasonable”
Team Cherry Dev Says Hollow Knight: Silksong’s $20 Price Tag Is Just “Reasonable”
by Turbostrider27
33 Comments
Ok_Internal_8500
It just works
Tramiro
Reasonable is an understatement I feel.
With the level of quality and polish of this game they could’ve charged more for it and gotten away with it.
$30 is Reasonable.
$20 is Charitable.
What a blessing this dev team is.
GooseSl4yer2003
I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen a game be universally agreed to be underpriced, especially in an age where so many things are universally argued to be overpriced
banthafodderr
They could basically charge whatever they want as they have such a small team, they are all going to receive a huge profit regardless. It also took them like 8 years to make this game as they went at their own pace. It’s not a formula that works for most studios.
Zangetsukaiba
It really is
Nicktendo
Someone send Nintendo a memo – just because they can get someone to pay $70 doesn’t mean they should.
Blackberry-thesecond
Sometimes I worry that it’s unnecessarily competitive towards new indie devs. It’s easy to charge $20 when you’re a three man team with a sure hit on your hands and millions in the bank already, but a lot of other indie devs don’t have that luxury.
zenyattatron
$40 is WAY more than reasonable. $20 is an outright steal.
GenOneCam
I agree. That is why I bought it even though I will probably not get around to playing it for some time.
Galactus1701
I bought it for Series X and will buy a Switch 2 physical copy as soon as they release it.
ScorpionTDC
What bizarro reality have I stepped that people are complaining that the price is *too low*?
$20 is obviously an amazing deal, but if the Devs are comfortable with that price point – that’s what matters (honestly, video games are kiiiiinda very over priced at the moment)
Bootleg_______
for me that’s like 2¢ per attempt at beating >!Lost Lace!<
LoriCyberstar
As amazing as Silksong’s price is
I am a bit sad about the bit of damage it did for other indie games
I’ve seen like multiple indie devs lose motivation because they don’t think they can price their games like they originally planned
Cuz now 20 dollars for the amount of content silksong has will be seen as a golden standard now
Sirriddles
There are so many $50-$70 games with significantly less content than Silksong.
[deleted]
[removed]
Kelohmello
As long as people don’t get weird about it, it’s fine. Yes, Silksong is underpriced. You will probably never get a single player adventure game of this quality or this length at a base price of $20 USD again. Unless Team Cherry does it.
But if a large amount of people were to say “Silksong is $20, why should I buy your game?”, then the industry crashes and burns. What Silksong is, is not sustainable by an industry of people who need to put bread on the table.
Elrothiel1981
Oh this going to piss off the triple A industry
Novainferno
The game is worth much more to me. Which I why I bought 4 copies.
GoatGod997
I would’ve paid but questioned it if it was 40$. 35$ or 30$ was my expectation
Yacobo93
unironically I think you could argue silksong being worth 70
NoCardiologist6896
“we’re gonna be jerks and release the game unannounced so we dont have to compete with other games, push back all their releases, have the price tag cheap bc people are gonna eat us up anyway, and then be cavalier that our moral compass is intact”
Scurrydog
I remember when Indie games were $15. $20 isn’t too bad considering the times.
SliderGamer55
I’m reminded of how Shovel Knight gave away all its DLC for free. They did eventually up the price for the whole thing, but if you bought it early enough, you got the late 2019 campaign (+ multiplayer mode) for this 2014 game for zero additional cost. Even on Wii U. And because of that, as long as I’m interested in whatever game they have next, Yacht Club games are a consistent priority for purchases over basically anything else, even as someone who rarely buys brand new games anymore, because I just respect what they did so much (helped that Shovel Knight was an all time great indie game before updates). Also helps that they are 3 for 3 with good games afterwards (even if none of them are on the level of their first, so far, Mina feels like it could be).
I have to imagine this is similar, there are people who will be ride or die with Team Cherry for a long, long time based on this.
bigbagofbaldbabies
On the IGN podcast, they were talking g about how this is a problem in the industry, in how the public will be expecting games of this calibre to be this affordable. There are teams that simply can’t do this, and might hurt them in the process. Not saying I agree, but definitely an interesting take
PhantasysGames
Obviously Team Cherry only has good intentions, but setting such a low price will hurt smaller/newer developers.
For example lets look at roguelikes: Around 2020 the defacto price for a new roguelike was 25$ (Hades, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, Risk of Rain 2, Cult of the Lamb.)
Last year Balatro came along and charged 15$, because the dev believed he couldnt compete with those 25$ games. Balatro became the biggest Roguelike of that year.
Last Month Cloverpit comes out and charges 10$, because the devs dont want to compete with Balatro. Cloverpit is now one of the biggest Roguelikes of the year.
At this point it has become a race to the bottom.
Coomrs
I have purchased many games at $20 that give you a lot less than Silksong does for $20. And I wasn’t even disappointed at the other ones most of the time, Silksong is just that underpriced for what you get.
VampireInTheDorms
Team Cherry has to be by far the best devs in the industry right now, how do you drop two generational games in a row and have THIS good of a philosophy not only when it comes to game design but marketing/finance
TwoScentedCandles
Regardless of what they do, $20 games will not be the normal.
Past_Wind_9725
I bought Silksong on Switch and PS5 even though I only really played it on the Switch. I’ll probably eventually play through it on PS5 but for $20 and Team Cherry being awesome I felt like the extra $20 was like a tip.
30degrees3am
I would have paid $60 for Silksong. It’s that good.
jjamm420
Most than worth it!!!
automirage04
I’d have paid 30, a lot of ppl would have paid 40. Props to them for giving us an amazing game at this price point
isimplycannotdecide
I could have played it for free on gamepass but I really prefer 2d games on my switch for the portability so I bought it day 1. First game was one of my all time favorites so it was a no brainer.
33 Comments
It just works
Reasonable is an understatement I feel.
With the level of quality and polish of this game they could’ve charged more for it and gotten away with it.
$30 is Reasonable.
$20 is Charitable.
What a blessing this dev team is.
I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen a game be universally agreed to be underpriced, especially in an age where so many things are universally argued to be overpriced
They could basically charge whatever they want as they have such a small team, they are all going to receive a huge profit regardless. It also took them like 8 years to make this game as they went at their own pace. It’s not a formula that works for most studios.
It really is
Someone send Nintendo a memo – just because they can get someone to pay $70 doesn’t mean they should.
Sometimes I worry that it’s unnecessarily competitive towards new indie devs. It’s easy to charge $20 when you’re a three man team with a sure hit on your hands and millions in the bank already, but a lot of other indie devs don’t have that luxury.
$40 is WAY more than reasonable. $20 is an outright steal.
I agree. That is why I bought it even though I will probably not get around to playing it for some time.
I bought it for Series X and will buy a Switch 2 physical copy as soon as they release it.
What bizarro reality have I stepped that people are complaining that the price is *too low*?
$20 is obviously an amazing deal, but if the Devs are comfortable with that price point – that’s what matters (honestly, video games are kiiiiinda very over priced at the moment)
for me that’s like 2¢ per attempt at beating >!Lost Lace!<
As amazing as Silksong’s price is
I am a bit sad about the bit of damage it did for other indie games
I’ve seen like multiple indie devs lose motivation because they don’t think they can price their games like they originally planned
Cuz now 20 dollars for the amount of content silksong has will be seen as a golden standard now
There are so many $50-$70 games with significantly less content than Silksong.
[removed]
As long as people don’t get weird about it, it’s fine. Yes, Silksong is underpriced. You will probably never get a single player adventure game of this quality or this length at a base price of $20 USD again. Unless Team Cherry does it.
But if a large amount of people were to say “Silksong is $20, why should I buy your game?”, then the industry crashes and burns. What Silksong is, is not sustainable by an industry of people who need to put bread on the table.
Oh this going to piss off the triple A industry
The game is worth much more to me. Which I why I bought 4 copies.
I would’ve paid but questioned it if it was 40$. 35$ or 30$ was my expectation
unironically I think you could argue silksong being worth 70
“we’re gonna be jerks and release the game unannounced so we dont have to compete with other games, push back all their releases, have the price tag cheap bc people are gonna eat us up anyway, and then be cavalier that our moral compass is intact”
I remember when Indie games were $15. $20 isn’t too bad considering the times.
I’m reminded of how Shovel Knight gave away all its DLC for free. They did eventually up the price for the whole thing, but if you bought it early enough, you got the late 2019 campaign (+ multiplayer mode) for this 2014 game for zero additional cost. Even on Wii U. And because of that, as long as I’m interested in whatever game they have next, Yacht Club games are a consistent priority for purchases over basically anything else, even as someone who rarely buys brand new games anymore, because I just respect what they did so much (helped that Shovel Knight was an all time great indie game before updates). Also helps that they are 3 for 3 with good games afterwards (even if none of them are on the level of their first, so far, Mina feels like it could be).
I have to imagine this is similar, there are people who will be ride or die with Team Cherry for a long, long time based on this.
On the IGN podcast, they were talking g about how this is a problem in the industry, in how the public will be expecting games of this calibre to be this affordable. There are teams that simply can’t do this, and might hurt them in the process. Not saying I agree, but definitely an interesting take
Obviously Team Cherry only has good intentions, but setting such a low price will hurt smaller/newer developers.
For example lets look at roguelikes: Around 2020 the defacto price for a new roguelike was 25$ (Hades, Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, Risk of Rain 2, Cult of the Lamb.)
Last year Balatro came along and charged 15$, because the dev believed he couldnt compete with those 25$ games. Balatro became the biggest Roguelike of that year.
Last Month Cloverpit comes out and charges 10$, because the devs dont want to compete with Balatro. Cloverpit is now one of the biggest Roguelikes of the year.
At this point it has become a race to the bottom.
I have purchased many games at $20 that give you a lot less than Silksong does for $20. And I wasn’t even disappointed at the other ones most of the time, Silksong is just that underpriced for what you get.
Team Cherry has to be by far the best devs in the industry right now, how do you drop two generational games in a row and have THIS good of a philosophy not only when it comes to game design but marketing/finance
Regardless of what they do, $20 games will not be the normal.
I bought Silksong on Switch and PS5 even though I only really played it on the Switch. I’ll probably eventually play through it on PS5 but for $20 and Team Cherry being awesome I felt like the extra $20 was like a tip.
I would have paid $60 for Silksong. It’s that good.
Most than worth it!!!
I’d have paid 30, a lot of ppl would have paid 40. Props to them for giving us an amazing game at this price point
I could have played it for free on gamepass but I really prefer 2d games on my switch for the portability so I bought it day 1. First game was one of my all time favorites so it was a no brainer.