Hollow Knight Has Now Sold Almost 15 Million Copies

It would come as no surprise to hear that Hollow Knight is one of the most successful indie games of all time, right? An immensely popular Switch launch (a quarter of a million sales in its first two weeks) and six years of waiting for one of the most hyped-up sequels ever is bound to do that. But it turns out that the melancholic metroidvania has sold even better than we expected.

In a new interview with Bloomberg (paywalled), studio co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellan stated that Hollow Knight has sold around 15 million copies since it launched back in 2017. 2.8 million of these sales came before Silksong was announced in 2019, and an additional 12 million have come in the years since, the devs stated.

For reference, that puts Hollow Knight’s sales numbers roughly in line with Pokémon Legends: Arceus (which had amassed 14.83 million units sold by the last official count in 2023). Of course, not all of Hollow Knight’s purchases will have come from Switch, but still, it’s in line with a Pokémon game.

According to the Bloomberg feature, the game’s continued success has meant that the team has been able to continue to work on Silksong without having to worry about finances. “We’re very lucky in that regard,” Gibson told Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, “I don’t ever really think about it that much. Maybe that’s the privilege of it”.

Compare that to the development of Hollow Knight, where the team was reportedly living off leftover office sandwiches and the odd $20 top-up from parents, and it’s plain to see just how far the studio has come between games.

Just in case you missed it, Hollow Knight: Silksong will launch on Switch and Switch 2 on 4th September.

With Hollow Knight available across so many platforms, how many of those 15 million sales have you contributed to? Let us know your replay stats in the comments below.