You’ve seen the page. You’ve probably refreshed it more times than you’d care to admit to your friends. The moody, amber-tinted art of Hornet standing tall, the hauntingly beautiful trailer that’s now years old, and that frustratingly empty space where a "Purchase" or "Add to Cart" button should be. It’s been a long road. Honestly, the fact that Steam can't buy Silksong yet has become less of a technical error and more of a shared cultural trauma for the gaming community.
We’re sitting here in early 2026, and the "Coming Soon" label on Team Cherry's masterpiece-in-waiting has started to feel like a permanent fixture of the internet, like the Wikipedia logo or the Google search bar. It isn't just about a delay anymore. It’s about how the modern game development cycle, especially for a tiny team of three people in Adelaide, Australia, interacts with a massive digital storefront that is built for instant gratification.
The Reality of the Steam Storefront Architecture
Steam doesn't actually let you buy games that don't have a confirmed, hard-coded release date within a specific window. That's the boring, technical answer. Valve is pretty strict about this because they don't want the liability of holding onto millions of dollars in pre-order money for a project that might not drop for another year. If you’re wondering why you can’t even pre-purchase it, it's because Team Cherry hasn't flipped the switch on their end. They haven't provided Valve with the "gold" build or a locked-in date that Valve’s automated systems can verify.
It’s frustrating. I get it.
But look at it from a developer's perspective for a second. Ari Gibson and William Pellen are notorious perfectionists. They’ve stated in multiple interviews, and through their marketing lead Matthew Griffin, that the game only keeps growing because they keep finding cool things to add. When you have a massive hit like Hollow Knight, the pressure to over-deliver is immense. If they opened pre-orders today, the clock starts ticking in a way that’s legally and financially messy.
Why the "Coming Soon" Tag is a Ghost
The reason Steam can't buy Silksong right now basically comes down to the Wishlist system. Wishlisting is the only tool Valve gives us for games in limbo. It’s a way for them to gauge interest without the legal headache of a pre-order contract. Did you know Silksong has been at the top of the most-wishlisted charts for what feels like a decade? It's sitting there alongside titles that have actually announced, released, and gone on sale while Hornet just... waits.
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The game was originally supposed to be a DLC. That’s the wild part. It grew so large—over 165 new enemies, a completely different movement system based on silk and tools rather than soul and charms—that it became a full sequel. When a project balloons like that, the internal milestones shift. A developer might think they are 90% done, then they playtest a new area and realize the entire physics of the "Silk" mechanic needs a tweak. Suddenly, that 90% becomes 70%.
The Xbox Game Pass Factor
People often forget the June 2022 Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase. Remember that? Microsoft explicitly said every game shown would be playable within 12 months. That meant Silksong was "supposed" to be out by June 2023. When that window passed, Team Cherry actually broke their usual radio silence to say the game was still being worked on.
This matters because it changed how the Steam page is perceived. Since there’s a deal with Microsoft to put the game on Game Pass on day one, there might be contractual reasons why Steam pre-orders aren't live yet. Sometimes these platform deals include clauses about when and where a game can be sold or "pre-sold." It’s a messy web of "if-then" statements that happen behind closed doors in the business world, while we're just sitting here staring at a "Wishlist" button.
What Actually Happens When You Click Wishlist?
- Valve tracks the metadata.
- Your account is flagged for a "Release Notification" email.
- The game stays in the "Popular Upcoming" algorithm.
- You get a ping the second that "Buy" button finally appears.
It doesn't feel like much, but it's the only way the Steam backend knows you're still waiting.
The Myth of the "Shadow Drop"
There is a segment of the fanbase that believes Team Cherry will just wake up one Tuesday and hit the "Release" button without a word. While that sounds legendary, it’s almost impossible for a game of this scale. You have to coordinate with Nintendo (for the Switch version), Sony, Microsoft, and Valve. There are regional ratings boards like the ESRB and PEGI that need to have their final stamps of approval. All of these moving parts mean that the reason Steam can't buy Silksong is likely because the final certification process—the "cert" phase—hasn't been finalized for all platforms simultaneously.
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Team Cherry has always said they want to release on PC and consoles at the same time. If the Switch version is lagging behind the PC version in terms of performance optimization, the PC version stays locked in the vault. They aren't going to leave the console players behind.
The Scope Creep is Real
Let’s talk about the size of Pharloom. The original Hollow Knight was massive, especially after the Godmaster and Grimm Troupe updates. Silksong is reportedly even bigger. Hornet moves faster than the Knight did. She leaps higher. She has a dialogue system (yes, she actually talks!). All of this requires more complex AI, more intricate level design to prevent the player from breaking the map, and an ungodly amount of bug testing.
When a team of three people tries to build a world that rivals the scale of AAA titles like Elden Ring (in terms of density, not 3D space), things take time. Steam's infrastructure isn't designed to communicate "this is taking a long time because we care." It only knows "Buy" or "Not Buy."
Comparisons to Other "Missing" Games
- Metroid Prime 4: Announced in 2017, restarted in 2019.
- Beyond Good and Evil 2: A literal decade-plus of development hell.
- Half-Life 3: The ultimate vaporware.
Silksong isn't in development hell, though. We’ve seen gameplay. We’ve seen the demos at E3 years ago. We know the game exists and is playable. The delay isn't because they don't know what they're doing; it's because they know exactly what they're doing and refuse to release anything less than a 10/10 masterpiece.
What to Do While You Wait (Actionable Steps)
Since you can't throw your money at Steam just yet, there are a few productive things you can actually do rather than just doom-scrolling the subreddit.
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Verify Your Wishlist Settings
Go to your Steam Account Details and check your "Email Preferences." Make sure that "A game on my wishlist is featured in a sale or has been released" is checked. You don't want to be the last person to know when the button finally goes live because your junk filter caught the notification.
Ignore the "Placeholder" Dates
You might see third-party key sites or even some international storefronts listing a date like "December 31st." These are always fake. They are placeholders used by databases that require a date to create a listing. If it doesn't come directly from Team Cherry's Twitter or the official Hollow Knight blog, it isn't real.
Watch the "Unity" Situation
A while back, there was a lot of drama regarding Unity (the engine Silksong is built on) and their pricing models. While Unity walked back the worst of their "per-install" fee ideas, it likely caused a brief internal audit for Team Cherry. Keeping an eye on engine news is actually a good way to understand the technical hurdles small teams face.
Explore the "Search for Silksong" Genre
While Steam can't buy Silksong for you today, it can buy Nine Sols, Animal Well, or Crowsworn (when it drops). The "Metroidvania" genre has exploded in the time we've been waiting, and many of these games are specifically designed to fill the void left by Hornet.
The "Buy" button will appear. It’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when the Australian duo feels the world of Pharloom is polished enough to be immortalized. Until then, your wishlist is your only weapon. Keep it updated, keep your notifications on, and maybe—just maybe—stop checking the page three times a day. It'll happen when it happens.
Next Steps for the Patient Gamer:
- Check your Steam "Wishlist" to ensure Hollow Knight: Silksong is actually there; sometimes regional updates can glitch individual follows.
- Follow the official Team Cherry blog directly via RSS or bookmark to bypass the noise of "leak" culture.
- Look into the "Steam Community" hub for the game, as beta branches or small manifest updates often appear there before any public announcement.