Silksong devs "have other games that we plan to make" that aren't just Hollow Knight, but their own deaths weigh on them: "It’s not that far off if you spend 7 years per project"

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Silksong devs "have other games that we plan to make" that aren't just Hollow Knight, but their own deaths weigh on them: "It’s not that far off if you spend 7 years per project" News By Ashley Bardhan published 28 November 2025

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(Image credit: Team Cherry)

We don't like to talk about it, the thing all living creatures have in common, but it's an inevitability on what seems to be an increasing number of game developers' minds as they get older: death. Apparently it comes not only for us, but also Hollow Knight studio Team Cherry

The Silksong developer describes its plans to expand beyond the Metroidvania series in a new interview with Bloomberg, though co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen worry they might die before they can ship everything they want to. After all, Silksong took seven years.

"We've thought about the ideas that we have, the stuff we want to make and put in [Silksong]," Pellen says.

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• Team Cherry hopes "if there were ever" new Hollow Knight games after Silksong, they could "just exist alongside one another" so the order you play them doesn't matter
• Team Cherry hoped Silksong could be anyone's "first Hollow Knight game," and one reason it took 7 years is they were "comfortable" not knowing what's gonna happen: "The really interesting things are the things you sort of discover along the way"
• Team Cherry explains the Silksong development process that was so fun devs just couldn't stop: "If you're trying to build a Mario level, you might take an empty space and think, oh, should there be a few platforms here?"

"And then we do have other games that we plan to make," Gibson adds. "The only time concern really is – and we've talked about this before – death. It's not that far off if you spend seven years per project, and potentially add another two. So it'd be nice to do a few more games. Apparently our timeframe still allows us to fit a few more in. Short of an unexpected tragedy."

To some, Team Cherry's grisly considerations here might seem Victorian – but death is the most literal deadline of them all. Death Stranding director Hideo Kojima worries about it, too, having once put his ideas on a flash drive for his staff to use as a creative "will" in case he passed suddenly.

71-year-old Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii is also well aware of his mortality, though he prays he'll "witness" the 50th anniversary for Dragon Quest in 2036. If they're lucky, all these men might one day figure out what Emily Dickinson meant when she wrote, "Because I could not stop for Death – He kindly stopped for me."

Silksong devs "maybe" aren't going to The Game Awards and think they're "safe" from a GOTY win because of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is "exceptional and broadly palatable."

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Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. CATEGORIES PS5 PS4 Xbox Series X Xbox One Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch 2 PC Gaming Platforms PlayStation Xbox Nintendo Ashley BardhanSenior Writer

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She's been a staff writer at Kotaku and Inverse, too, and she's written freelance pieces about horror and women in games for sites like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she's not covering gaming news, she's usually working on expanding her doll collection while watching Saw movies one through 11.

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Logout Read more Team Cherry hopes "if there were ever" new Hollow Knight games after Silksong, they could "just exist alongside one another" so the order you play them doesn't matter    Team Cherry hoped Silksong could be anyone's "first Hollow Knight game," and one reason it took 7 years is they were "comfortable" not knowing what's gonna happen: "The really interesting things are the things you sort of discover along the way"    Team Cherry explains the Silksong development process that was so fun devs just couldn't stop: "If you're trying to build a Mario level, you might take an empty space and think, oh, should there be a few platforms here?"    Silksong devs "maybe" aren't going to The Game Awards and think they're "safe" from a GOTY win because of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which is "exceptional and broadly palatable"    OG Hollow Knight technical director says Team Cherry remain silent because their "work ethic is off the charts" and they're probably "over at the office working" right now    Team Cherry teases Silksong DLC and the return of a character revealed 7 years ago: "We've noticed that people would like an expansion" like Hollow Knight's Pantheon    Latest in Action Games "Hope is not lost" for Assassin's Creed Shadows to follow Mirage's lead and add the fan-favorite manual jump in a post-launch update    Assassin's Creed Shadows lead says microtransactions pay for free updates: "It allows us to do the Isu stuff, the quest stuff, the parkour updates"    With The Game Awards weeks away, new Remedy trademark for what could be Control 2 surfaces    Anticipation for GTA 6 isn't enough to overshadow Rockstar Games' alleged union-busting scandal as a Scottish councillor calls for political action    New Assassin's Creed Shadows update includes a big Odyssey Easter egg and the devs have an entire Kassandra-focused story under wraps: "We might reveal it at some point"    Assassin's Creed Shadows director says the RPG won't get another expansion as big as Claws of Awaji, but Ubisoft is still working on "chunkier updates" for Year 2    Latest in News Silksong devs "have other games that we plan to make" that aren't just Hollow Knight, but their own deaths weigh on them: "It’s not that far off if you spend 7 years per project"    Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actors Ben Starr and Jennifer English worry the J’RPG wouldn’t be “as sexy” if it wasn’t French: “French people are just sexier”    Stranger Things fans are wondering why a central character from season 4 is absent from season 5: "Bro went to pick some mushrooms and never came back"    The first Strangers: Chapter 3 trailer is here, reminding us that they actually did make three of these films    Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Ben Starr is still ready to "lose to Megabonk" at The Game Awards, since one "person's game of the year is going to be another person's worst game of all time"    James Cameron "almost" directed Wicked 15 years ago, but he "couldn't find the song"    GAME REVIEWSMOVIE REVIEWSTV REVIEWS

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