How the Recent Unity Controversy Might Affect Hollow Knight…

Summary

Hollow Knight: Silksong's development timeline may be further hindered by recent changes to Unity's licensing model.
The new licensing policy by Unity, which includes a Runtime Fee, poses a potential risk for Silksong's development since the game is being developed in Unity and could trigger these fees.
Team Cherry might consider switching engines to avoid Unity's fees, but this could result in further delays for Silksong's release. Thankfully, cancelation is seen as unlikely due to the significant amount of time and resources already invested in the game.

Hollow Knight: Silksong might be in a tough position after the recent controversial changes to Unity's licensing model that would impose a Runtime Fee for games built in the engine. The follow-up to Team Cherry's 2017 indie hit has already faced a long development cycle due to small size of the studio, and many fans are eager to see what the team has in store for this next title. Unfortunately, fans may have to wait longer for Hollow Knight: Silksong than originally anticipated as the changes to Unity could impact the game's development timeline.

Fans have been waiting for Silksong for over four years already, with the game being announced in February 2019 and only a few updates in the time since. The most recent word from Team Cherry regarding Silksong's status came in May of this year with the update stating that release was initially planned for the first half of 2023, but development is still ongoing and there is no planned release date at this time. While some fans speculated the game could make a late 2023 release, the lack of any official announcement this late in the year coupled with the new Unity changes means its unlikely Silksong will release before 2024.

Unity's New Licensing Model Could Spell Trouble for Hollow Knight: Silksong

Last month Unity faced a wave of criticism from developers and players alike over the announcement of their new licensing policy that would implement a Runtime Fee, charging developers $0.20 every time their game was installed. After developer boycotts and online backlash, the software developer walked back these plans stating that the fee won't be retroactively applied to games using an older version of Unity or games built using Unity Personal, also stating they plan to increase the annual revenue cap necessary to trigger the fee. While this revision is a step in the right direction, it's unclear how developers currently building games in Unity will respond.

Both the original Hollow Knight and Silksong are developed in Unity, so while Hollow Knight might be free from incurring retroactive Runtime Fees, Silksong might not be so lucky depending on which version of Unity the game is being developed in. Like many indie developers, Team Cherry may be tempted to switch to an engine like Godot or Unreal in order to avoid any potential fees associated with Unity that Silksong could trigger. The unfortunate side effect of this process would likely be delaying the release of Silksong even further beyond what it's already experienced, as changing to an entirely new engine is a time-consuming task, especially for a small team.

Although the annual revenue cap for a game to trigger Unity's Runtime Fee is now set to be $200,000, the massive popularity of Hollow Knight and subsequent hype for Silksong could be enough that Team Cherry runs the risk of hitting that revenue number when the game releases. For smaller indie games, this high ceiling isn't much of a concern, but for the team behind one of the most popular indie games in recent years, it's a serious possibility. Team Cherry is likely aware of this risk and is taking it into consideration when deciding on Silksong's future.

The worst-case scenario for fans would be for Silksong to be canceled entirely, but the amount of time and resources already invested in the game makes this outcome seem unlikely. It's also possible that Silksong's development continues unhindered by Unity's new licensing policy and a release date is imminent. However, the most likely situation is that Silksong switches engines to avoid incurring Unity's fees and suffers another delay, but until an official word is given by Team Cherry, fans can only speculate as to the game's status.