Hollow Knight: Silksong continues to prove that respecting players pays off. Team Cherry made two important choices with this long-awaited sequel: the Steam release comes without Denuvo, and the GOG release is fully DRM-free. In a gaming landscape where major publishers often rely on heavy-handed protection systems, Silksong shows that trust and transparency can be more powerful than any DRM.
The results speak for themselves. Even without Denuvo, Silksong has managed to generate incredible hype and strong sales. It’s a clear example that gamers don’t need intrusive DRM to convince them to buy a game, they just want quality, respect, and the freedom to choose where and how to play.
What makes this even more impressive is the pricing. Despite being in development for years, Team Cherry priced Silksong at just $20. They could have easily asked for more given the scale of the project and the demand surrounding it, but instead they kept the price fair. There was no greed involved, only the intent to make the game accessible to as many players as possible.
Denuvo has long been criticized for hurting performance while offering little to no protection against piracy. Most games protected with it are cracked within days, if not sooner. What remains is a worse experience for paying customers, which only breeds frustration. Team Cherry took the opposite approach, trusting their audience instead of punishing them, and the community has rewarded that trust.
Silksong is a reminder that the best way to fight piracy isn’t through restrictive software but by delivering a game worth supporting. When players feel valued, they’ll happily pay for the experience. Hollow Knight’s legacy already proved this, and Silksong only strengthens the case: put gamers first, and success will follow.