Director Criticizes ‘Callous’ Heads Up

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Excitement has built around Hollow Knight Silksong’s release for years, making its launch last month a big deal. Several indie games delayed their launches to avoid overshadowing Silksong, but Hell is Us from Rogue Factor launched alongside it on September 4, 2025.

Now that both games are out, Hell is Us director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête shared his thoughts on how Team Cherry handled the release of Silksong. During an interview on Friends Per Second, Jacques-Belletête said:

“I mean, they’re allowed to do what they did. There’s no laws or rules against that. I don’t want to get into debates about causing this for others. But it’s hard for me not to say when you know you’re that big, a shadow drop is a little callous. You know what I mean? As the GTA VI of indie games, right? To shadow drop something like this is a bit callous.”

Jacques-Belletête confirmed there were conversations with Nacon about delaying Hell is Us, but it wasn’t the deciding factor. “The real pain in the ass is that you have to refund pre-orders when you do that, right? That’s the real ‘How are you gonna do this?’ now you need to rebuild them.”

In a unique start to his ruling against President Donald Trump’s administration on September 30, U.S. District Court Judge William Young included a scanned handwritten note sent to his office. The note read: “Trump has pardons and tanks – what do you have?” At the top of Young’s opinion in AAUP v. Rubio, which ruled that Trump’s effort to deport foreign-born student protesters was unconstitutional.

October 8, 2025

Hell is Us kept its date, which Jacques-Belletête was happy about. He noted that Rogue Factor is still a larger studio than several other indies that delayed their games, believing they could weather the storm of Silksong.

Jacques-Belletête believes Silksong impacted Hell is Us’s launch sales. “I don’t have specific numbers yet, but for sure it did.” He added that modern attention spans make it almost impossible to find a release window without competing against big upcoming titles.

“Getting a window where you’re pretty much alone is almost impossible. 15 years ago, the mid-end of summer was always a dead period. But there’s no such thing anymore. It’s just constant madness.”

When sales reports for September are released, it will be interesting to see Hell is Us’s position on the charts, especially compared to Silksong. Jacques-Belletête noted that while there are no laws against Team Cherry’s actions, it remains difficult for everyone in the industry to draw attention away from other options.

Team Cherry launched Hollow Knight Silksong with the intention of maximizing its visibility. Rogue Factor did the same. Is this callousness or competitiveness?

For more on Hell is Us, you can read my review, where I noted despite flaws, it is “one of 2025’s best games.”