Hollow Knight: Silksong finally launched, and Steam immediately went down with E502 errors.
Well… that didn’t go as planned.
After years of waiting, Hollow Knight: Silksong officially launched today, September 4, at 7 AM PT. But right as the game went live, Steam completely buckled under the pressure. Players rushed to download the sequel, only to be met with a familiar, and frustrating error: “Something Went Wrong. We were unable to service your request. Please try again later. E502 L3.”
The timing couldn’t have been more exact. Silksong was set to launch globally at that very minute, and within seconds, the Steam storefront started showing the E502 errors across multiple pages, including the homepage and game listings.
Update, September 4, 7:15 AM PT: It looks like the Steam store services are slowly coming back online. But the checkout page is still down, giving the same error.
Update 2, September 4, 7:40 AM PT: The Steam store is still down, with servers overloaded and the site running painfully slow. While the main website loads, the shopping cart and checkout system remain offline, continuing to throw the “Something Went Wrong” error.
Update 3, September 4, 8:20 AM PT: Steam is still down as of right now, and trying to click the “Continue to Payment” button just leads to the same error over and over again. It’s not just Steam either; players are reporting similar issues with PlayStation Store, Xbox Store, and the Nintendo eShop currently down as well.
Some can’t even access the game’s store page, while others get stuck during checkout or face timeouts when trying to load anything at all.
Update 4, September 4, 11:11 AM PT: Looks like all platforms are coming back online. Things might be a bit slower than usual.
Original Story: Needless to say, fans were ready. This is one of the most anticipated indie sequels of the decade. Steam’s servers apparently weren’t ready for that kind of traffic. While Valve hasn’t officially commented yet, E502 errors usually mean there’s some overload on the backend, something that tends to happen during massive game launches or surprise sales.
The game is also launching on consoles and other storefronts like the Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and PlayStation, so not everyone is affected, but for those relying on Steam, it’s a frustratingly ironic start to a long-awaited release.
We’ll keep an eye on the situation and update once things stabilize. Hopefully, it won’t be long before fans can finally play what they’ve been waiting half a decade for.
