No Man's Sky has had a ver ytough journey since it released to mediocre to negative reviews back in August of 2016. Now, two years later, we're but a day away from the game's biggest update yet.
No Man's Sky Next is releasing for the Xbox One as physical copy, and as a free update for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows. The game is adding a myriad of options that were not included in the original release but were somewhat promised—which is where most of the controversy around
No Man's Sky stems.
Today, Hello Games founder—and director of
No Man's Sky—Sean Murray shared a heartfelt message on the official website for the game, thanking players for their support as well as the developer team.
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We always wanted No Man’s Sky to grow and develop after it released. I’m happy we’ve been able to do that. I am so proud of the team at Hello Games, what they did was incredible. Over the years of development the average team size was 6, the final team was just 15 people at launch. No Man’s Sky has grown to be a very broad game, ambitious, technically unique and very pretty at times, all the more impressive for a team that is still small", wrote Murray as he shared some of the milestones they've reached since they began development in 2012.
He then goes on to address some of the mistakes they've made, mostly blaming himself for the disaster that they all faced when the game launched, only to then begin working on the next update and try to correct their mistakes.
"Whilst I couldn’t be prouder of the team, I personally made mistakes. I could talk all day about things I personally would change. Certainly one regret is that the intensity and drama of launch left no room for communication with the community. We decided instead to focus on development rather than words. Following Foundation, Pathfinder and Atlas Rises, we really want to include you, the community, more".
"We know that a million gamers played on the day we launched Atlas Rises. That everyone who bought Atlas Rises played for 45 hours on average and 90% rated it positively. We know that 20% of players hit over 100 hours, and 5% hit over 1000. We know that over 200 million hours of No Man’s Sky have been played to date. It makes us happy, but desperate to communicate better".
Murray also addresses microstransactions and fans will be happy to find out that the "Next" update will be completely free for all players that already own No Man's Sky, either physical copy or digital. He also takes this opportunity to announce that they will be launching a dedicated community that they're calling Galactic Atlas, which will feature points of interest in the No Man's Sky Euclid Galaxy.
Embark on an epic voyage to the center of a boundless universe. Entire galaxies lay waiting to be discovered. Be the first to land on beautiful, unknown planets teeming with life. Survive hazardous environments, where alien civilizations seek their fortune and outlaws take it by force.
No Man's Sky Next will be available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and PC on the 24th of July.