by No Man’s Sky is set to receive its next major update, which will push it to version 4.0, on October 7th, with the game also coming to Nintendo Switch at the same time. By now, many people already know the story. Despite being a game that initially bombed at launch, with a lot of controversy surrounding over-effort and a launch without much of the content the developer promised, No Man’s Sky now enjoying considerable success. A lot of that is thanks to Hello Games’ hard work to turn things around.
The UK studio has managed to redeem itself almost entirely after its 2016 launch failure. With No Man’s Sky is getting a ton of free updates, with the “Endurance” patch being one of the most recent major ones, the game has exceeded initial expectations, with an immersive universe to explore that has plenty for fans to see and do. In fact, since it was released more than six years ago, there have been 20 major updates to the game that have encouraged many people to return to it, helping the developer and the game to do a 180 in terms of reputation.
Now No Man’s Sky is finally getting a Switch port, arriving at the same time as the 4.0 update, which fans can expect on October 7th. In a recent interview with studio co-founder Sean Murray, it appears that this upcoming patch will be quite significant. Murray says that version 4.0 will revisit some of the core aspects of the game, such as streamlining the tutorial, and will also introduce some new gameplay features. Murray goes on to say that this update will hopefully address the concerns of some fans who haven’t played in a while. There have been so many patches since 2016 that it might even be too much for some, so the developer seems to want to appeal to those players, as well as anyone who thinks the game is a bit too “bad”.
For all the efforts of Hello Games, No Man’s Sky it eventually won a BAFTA earlier this year in the “Evolving Game” category. It has gone down as one of the best-known redemption arcs in the industry, showing that there are ways for doomed startups to make amends and change public opinion through hard work and listening to the community.
As a result, Sean Murray insists the Hello Games team learned a lesson about trying too hard. With the developer said to be working on a new project, it will be interesting to see how Hello Games handles marketing. It will also be interesting to know what the studio has up its sleeves and whether it can possibly hope to live up to its ambition No Man’s Sky.
No Man’s Sky is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, and the Switch port is out on October 7.
Source: Eurogamer
