The game No Man’s Sky was one of the most hyped games in 2013, but upon its release in 2016, it became one of the biggest disappointments. Now it is a hit. MeinMMO highlights the problem back then and the key moments that led to its current success.
No Man’s Sky is now considered one of the best space games on the gaming market. Those who want to unwind in space and explore alien worlds with their spaceship will find the perfect place with No Man’s Sky.
In the 18 trillion planets, every player can find a spot or planet where they enjoy exploring. The possibilities for exploration are very well received by players: On Steam, No Man’s Sky has 90% positive reviews, categorized as Very Positive
.
But it wasn’t always like this. At launch in 2016, the game was seen as a prime example of what happens when too much is promised and too little is delivered.
- By the way: You can save 60% on the price of No Man’s Sky until April 20, 2026. On Steam, the game currently costs only 23.59 euros.
The well-known problem: Hype
No Man’s Sky had a problem that occurs nowadays with some games: too much hype and high expectations from the community.
The game was announced in 2013, claiming it had an algorithm that automatically generated the game world. Every planet and its vegetation would be procedurally created by the computer and not by the developers themselves. This opened up new possibilities for the size of the game world and the designs of individual planets.
This, along with the snippets shown from the reveal trailer back in 2013 on YouTube, created immense anticipation among players.
Three years later, in 2016, the time had come: Release! Over 200,000 players dived into the game world with their spaceships simultaneously. But the launch turned into one of the biggest disappointments in gaming history:
- Some of the promised features were missing, and players often found themselves grinding for resources due to few achievable tasks.
- Graphically, it was not on par with the previously shown trailers.
- The planets were procedurally generated, but they felt empty as they were not really filled with life.
The community was quite frustrated with the launch of No Man’s Sky. In the process, memes made fun of the game and its developers, Hello Games. An example can be found here on YouTube.
The Redemption Saga
Sean Murray, the founder and CEO of Hello Games, initially withdrew from the public eye, which was the opposite of what he had done before. His focus, and especially that of his team, was now on optimizing the game.
In the years that followed, No Man’s Sky released numerous updates to improve the game.
One of the first updates, the FOUNDATION
update, laid the foundation for the future course of No Man’s Sky. Because three months after release, in November 2016, Hello Games showed that it did not see No Man’s Sky as simply failed but as a project that could be improved in the future.
With the NEXT
update, Hello Games attempted a kind of comeback for No Man’s Sky two years after release, marking a turning point for the sci-fi game. The update with version 1.5 brought numerous innovations, including a real multiplayer experience, a third-person perspective, and the freedom to build bases anywhere.
The NEXT
update is considered one of the most important milestones in the history of No Man’s Sky, since players received with this update the game that was promised to them back in 2013 and which they had been looking forward to.
In 2020, No Man’s Sky won the award for Best Ongoing Game
. Essentially a kind of canonization
within the gaming industry. Sean Murray was very happy about the award:
Over the years, many more updates followed, such as ORIGINS
, which further enriched the vegetation of many planets, or WAYPOINT
, which brought the sci-fi game to the Nintendo Switch. With WORLDS PART 1
, Hello Games raised the graphics another notch in 2024.
What stands out especially: All updates were and still are free, proving to the community that Hello Games genuinely aimed to make amends for its release mistakes. After all, they could have released some of these updates as paid DLC.
Moreover, developers repeatedly listened to the community when they provided feedback. This increased the loyalty of players, who felt seen and eagerly dived back into the game.
No Man’s Sky in 2026
By now, No Man’s Sky is considered a great role model for other sci-fi games. The ability to simply fly away from a planet with your spaceship, instead of staring at a loading screen, is very well received by players.
So well that other sci-fi games are often measured against whether you can land on planets as you can in No Man’s Sky:
No Man’s Sky has managed to maintain its player base over the years while simultaneously attracting new players. Especially through continuous updates and listening to community feedback.
According to SteamDB, the largest increases in players are attributed to the comeback through the NEXT
update in 2018 and the anniversary update in 2025.
Players of No Man’s Sky can now look forward to another game from Hello Games: Light No Fire. An upcoming open-world game that procedurally generates an Earth, but with added fantasy elements.
What do you think of No Man’s Sky? Were you there at the release, and how do you find it today? Let us know in the comments!
No Man’s Sky is by far not the first game that was initially disappointing at its launch but then managed to turn things around: 6 MMOs and online games that managed to turn around after a failed launch
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