No Man’s Sky was considered a controversial game in 2016. The head of the title, Sean Murray, even received death threats because butterflies were missing. How all this happened, he tells now, two years later.
The Promise: The game No Man’s Sky was released in 2016 for PS4 and PC. Before the release, there was huge hype around the game. This was triggered by enthusiastic interviews that the head, Sean Murray, gave to the press. The developer, Sean Murray, even presented the game on US talk shows.
The studio seemed to promise a vibrant world powered by complex algorithms. Players were supposed to discover an unbelievable amount.
Many had the impression: The game of the decade, perhaps even of the century, was coming our way, which would open up new horizons.
The Reality: When the game was released, it was bought like crazy. However, No Man’s Sky itself fell far short of the huge expectations of the hyped fans in 2016. They felt they had been sold a lemon. The game appeared “flat and unfinished” in the eyes of many. Little of the complexity was to be felt. The internet’s fury rained down on the game and on developer Sean Murray.
Sean Murray and No Man’s Sky became the poster child for “games that promise a lot and deliver little.” A reputation that had previously belonged to Peter Molyneux. Many memes and mock videos followed:
Developer says: I was naive and enthusiastic
Little contact with the press since then: In recent years, Sean Murray has been scarce. Everything he promised in interviews for No Man’s Sky later became his undoing, as little of it could be found in the game. Understandably, one doesn’t feel like giving interviews that often anymore.
Now, however, Murray spoke to the press on the occasion of the new updates “Next”, the British The Guardian. In the interview, he discusses the difficult time he had after “No Man’s Sky,” where he became one of the most hated figures in the gaming scene.
How to explain the mistakes?
“The internet is very good at knowing when someone made a mistake. But it’s not necessarily great at finding the best response to that. We certainly made a lot of mistakes in communication. I never liked talking to the press. I didn’t enjoy doing it. And when I did, I was naive and got too excited about my game. There were a lot of things around the launch that I regret today and would do differently.”
What was the worst fan reaction?
“I remember receiving a death threat because there were butterflies in the original trailer. You could see the butterflies as you walked past them. But in the finished game, there were no butterflies. I remember thinking: If you send someone death threats regarding butterflies in a video game, you might be the villain in this story.”
What has happened since then? Murray and his team have been working since 2016 to make “No Man’s Sky” the game it was supposed to be at release. Soon, the update “Next” will be launched. We have introduced it here.
