Game developer Hello Games, which made No Man's Sky, is gearing up for the game's biggest update yet, as well as its release for the Xbox One this summer.
No Man's Sky is a space exploration game that sparked immense hype before its launch in 2016 but then failed to live up to expectations. It received heavy criticism for promising far more than it delivered, but it made waves nevertheless.
The 'No Man's Sky' Experience
It's among the very few games that's both so acclaimed and so criticized, fueling highly mixed reactions. No Man's Sky promised a unique experience with procedurally generated worlds - basically an open universe with 18 quintillion planets, each with their own unique fauna, flora, and things to discover.
While the initial hype was tremendous, soon after the game's release in August 2016, players started complaining that it was repetitive, disappointing, and not sufficiently compelling.
The game developer tried to improve the experience by adding various updates to the original game, so far releasing the Foundation Update, the Path Finder Update, and the latest Atlas Rises Update that arrived last year.
2018 Update 'Sky NEXT' Is The Biggest Ever
No Man's Sky mathematically generates new worlds to explore, and when the procedural technology failed to live up to the hype, Hello Games tried to kick things up a notch through updates. While welcomed, the updates so far didn't do much to change the general sentiment that it's still not all it was touted to be.
The upcoming update, however, will reportedly be the game's biggest ever. This huge update will be called Sky NEXT and will hit the scene this summer, albeit not many details are available at this point.
Sean Murray, Hello Games founder, teased the upcoming Sky NEXT update on Twitter without going into detail, noting only that it's the biggest update yet and that the game will also become available for Xbox One players.
Coming in Summer 2018 is No Man's Sky NEXT, a free update for PS4, PC, Xbox and WeGame. It's our largest update so far, and we're working our socks off pic.twitter.com/wZhjaLMbsT — Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) March 29, 2018
The Sky NEXT update will be free for existing players, just like all other previous updates. The Atlas Rises update brought land vehicles, planetary quick-travel, and base building, but it remains to be seen what the new update brings to the table.
Xbox One Release
So far, No Man's Sky has been a PS4 console exclusive since its very release. People have been asking about an Xbox One launch and no definitive answer was given as to when it would become available on the said platform.
Now, Murray has confirmed that the game will finally reach Microsoft's console. Also, it will have optimizations for the Xbox One X with 4K and HDR support.
When it hits the Xbox One, No Man's Sky will include the whole expansion set with the Foundation, Path Finder, and Atlas Rises updates for the game.
Since the game developer stirred too much hype before the game's initial launch, then faced criticism for not delivering, it's now trying not to divulge any details before the release of the new update to avoid putting itself in the same situation again.
