No Man's Sky
Sean Murray pours one out for No Man's Sky permadeath player who stranded himself in bittersweet space purgatory: 'All I can do is sit in my ship, watch the lightning storms, and wait for my oxygen to run out'May 12, 2025 - PC GamerIf you ask me, No Man's Sky is at its best when it's at its most desolate—when it's just you, your spaceship, and the awe of an indifferent cosmos. By most metrics, No Man's Sky has only improved since its launch in 2016, but all those massive updates and feature additions have made that delightful isolation a bit harder to find... Read more.No Man's Sky's latest update, Relics, lets you become the space version of Ross from Friends by collecting big dead alien fossilsMar 26, 2025 - VG247Good news, if you've ever wanted to fire up No Man's Sky and roleplay as a guy who likes dinosaurs so much he's made it a career and also somehow managed to shag Jennifer Aniston, today's your lucky day. Developer Hello Games has just deployed the Relics update, and its big thing is letting you collect big alien fossils. Read more Dig up planets for skeletons and fight huge guardians in the latest No Man's Sky updateMar 26, 2025 - GamingOnLinuxHello Game have somehow done it again. No Man's Sky has another surprisingly large update available adding in more new content like a fossil beds to dig up skeletons and big fights against huge guardians. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/03/dig-up-planets-for-skeletons-and-fight-huge-guardians-in-the-latest-no-mans-sky-update/ No Man’s Sky lets you unearth ancient, angry mechs in the astro-archaeology filled Relics updateMar 26, 2025 - PC GamerWhile October might have been a better time to introduce spooky scary skeletons to No Man’s Sky, I don’t think anything is ever going to stop Hello Games in their quest to turn their once-bare-bones space sandbox into the home of all things to all people... Read more.Introducing...No Man's Sky: RELICSMar 26, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello! Following hot on the heels of the massive Worlds Part II update back in January which introduced a whole range of visual enhancements, gameplay additions and quality of life improvements, the small No Man’s Sky team have let their imaginations run wild and been having a lot of fun playing around with something really whimsical but remarkably transformative for what is possibly our most surprising update yet. We’re calling it RELICS and it is available to download free to existing players from today. Full patch notes are available here. Since launch, because of the way that No Man’s Sky’s planetary terrain works, No Man’s Sky players have enjoyed being able to dig down through the earth to find buried technologies or other valuable items hidden beneath their feet. From today, players will start to find a whole new category of palaeontological finds - the skeletal remains of alien creatures which used to inhabit these worlds. So terrain manipulators at the ready! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/f12da0fb5c2c24d920c87cda6906e93c9a29896b.jpg Just as the living creatures which continue to populate the star systems, there is a huge variety of prehistoric bones, in all shapes and sizes, to excavate and collect. It’s up to you how you reassemble them and there’s a lot of fun to be had building ever-more outrageous skeletons to put on display in your bases-turned-museums or share with your fellow Travellers. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/c3faa5d89b99196f51a5553b5706eaefb5134b3a.jpg Much like with the aquatic life from the Aquarius expedition from last year, the skulls and bones out there to be discovered vary hugely in rarity so you never quite know what you’re going to unearth. The most uncommon finds hold huge value and can be bartered with at the Space Station. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/52f496ffd9bd25105b844acc1d6382d069d5b40b.jpg To coincide with RELICS, a tailor-made community expedition starts shortly which challenges players to compete for the rarest finds. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/ec3ccacbc39a6900b54a8a863fb5fb75877a5e45.jpg Players should be wary where they choose to excavate though. Much like how the Sentinels keep watch above ground, or the fiends protect their whispering eggs, dangerous artefact creatures guard the greatest treasure and can be easily awoken from their eon-long slumber! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/4f9ea2ad6e340fa0f8ae481eec1650513c08c8ac.jpg The RELICS update brings the sense of a before-time to No Man’s Sky and we think players will have a lot of fun digging into the new-found palaeontology of the universe. Who knows, they may even find the massive skeleton of the epic and awesome Titan Worm. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/6d00664ded51b8188b6c1fc0b8f9e9be72d3e3bb.jpg The year got off to a great start with Worlds Part II and we welcomed a huge influx of new players. I can’t wait to show you what else we have in store for 2025. Full patch notes for RELICS can be found here. Our journey continues. Sean P.S. Please consider wishlistin...New No Man's Sky update lets you dig for fossils of long-lost creaturesMar 25, 2025 - PCGamesNThere are already plenty of reasons why you might want to get out your Terrain Manipulator and dig a big ol' hole on one of No Man's Sky's quintillions of planets. Maybe you've scanned and located a buried tech module. Maybe you're mining some resources. Or maybe you're just seeing if you can tunnel your way to the other side of whatever world you're on (spoiler: you can't). With today's new No Man's Sky update, titled Relics, there's now an even more compelling reason to get digging, because you can now unearth fossils. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: No Man's Sky just added trillions of new planets to the game out of nowhere After eight long years, No Man's Sky Steam reviews are finally great No Man's Sky adds a game changing quality-of-life feature, eight years later Expedition 17: "Titan" Now Live!Feb 12, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello everyone! Following on from last month’s massive Worlds Part II update, today we are launching our seventeenth expedition: TITAN, and inviting the entire community to explore some of the new planets introduced in Worlds Part II. Awaken upon the spectacular but dangerous New Aftesfi, a titanic gas giant ravaged by tornadoes and encircled by moons. Chart a course between rendezvous points to reach a dazzling array of new stars and new worlds, endless oceans and cloud-skimming mountains. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/93c1707a5a7ce0c5e872ccd8bf3e7f500cee6d90.jpg Titan begins today, and will run for approximately six weeks. Participating Travellers can complete milestones to earn a generous spread of exclusive rewards: Titan Expedition Rewards Gas Giant, Depth Warning, and Cartographer’s posters Commemorate your journey through the Titan expedition with these stylish and colourful posters. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/18c342ccdeabdc87d9404ae45e4bec46a4a1b4d3.png “Titan Stripes” Ship Customisation An exclusive starship customisation option, creating a vibrant and eye-catching appearance for Fighter and Hauler class starships. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/50f53b1eb6aa078ee9db8fe9c3e9d731f5490d54.jpg Surveyor’s Cape A robust and well-made covering: waterproof, windproof and designed to keep the wearer protected against anything they may encounter while exploring unmapped worlds. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/1d887c790cc2f9c49c6f1a868b18e093b31e3376.png “Pillar of Titan” Staff This sturdy staff is hewn from polished stone, and yet floats in the hand as if it were no weight at all. It is a perfect companion to those who seek to make long trips across the wilderness. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/ea900f9f896f8bae3f6dc920ce60d4ea0ab567d0.png The Wraith Survey new worlds in the Titan Expedition to claim The Wraith, a unique living ship dredged from the inky depths of a water world. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/62979d0bada53a7a5c343913e861004e61720c1b.jpg Once earned, these rewards may be redeemed across all your save games. Begin the Titan expedition from the Expedition Terminus aboard the Space Anomaly, or from a fresh new save, which you can later choose to convert a Normal Mode save. Note that new saves converted to Normal Mode in this way will continue to have access to the new purple star systems, and the story mission In Stellar Multitudes will not be available. Our upcoming game, Light No Fire, is powered by the same engine that drives No Man’s Sky. If you’re interested to see where we take our technology next, you can keep up with news by wishlisting Light No Fire on Steam here. Development Update In addition to launching the Titan expedition today, we’ve released an update for No Man’s Sky, version 5.55, which includes a number of high-priority fixes and improvements. The patch notes are available here. Thank you for playing. We have so much more planned for 2025! Our journey continues. Sean No Man's Sky - Worlds Part II brings Gas Giants, New Story Missions, Trillions of New PlanetsJan 29, 2025 - GamingOnLinuxHello Games have given us another almighty whopper of an update to No Man's Sky here. The scale was already impressive and now it's just completely ridiculous. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/01/no-mans-sky-worlds-part-ii-brings-gas-giants-new-story-missions-trillions-of-new-planets/ Introducing...Worlds Part IIJan 29, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello! No Man’s Sky is a game that we all genuinely truly love. Last year we released Worlds Part I and I remember thinking at the time that this is just the beginning. We can’t wait to show people what we’ve been working on! There’s new solar systems, new planets with more variety, new terrain types, even new Gas Giants, and of course new adventures. Our next update is called Worlds Part II. Full patch notes are available here. Worlds Part II allows us to push the boundaries of our engine with new technology. Across the universe we’re adding billions of new solar systems and trillions of new planets, and introducing new biomes and terrains without changing what people already love about the game. It’s now so far beyond what we ever thought was possible when we started out. I’ve been working on a new terrain system for a little while now. Terrain is more detailed and far more varied with huge mountains and these massive features. I’m genuinely at my happiest working on this stuff. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/aee09e7b19565a6d3ca4f49615de55b91b057101.jpg The team is extremely busy on Light No Fire (wishlist it here!). Each time we push our engine to new places though we have this urge to share it with the community, with No Man’s Sky. Gas giants are truly epic, ten times bigger than our biggest planet. It’s truly end-game stuff to explore them with huge storms that rage across the surface. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/055a7cc4494425cfdbe41bb686d110c48711b01e.jpg New tech allows oceans that can be several kilometers deep. A new lighting system makes them look so different. New caustics, light shafts and the deeper that you explore the darker it gets. I’ve had these moments where you’re exploring and suddenly some huge creature comes into view and it’s just incredible. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/da4c5dd95908254c49b595733eff9879249d2709.jpg Every element of our lighting has been rewritten. Shadows show more details, light flickers through the leaves, caves are dark and immersive. Oceans now reflect the clouds and stars to create these beautiful sunsets and night skies. Water reacts physically to the world around it. Creatures wade through it. There’s little dimples in the rain, and there are large waves as ships fly overhead. Sometimes there’s these moments where a ship just flies past the still ocean and the water ripples underneath and it’s just so peaceful to watch. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/ed1c6dc533aae2ef315fe07d5e2ff72dcfdff777.jpg In the depths of the ocean and on land there’s these new creatures to discover. I think we’ve gone probably weirder than ever before. When you land on a planet all the tech combines to create an emotion, that feeling of knowing that no one has ever been on this world before. I think it’s what makes this game really special. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/79484b82c5fa889045e581b77efd089061a8d4d2.jpg There’s tonnes of new gameplay too. There’s this huge quest that ties together some strands that we’ve been building for years...No Man's Sky's Worlds Part 2 update brings "billions of new stars and planets" including huge gas giants, but I'm curious about the wrath of its trippy flying squid mumsJan 29, 2025 - VG247Hey, No Man's Sky developer Hello Games has just deployed the second part of the huge Worlds update it served up the first bit of last year. Just because it's only part 2 of an update, don't let that convince you it's missable, there are "billions of new stars and planets" packed into it, as well as trippy wrathful squid things that I find pretty interesting. Read more No Man's Sky is getting 'trillions of new planets,' some with oceans 'several kilometers deep,' plus explorable 'end-game' gas giantsJan 29, 2025 - PC GamerIf you thought 2025 would be any different from the last nine years of No Man's Sky updates… why would you think that? That would be a weird thought to have. Stop having weird thoughts... Read more.No Man's Sky just added trillions of new planets to the game out of nowhereJan 29, 2025 - PCGamesNNo Man's Sky is consistently the most impressive comeback story in videogames. Yes, CD Projekt Red overhauled Cyberpunk 2077 after launch, and Bethesda keeps enhancing Fallout 76, but what Hello Games has achieved in the last nine years is extraordinary. The narrative of No Man's Sky was far from over when it launched in August of 2016, as Hello Games has consistently delivered free updates that take the cosmic exploration game from strength to strength. Today is no different, because after months of waiting, No Man's Sky Worlds Part 2 is finally here. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: After eight long years, No Man's Sky Steam reviews are finally great No Man's Sky adds a game changing quality-of-life feature, eight years later New No Man's Sky update The Cursed tears apart the very fabric of reality Aquarius Expedition back for a limited time onlyJan 8, 2025 - Community AnnouncementsHello! As part of our season of 2024 Expedition Reduxes, the Aquarius Expedition goes live today. It will run for two weeks until 22nd January. Back in September 2024, we launched the Aquarius update, and with it introduced fishing to No Man's Sky, partly because it's just a fun thing to do alone or with friends, but mostly to show off the new water effects which the Worlds Part I update had ushered in a few months before! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/8870a5af72c717292ed7c6f30d47f0494edbaf84.jpg It's fair to say that introducing something as seemingly incongruous as fishing into a sci-fi world has been met with almost universal joy from the community. Clearly there was a pent-up need to pause the exploration, base-building, or adventuring for a while, find a suitable waterside spot, and sit and relax while waiting to see what the catch of the day would be! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/6c30e714843de17e23214855b3e82e06ae13251d.jpg The Aquarius Update also introduced a new waterborne platform, the ExoSkiff which enables you to venture further from the shoreline and fish for bigger catches in deeper waters. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/7e9e399d2af6f8ef98d108fb154cf96dfa32a40a.jpg The Aquarius Expedition which accompanied the update encouraged Travellers to explore the vast array of water expanses the universe had to offer and hone their angling skills in the pursuit of the limited time rewards, not least the Deep Sea diving suit and Aquarius Flight Pack. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/02238973e8eba471eb79d9ee24cad1dec27ef4ef.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/e0dadc480a0c9a4711eb9dd8dc8847f443402db8.png These rewards and many more are once again available to claim from today for those who embark on the Aquarius Expedition Redux which runs from the 8th to the 22nd January. The final Redux of the 2024 Expeditions, The Cursed, which includes the vaunted UFO-style Boundary Herald Starship will follow on 22nd January. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/aa227314598d0b0b22886c4bee75fab5332ce63d.jpg The small No Man's Sky team are working very hard on some really exciting things for 2025 and we can't wait to share them with you very soon. Our journey continues. Sean P.S. Perhaps while you're waiting for a bite on your line, you may want to wishlist our next big game, Light No Fire here. Limited edition "Starborn Phoenix" to celebrate our TGA Community Support nod!Dec 12, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello Everyone! The first of 2024’s holiday expeditions has just come to an end: the redux of Omega. We’ve loved reading everyone’s expedition anecdotes and positive feedback, and seeing the incredible popularity of the Starborn Runner starship. However, if you missed this opportunity to claim the Starborn Runner (or if you just can’t get enough of its hovership design) we have some very good news… Today, in association with The Game Awards 2024 and to celebrate our Best Community Support nomination, we are excited to reveal the Starborn Phoenix, a limited edition golden starship. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/8f898bb86f4923829837a74d55f7a9b4762597a6.jpg The Starborn Phoenix is free to claim on Steam right now, until 10:00 PT / 18:00 GMT on Dec 19th - even if you don’t own No Man’s Sky. You can then redeem your ship in-game from the Quicksilver Synthesis Companion aboard the Space Anomaly. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/cf9f21d76e3b570e00e74982124c3c6187cf716d.jpg Claim your Starborn Phoenix starship on Steam here. *** In addition, the Adrift expedition, first run back in May of this year, is running again now, offering one more chance to unlock another sought-after starship, exclusive to Adrift - the Iron Vulture. Alone in an empty universe, Adrift redefines what it means to survive among the stars. Communications from other Travellers are consumed by static, and in a reality devoid of other lifeforms, there are no shops, no trading, no shortcuts and no help, providing a very different survival experience. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9164327/682c20faf7cbdf8b4935259ff570ccb339b9593e.jpg The Adrift expedition runs for two weeks until 25th December. The remaining expedition redux dates are as follows: Liquidators: 25th Dec - 8th Jan Aquarius: 8th Jan - 22nd Jan The Cursed: 22nd Jan - 5th Feb While you’re enjoying these second bites of the expedition cherry over the holiday season, know that the tiny No Man’s Sky team are working hard on more surprises for 2025. We’d like to wish our entire community very happy holidays! Our journey continues. Sean Perhaps take a moment to wishlist our next game, Light No Fire, here. Almost a decade on from its release, No Man's Sky is finally at very positive on Steam, and the best part is one dev says they "aren’t even close" to being doneDec 1, 2024 - VG247More than eight years after first launching, No Man's Sky finally has a very positive rating on Steam, and one Hello Games dev promises there's still much more to come. Read more No Man's Sky получила статус "Очень положительно" в разделе обзоров SteamNov 30, 2024 - Gamemag.ruСпустя восемь лет после проблемного релиза игра No Man's Sky от студии Hello Games смогла получить в Steam статус «Очень положительно» на основе пользовательских обзоров. Достижение отпраздновал глава команды разработчиков Шон Мюррей. No Man's Sky dev reflects on the new Very Positive rating on Steam and promises that this is only the beginning: 'We aren't even close to being finished yet'Nov 29, 2024 - PC GamerEarlier this week, No Man's Sky finally managed to reach a very positive rating on Steam. It only took eight years and a ridiculous amount of effort to get there, but it turns out that even after this great milestone, the developers aren't planning to end development anytime soon... Read more.Feeling "VERY POSITIVE"Nov 28, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsHello Folks! Last night we finally did it! After eight years, we crossed the 80% positive review threshold on Steam to earn a "Very Positive" badge on "ALL REVIEWS". Honestly, I didn't think we'd ever do this, and it's all thanks to you all in the community. Thank you, thank you, thank you. We have nearly quarter of a million reviews, so mathematically it's pretty hard to change the % that are positive! For every 10,000 players, maybe 100 review the game. If 80% of those reviews are positive, the first 79 don't change our %, only that 80th person makes a difference! Ten thousands players, resulting in a single extra positive, dropped into an ocean of quarter of a million existing reviews! It gets geometrically harder the higher you climb too - so moving from 70% to 71% took us a month, but moving from 79% to 80% took nearly a year! We figured it might never happen - but it has and it genuinely means so much to us. This year has been particularly busy for our tiny team, with the launch of four major updates: Omega, Orbital, Aquarius and the mammoth Worlds Part I. Most recently we have introduced cross-save to enable players across a huge number of platforms to bring their progress to other devices. We have also run five large expeditions throughout the year, each one packed with unique challenges and exclusive rewards. If you missed out on any of these, we just started a re-run of these over the holidays. No Man's Sky is absolutely our Labor of Love and it would mean the world to us if you've enjoyed any of our work throughout the years, you could pop an "x" in our box. Oh, and maybe consider wishlisting our next game, Light No Fire, while you're at it! Our journey continues. Sean'Holy s**t you guys—it happened': 8 years after a terrible launch, No Man's Sky has reached a Very Positive rating on SteamNov 27, 2024 - PC GamerCyberpunk 2077 is often held up as the greatest redemption arc in videogame history, but I think No Man's Sky has a legitimate claim on the crown too. More than eight years after it landed with an ugly thud on Steam—a "supernova of negative backlash and disappointment," as we put it at the time —Hello Games' sci-fi exploration epic has clawed its way up to a "very positive" rating on Steam ... Read more.After eight long years, No Man's Sky Steam reviews are finally greatNov 27, 2024 - PCGamesNTuesday, August 9, 2016. After months of hype, Hello Games' hugely ambitious space adventure No Man's Sky is finally released. And it's a letdown. It's not what anyone hoped it would be. In the past, this would be the entirety of the story. But in the modern gaming world, the end of development is just the beginning. Between updates, overhauls, new versions, patches, and a gradual expansion of the original vision, in eight years, No Man's Sky has finally become the game of which its creators and its players dreamed. Its success is reflected in various metrics, but now, NMS can lay claim to that most coveted of PC gaming status symbols: 'very positive' Steam reviews. Read the rest of the story... RELATED LINKS: No Man's Sky adds a game changing quality-of-life feature, eight years later New No Man's Sky update The Cursed tears apart the very fabric of reality No Man's Sky builds on Worlds success with another amazing new feature No Man’s Sky Had Almost Half of the Original Launch’s Player Count Return Over the Weekend on SteamJul 30, 2018 - GitHypAfter failing to deliver on numerous promises made by the developers, No Man’s Sky had one of the most controversial launches ever back in 2016.
Now, No Man’s Sky is back in the news… but this time, it’s due to the game’s very well-received “NEXT” update that was just released.
Last week, we reported on the NEXT update’s launch peak of 43k concurrent players on Steam – which at the time was very impressive considering the game’s player base has dropped from its original peak of 212k players to recently under 1k concurrent players.
But since launching NEXT, No Man’s Sky has continued to grow, and over the weekend hit a peak of 97k concurrent players on Steam. Something nobody believed would ever happen again.
NEXT isn’t the first big update No Man’s Sky has received over the past two years. After all the backlash, Sean Murray and his small team of developers at Hello Games have been hard at work adding tons of new features each year.
And while base-building, portals, vehicles, and giant freight ships were all great new features that brought back tiny fractions of the player base, it was true 4-player online multiplayer that helped No Man’s Sky return to its former glory back in Steam's top 10 most played games.
The core gameplay of No Man’s Sky is still very similar to what it was at launch, so most players will likely lose interest again. But with the developers continuing to add new content for free and the game discounted by 50% on Steam, this time more players than ever are leaving with a very positive experience.No Man’s Sky is Back in Steam’s Top 10 Most Played GamesJul 25, 2018 - GitHypWith a peak of 212k concurrent players back in August 2016, No Man’s Sky had one of the biggest launches of any game over the past few years on Steam.
Sadly, shallow gameplay and missing features like multiplayer resulted in the player base instantly declining. And within 1 month, there were under 1k concurrent players left playing No Man's Sky.
Sean Murray and his team at Hello Games stayed silent during the games troubled launch. But surprisingly, as players requested refunds and even threatened lawsuits, the dev team kept working on adding more features, believing that their actions would eventually speak louder than words.
Now, after a couple other big updates that have added new features such as base-building, ground vehicles, and extra modes, No Man’s Sky has released its biggest update yet. And with the “NEXT” update, Hello Games has finally delivered on the most requested feature since launch… multiplayer!
Yep, No Man’s Sky has finally introduced real 4-player co-op multiplayer where you can actually see other players in-game -- and even see yourself now in third person. As a result, more players than ever have returned to give the game another shot, and so far, the reviews have switched from mostly negative to very positive on Steam.
Peaking at 43k concurrent players yesterday, No Man’s Sky has cracked Steam’s top 10 most played games once again at #8. Currently ahead of popular games such as ARK, Rocket League, and Fallout 4, this latest update is the best NMS has done since launching at #3 on Steam two years ago.
Yesterday’s peak easily doubled NMS’ previous post-launch peak of 19k players last August when Hello Games released the game’s 1-year anniversary update, Atlas Rises. A promising update that still lacked a true multiplayer experience which lead to the numbers dwindling back down to an average of less than 1k players each hour as players in 2018.
The hype that the NEXT update has brought back to No Man’s Sky will likely die back down just as it has already multiple times already for the game. But it’s still good to see that both gamers and the developers aren't giving up on No Man's Sky. And with multiplayer now added, the game discounted 50% off, and free weekly content on the way, players certainly have a reason to stick around a little longer than before.
Update: Just a few days after this article was published, No Man's Sky's growth continued, hitting 97k concurrent players on Steam.No Man’s Sky Player Counts One Year After Launching on SteamAug 8, 2017 - GitHypThe little indie game that saw its hype grow to galactic proportions, No Man’s Sky, became the highest played new game of 2016 when it peaked at 212k concurrent players on Steam last year.
But one week after the controversial launch, No Man’s Sky saw its player counts plummet by a stunning 78%. Then less than two months after launch, 94% of NMS’ playerbase was sadly gone.
Things looked grim for Hello Games with all the negative feedback, refunds, and even lawsuits being thrown at the team while the game’s creator Sean Murray stayed silent. But before 2016 was over, the developers returned with NMS’ first big update that spiked the player counts by 10x to a peak of 8k players.
[caption id="attachment_281873" align="aligncenter" width="747"]
No Man's Sky Peak Concurrent Players on Steam via GitHyp[/caption]
While the base-building update helped No Man’s Sky show signs of life after the playerbase flatlined, the numbers quickly dropped back down to under 1k concurrent players. Three months later, a second big content update was released. It too brought back a similar peak of 7k players. It too dropped back down to under 1k players per hour a month later.
More recently, No Man’s Sky was discounted by 60% to $24 during the Steam Summer Sale. Yet, despite over half off the price, the player counts barely doubled during the sale. And once again, the gains were short-lived with the playerbase returning to its same core of 500-1,000 concurrent players, down over 99% from its launch day peak.
With the upcoming 1-year anniversary of No Man’s Sky, an alternate reality game called “Project Walking Titan” has lead die-hard fans on a treasure hunt hoping for new races, portals, and/or multiplayer. But at this point, it’s hard to see how even the inclusion of multiplayer could ever return No Man’s Sky anywhere near its former Day 1 glory.No Man's Sky Showing Signs of Life with Players Returning After First Big Content UpdateNov 28, 2016 - GitHypWith a peak of 212k players in a single hour on its first day, No Man's Sky set the record for 2016's biggest launch on Steam. Sadly, 2016's biggest launch quickly turned into 2016's biggest bomb as the hundreds of thousands of early adopters rapidly dwindled down to only hundreds of players per hour after two months.
Since then, things have only gotten worse for the developers with lawsuits, refunds, and the game losing over 96% of its playerbase. But shockingly, after months of silence, Sean Murray and his team at Hello Games have returned with the "Foundation Update" which has sparked the interest of PC gamers. And over the past two days since Patch 1.1 was released, the player counts for No Man's Sky have increased enough to bring the game back from ranking outside the top 1000 games on Steam to currently within the top 50.
Getting into the precise stats, No Man's Sky was averaging around 300-500 players per hour last week on Steam. After Patch 1.1, the game is now averaging 10x that number with 3,000-5,000 players per hour and a peak of over 8k players. While it's still a small playerbase that seems light years away from its record-setting peak back in August, the surge in players is proof that there is some interest left among gamers looking for more in-game content if the team can continue to release big updates in a timely manor.
[caption id="attachment_221227" align="aligncenter" width="770"]
GitHyp's No Man Sky Player Count Per Hour Data[/caption]
As you can see when looking at GitHyp's data over the past two days, there was a huge jump in player count numbers, however, comparing yesterday to today shows the numbers are already slightly decreasing with smaller peaks during prime hours. We saw a similar revival with Evolve: Stage 2 in October when Turtle Rock switched their failing competitive shooter to the free-to-play model. Yet, it still wasn't enough to save the game and the playerbase fell back down almost as quickly as it spiked up after the update.
The sheer amount of potential that No Man's Sky offers with its tech gives a glimmer of hope that Hello Games might one day deliver on their over-promised game that under-delivered, but then again, that's how the hype started and lead to the game's downfall. So it's unlikely that No Man's Sky will ever return to its high player count launch numbers unless much bigger changes are made... which, of course, the developers continue to tease.
For those still interested and not willing to give up on the game just yet like the devs, the Foundation Update brings a vast amount of free improvements to No Man's Sky such as: a new survival and casual mode, base-building, alien recruits, faster transportation options, farming, item stacking, interstellar freighters, tweaks to the interface, and more... but, still no word from Sean and the developers regarding multiplayer.No Man's Sky Has Dropped to Less Than 1,000 Concurrent Players on SteamSep 23, 2016 - GitHypNo Man's Sky was supposed to be the biggest game of 2016... and in many ways, it has been. But having the biggest drop in players of not just 2016, but of the last few years, is certainly not one achievement that Sean Murray and his small team at Hello Games were hoping to unlock... and certainly not what gamers were expecting after being promised so much from a game that turned out to deliver so little among its 18 quintillion planets.
At its peak the day it launched, No Man's Sky reached as high as 212k concurrent players on Steam. But within only its first week, the game lost 78% of its playerbase. And now, less than two months after its launch, things have only gotten worse for No Man's Sky with the game dropping to under 1,000 players per hour and only peaking at 2,000 players per hour. That's a 94% drop in just its first 42 days which has taken NMS from the #3 most played game on Steam to #132 today.
[caption id="attachment_202947" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
GitHyp’s No Man's Sky Peak Player Count per Hour Data[/caption]
Since the time of our first player count story a week after the game's launch back on August 18, Sean Murray has gone missing. His previously-active Twitter account hasn't been updated since that day and nobody at Hello Games has had anything to say other than releasing a few minor patches. The developers have even gone as far as closing topics they have control over on Steam that address concern and reference the falling player counts.
While many fans still believe there could be hope for the game with the developers originally promising more content to come after launch, things aren't looking good for the future of No Man's Sky. Ubisoft's The Division had a similar 93% drop earlier this year on Steam and despite multiple content updates, the game never recovered. Considering that there's been far more outrage geared towards Hello Games and their game's launch, it's unlikely that we'll see No Man Sky climb back up the charts and return anywhere close to its launch day glory.
Update 1/5/2017: The playerbase for NMS saw a huge increase after the game's first big update in November, however, history has repeated itself and after less than two months the game has again dropped back down to under 1,000 players per hour.No Man’s Sky Has Lost 78% of its Playerbase in its First Week on SteamAug 18, 2016 - GitHypNo Man’s Sky has been one of the most hyped up games of the past couple years... and with good reason. Hello Games' ambitious idea to create a universe on par with the size of our own known universe in a video game was both beautiful and mind-blowing when teased in previews.
Last week’s launch proved that there was just as much hype among gamers as ever with No Man’s Sky bringing in an average of 212k players at its peak and becoming the biggest launch of 2016.
However, reactions among gamers since the launch have been very mixed and there have been a tremendous amount of technical issues reported by players on PC that have caused gamers to abandon their short trips to space.
[caption id="attachment_193179" align="aligncenter" width="800"]
GitHyp’s No Man's Sky Player Count per Hour Data[/caption]
Last Friday during the No Man Sky release, player counts peaked around 212k players on Steam. Almost doubling the prior top 3 launches of 2016: XCOM 2 - 132k peak launch players, Dark Souls III - 129k players, and The Division - 113k players.
And while No Man’s Sky has continued to stay in Steam’s top 5 most played games all week, it has been quickly hemorrhaging players with a 78% decrease from its highest peak 7 days ago of 212k players to its highest peak so far today of 47k players.
Hello Games' dev team just released a patch today in an effort to try and quickly remedy many PC players' problems, but at this point it might be too little too late and the other remaining issues and controversies surrounding the ambitious new title could turn 2016’s biggest launch into 2016’s biggest bomb.
Update: The player count numbers have dropped further down to 93% in the past two weeks since launch and the developers are now locking threads on Steam that source player count stats.
Update 2: The player count numbers have dropped even further down to 98% now a month after launch and the developers have remained silent since the original post date of this article.
NEXT isn’t the first big update No Man’s Sky has received over the past two years. After all the backlash, Sean Murray and his small team of developers at Hello Games have been hard at work adding tons of new features each year.
And while base-building, portals, vehicles, and giant freight ships were all great new features that brought back tiny fractions of the player base, it was true 4-player online multiplayer that helped No Man’s Sky return to its former glory back in Steam's top 10 most played games.
The core gameplay of No Man’s Sky is still very similar to what it was at launch, so most players will likely lose interest again. But with the developers continuing to add new content for free and the game discounted by 50% on Steam, this time more players than ever are leaving with a very positive experience.No Man’s Sky is Back in Steam’s Top 10 Most Played GamesJul 25, 2018 - GitHypWith a peak of 212k concurrent players back in August 2016, No Man’s Sky had one of the biggest launches of any game over the past few years on Steam.
Sadly, shallow gameplay and missing features like multiplayer resulted in the player base instantly declining. And within 1 month, there were under 1k concurrent players left playing No Man's Sky.
Sean Murray and his team at Hello Games stayed silent during the games troubled launch. But surprisingly, as players requested refunds and even threatened lawsuits, the dev team kept working on adding more features, believing that their actions would eventually speak louder than words.
Now, after a couple other big updates that have added new features such as base-building, ground vehicles, and extra modes, No Man’s Sky has released its biggest update yet. And with the “NEXT” update, Hello Games has finally delivered on the most requested feature since launch… multiplayer!
Yep, No Man’s Sky has finally introduced real 4-player co-op multiplayer where you can actually see other players in-game -- and even see yourself now in third person. As a result, more players than ever have returned to give the game another shot, and so far, the reviews have switched from mostly negative to very positive on Steam.
Peaking at 43k concurrent players yesterday, No Man’s Sky has cracked Steam’s top 10 most played games once again at #8. Currently ahead of popular games such as ARK, Rocket League, and Fallout 4, this latest update is the best NMS has done since launching at #3 on Steam two years ago.
Yesterday’s peak easily doubled NMS’ previous post-launch peak of 19k players last August when Hello Games released the game’s 1-year anniversary update, Atlas Rises. A promising update that still lacked a true multiplayer experience which lead to the numbers dwindling back down to an average of less than 1k players each hour as players in 2018.
The hype that the NEXT update has brought back to No Man’s Sky will likely die back down just as it has already multiple times already for the game. But it’s still good to see that both gamers and the developers aren't giving up on No Man's Sky. And with multiplayer now added, the game discounted 50% off, and free weekly content on the way, players certainly have a reason to stick around a little longer than before.
Update: Just a few days after this article was published, No Man's Sky's growth continued, hitting 97k concurrent players on Steam.No Man’s Sky Player Counts One Year After Launching on SteamAug 8, 2017 - GitHypThe little indie game that saw its hype grow to galactic proportions, No Man’s Sky, became the highest played new game of 2016 when it peaked at 212k concurrent players on Steam last year.
But one week after the controversial launch, No Man’s Sky saw its player counts plummet by a stunning 78%. Then less than two months after launch, 94% of NMS’ playerbase was sadly gone.
Things looked grim for Hello Games with all the negative feedback, refunds, and even lawsuits being thrown at the team while the game’s creator Sean Murray stayed silent. But before 2016 was over, the developers returned with NMS’ first big update that spiked the player counts by 10x to a peak of 8k players.
[caption id="attachment_281873" align="aligncenter" width="747"] No Man's Sky Peak Concurrent Players on Steam via GitHyp[/caption]
While the base-building update helped No Man’s Sky show signs of life after the playerbase flatlined, the numbers quickly dropped back down to under 1k concurrent players. Three months later, a second big content update was released. It too brought back a similar peak of 7k players. It too dropped back down to under 1k players per hour a month later.
More recently, No Man’s Sky was discounted by 60% to $24 during the Steam Summer Sale. Yet, despite over half off the price, the player counts barely doubled during the sale. And once again, the gains were short-lived with the playerbase returning to its same core of 500-1,000 concurrent players, down over 99% from its launch day peak.
With the upcoming 1-year anniversary of No Man’s Sky, an alternate reality game called “Project Walking Titan” has lead die-hard fans on a treasure hunt hoping for new races, portals, and/or multiplayer. But at this point, it’s hard to see how even the inclusion of multiplayer could ever return No Man’s Sky anywhere near its former Day 1 glory.No Man's Sky Showing Signs of Life with Players Returning After First Big Content UpdateNov 28, 2016 - GitHypWith a peak of 212k players in a single hour on its first day, No Man's Sky set the record for 2016's biggest launch on Steam. Sadly, 2016's biggest launch quickly turned into 2016's biggest bomb as the hundreds of thousands of early adopters rapidly dwindled down to only hundreds of players per hour after two months.
Since then, things have only gotten worse for the developers with lawsuits, refunds, and the game losing over 96% of its playerbase. But shockingly, after months of silence, Sean Murray and his team at Hello Games have returned with the "Foundation Update" which has sparked the interest of PC gamers. And over the past two days since Patch 1.1 was released, the player counts for No Man's Sky have increased enough to bring the game back from ranking outside the top 1000 games on Steam to currently within the top 50.
Getting into the precise stats, No Man's Sky was averaging around 300-500 players per hour last week on Steam. After Patch 1.1, the game is now averaging 10x that number with 3,000-5,000 players per hour and a peak of over 8k players. While it's still a small playerbase that seems light years away from its record-setting peak back in August, the surge in players is proof that there is some interest left among gamers looking for more in-game content if the team can continue to release big updates in a timely manor.
[caption id="attachment_221227" align="aligncenter" width="770"] GitHyp's No Man Sky Player Count Per Hour Data[/caption]
As you can see when looking at GitHyp's data over the past two days, there was a huge jump in player count numbers, however, comparing yesterday to today shows the numbers are already slightly decreasing with smaller peaks during prime hours. We saw a similar revival with Evolve: Stage 2 in October when Turtle Rock switched their failing competitive shooter to the free-to-play model. Yet, it still wasn't enough to save the game and the playerbase fell back down almost as quickly as it spiked up after the update.
The sheer amount of potential that No Man's Sky offers with its tech gives a glimmer of hope that Hello Games might one day deliver on their over-promised game that under-delivered, but then again, that's how the hype started and lead to the game's downfall. So it's unlikely that No Man's Sky will ever return to its high player count launch numbers unless much bigger changes are made... which, of course, the developers continue to tease.
For those still interested and not willing to give up on the game just yet like the devs, the Foundation Update brings a vast amount of free improvements to No Man's Sky such as: a new survival and casual mode, base-building, alien recruits, faster transportation options, farming, item stacking, interstellar freighters, tweaks to the interface, and more... but, still no word from Sean and the developers regarding multiplayer.No Man's Sky Has Dropped to Less Than 1,000 Concurrent Players on SteamSep 23, 2016 - GitHypNo Man's Sky was supposed to be the biggest game of 2016... and in many ways, it has been. But having the biggest drop in players of not just 2016, but of the last few years, is certainly not one achievement that Sean Murray and his small team at Hello Games were hoping to unlock... and certainly not what gamers were expecting after being promised so much from a game that turned out to deliver so little among its 18 quintillion planets.
At its peak the day it launched, No Man's Sky reached as high as 212k concurrent players on Steam. But within only its first week, the game lost 78% of its playerbase. And now, less than two months after its launch, things have only gotten worse for No Man's Sky with the game dropping to under 1,000 players per hour and only peaking at 2,000 players per hour. That's a 94% drop in just its first 42 days which has taken NMS from the #3 most played game on Steam to #132 today.
[caption id="attachment_202947" align="aligncenter" width="800"] GitHyp’s No Man's Sky Peak Player Count per Hour Data[/caption]
Since the time of our first player count story a week after the game's launch back on August 18, Sean Murray has gone missing. His previously-active Twitter account hasn't been updated since that day and nobody at Hello Games has had anything to say other than releasing a few minor patches. The developers have even gone as far as closing topics they have control over on Steam that address concern and reference the falling player counts.
While many fans still believe there could be hope for the game with the developers originally promising more content to come after launch, things aren't looking good for the future of No Man's Sky. Ubisoft's The Division had a similar 93% drop earlier this year on Steam and despite multiple content updates, the game never recovered. Considering that there's been far more outrage geared towards Hello Games and their game's launch, it's unlikely that we'll see No Man Sky climb back up the charts and return anywhere close to its launch day glory.
Update 1/5/2017: The playerbase for NMS saw a huge increase after the game's first big update in November, however, history has repeated itself and after less than two months the game has again dropped back down to under 1,000 players per hour.No Man’s Sky Has Lost 78% of its Playerbase in its First Week on SteamAug 18, 2016 - GitHypNo Man’s Sky has been one of the most hyped up games of the past couple years... and with good reason. Hello Games' ambitious idea to create a universe on par with the size of our own known universe in a video game was both beautiful and mind-blowing when teased in previews.
Last week’s launch proved that there was just as much hype among gamers as ever with No Man’s Sky bringing in an average of 212k players at its peak and becoming the biggest launch of 2016.
However, reactions among gamers since the launch have been very mixed and there have been a tremendous amount of technical issues reported by players on PC that have caused gamers to abandon their short trips to space.
[caption id="attachment_193179" align="aligncenter" width="800"] GitHyp’s No Man's Sky Player Count per Hour Data[/caption]
Last Friday during the No Man Sky release, player counts peaked around 212k players on Steam. Almost doubling the prior top 3 launches of 2016: XCOM 2 - 132k peak launch players, Dark Souls III - 129k players, and The Division - 113k players.
And while No Man’s Sky has continued to stay in Steam’s top 5 most played games all week, it has been quickly hemorrhaging players with a 78% decrease from its highest peak 7 days ago of 212k players to its highest peak so far today of 47k players.
Hello Games' dev team just released a patch today in an effort to try and quickly remedy many PC players' problems, but at this point it might be too little too late and the other remaining issues and controversies surrounding the ambitious new title could turn 2016’s biggest launch into 2016’s biggest bomb.
Update: The player count numbers have dropped further down to 93% in the past two weeks since launch and the developers are now locking threads on Steam that source player count stats.
Update 2: The player count numbers have dropped even further down to 98% now a month after launch and the developers have remained silent since the original post date of this article.
Show Comments
