Five years ago today, we launched No Man’s Sky. For the first time, we have seen players from all over the world begin to explore the universe we have created. It was a nerve-racking time and the culmination of five years of hard work for our small team (the average team size was only 6, and at launch it was only 15).
We knew it was the start of a trip, but we didn’t expect it to be a wild ride. Today we would like to take a moment to appreciate this important milestone together. It hasn’t always been easy, but what has always guided us are the players and the community. Behind every update, every video, every feature and line in a patch note is a team that cares so much about this game.
Our journey continues with the announcement of Frontiers, our next major free update. This is just another stop on our journey and is coming soon.
Watching this video, even the team is surprised at how much No Man’s Sky has changed over the years, but also how true it has stayed with this central vision of building a universe to explore.
Looking back, I think of the great moments in development.
Our journey really started from the moment we nervously stepped out onto the Sony stage at E3 2014 to share the first gameplay of our ambitious project. It was months after our office was flooded, and it was like a little triumph to stand as a team.
The years before and after launch are a big blur, but some updates really stand out as milestones.
It’s hard to imagine how we released so many major updates so close to launch. The foundations were launched about 10 weeks after the main game, introducing basic building for the first time. The base building is now an integral part of No Man’s Sky, but it seemed unexpected at the time. The foundations really became the basis for how the next few years would take shape.
No Man’s Sky Next was an inflection point. It almost felt like the launch of a new game and brought multiplayer to PlayStation gamers in 2018. The community response continues to motivate us years later.
In 2019, as part of the big Beyond update, we brought the entire game to PlayStation VR. Built from the ground up, travelers could experience the wonders of the universe in a fully realized virtual reality as a free update. It was the moment when I felt I could see the game with new eyes, to really step into this universe that we had created with a new perspective.
I really didn’t have that feeling until 2020, when the PlayStation 5 launched, we were able to be there with an upgraded and ultra version of the game, like another free upgrade. Seeing the game with a gorgeous new makeover, running on next-gen hardware, was a real moment for the team.
And finally, as we move forward into 2021, our next Frontiers update is something I’m very excited about. In some ways, this is just another update, but in other ways, it’s a missing piece of the sci-fi fantasy that we’ve always wanted to add, and very fitting for our fifth anniversary.
There are still a lot of things we want to try, so we are always so excited. The next stop on this journey is not far away. We will have more to share on Frontiers with travelers very soon.
We would like to thank everyone who has traveled with us so far, and those who have yet to join this ambitious journey.
Our journey continues.
