Games Radar has had the chance to talk to Sean Murray, the founder and the Managing Director of Hello Games, the team behind No Man’s Sky which is releasing on the Nintendo Switch family of systems on 7th October. Sean was very honest in the interview stating that he had his doubts that No Man’s Sky would run on the Nintendo Switch but after playing several “impossible” ports on the system such as The Witcher 3 and Diablo 3 etc he thought the studio should certainly give it a go. While we don’t quite know how No Man’s Sky holds up on the Nintendo Switch, reviews for the game should arrive soon along with Digital Foundry’s inevitable tech analysis. Here’s what Mr. Murray had to say about bringing the ambitious space exploration game to the Switch.
GamesRadar+: No Man’s Sky continues to push boundaries, six years after its release, and plays fantastically on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. What was it about the Nintendo Switch that attracted Hello Games’ attention?
Sean Murray: From a development point of view, I have a real appreciation for the Switch. It’s more impressive than a lot of people realize as a device, and you’re seeing that reflected in the types of titles that are coming out. And I certainly have a deeper appreciation for Switch than I did a few years ago, before this project started – it’s been a real learning curve.
But to tell you the truth, when we started bringing No Man’s Sky to Switch I assumed it wouldn’t be possible. Some members of the team wanted to try it, and were excited to try, but I was always a bit skeptical. I also wasn’t sure whether No Man’s Sky would be well suited to mobile, pick-up-and-play gaming. I play a lot of long-form games on Switch – The Witcher 3, Diablo 3, games like that – but I don’t know if other people do. So I was always like, well, let’s just see how this goes.
Something that was really eye opening for me was the Steam Deck release. I was skeptical of that too, as I didn’t know whether No Man’s Sky would suit it. And we’ve been really surprised to see that it’s been one of the top titles on the platform for the last six months, which is above where we would be on Steam generally. It seems like people like No Man’s Sky on there, and that it’s quite well-suited to mobile, handheld devices. It’s been nice to see that reaction.
