When the adventure exploration survival video game “No Man’s Sky” officially hit the PlayStation 4 and the PC early last month, it ended up as one of the year’s biggest video game disappointments.
Contrary to the features promised by Hello Games founder Sean Murray months before the release of the game, there was hardly anything in “No Man’s Sky” that would keep the gamers from playing.
Apart from lacking the promised features, it was also a repetitive superficial experience, making it extremely boring for gamers.
It was actually nowhere close to what Hello Games promised. The missing features were even detailed in a Reddit post a few days after the game was released, but was eventually removed later.
In fact, some critics have referred to “No Man’s Sky” as “One Man’s Lie,” soon thereafter, details NDTV Gadgets.
New contents on its way
There are reports saying that new contents would soon be released by Hello Games to address the lacking features of “No Man’s Sky” and also to woo gamers back.
However, many critics believe that it would be a formidable task because the number of gamers playing it has since dwindled from the time it was released early last month on all platforms including those in Steam.
They aver that it may be a case of too little, too late for Hello Games. Amid the efforts of game publisher Sony to market the game, it simply could not stop consumers from seeking refund it en-masse.
The game was undoubtedly a public relations nightmare, which was confirmed by Shuhei Yoshida, President of Sony Worldwide Studios.
He said during an interview that he understand some of the criticisms by gamers, especially how much of those were addressed to Sean Murray because he really sounded that he promised more features in “No Man’s Sky” from day one.
Yoshida said that it was not a great PR strategy because Sean Murray did not have a PR person helping him hype “No Man’s Sky” since he is merely an independent developer.
However, he revealed that Murray told him that Hello Games plans to continue developing the features of “No Man’s Sky” and that they are hopeful that everybody will continue to play the game.
What gamers and critics expect from Hello Games
Hello Games has remained mum following the brickbats and the criticisms it has been getting since the release of “No Man’s Sky” early last month. The only thing official that came out of its way is that it would soon be releasing new contents for the game.
Gamers and critics wondered what to expect with the new contents. Based on the recent tweets from Paul Weir, Audio Director at Hello Games, he confirmed that there will be no audio changes in the first content update to “No Man’s Sky.”
There is not even a release date mentioned at all as to when the first content update would come out.
Critics are also looking in the direction of Sean Murray at this time. Having spent the better part of three years over-promising and under-delivering, Murray seems to have gone full recluse, and isn’t talking about the game at all.
Many believe that his silence about the whole thing is a big mistake. While it is true that there are plenty of people who are angry about the current state of “No Man’s Sky,” but Hello Games has repeatedly stated that they are in it for the long haul and that the game is a labor of love, notes Extreme Tech.
If the company means what it said back then, it has to show it now by delivering a roadmap for which features they intend to add for free, and some kind of timeline for when those features will arrive.
The early sales of “No Man’s Sky” were huge but its post-launch has been a disaster. The company still has a chance to win back players, but it needs to demonstrate that it’s listening to what features the community wants most, has a plan for implementing those features, and can stick to that plan over the long term.