The controversy around “No Man’s Sky” has been entertaining for those without any investment in the game, and must have been a harsh lesson to Sony and its developers. And while the main drama seems to be dying down at this point, many people have started making fun of the whole debacle, some in more creative ways.
Just recently, a parody game titled “No Mario’s Sky” was released, featuring a crossover between the iconic “Super Mario” and “No Man’s Sky”. The player controls Mario in levels similar to those from the original game, with the added twist that they can jump to other planets and explore the galaxy much like in the space-themed game.
It didn’t take long for Nintendo to notice the project, and what followed was exactly what most people were expecting – the project was taken down. Nintendo are notorious for being very protective of their intellectual property, and it’s not rare to see fan projects get destroyed in the blink of an eye.
Sometimes, the people behind these projects take up a more creative approach to continue their work. For example, a “Chrono Trigger” remake that was being developed in complete anonymity, preventing the developers from sending a DMCA notice in the first place.
In the case of “No Mario’s Sky”, the game resurfaced shortly after the incident under a new name, “DMCA’s Sky”. The humorous jab at Nintendo gave the developer even more exposure, and right now the game is reportedly enjoying a lot of attention from all over the industry.
Some are even claiming that it would have never gotten so popular on its own if it wasn’t for Nintendo’s intervention, so things worked out in the developer’s favor in the end. There are also those who suspect that he knew exactly what he was doing, intentionally branding the game like that in order to get Nintendo’s attention, and subsequently exploit the controversy.
It will be impossible to ever tell if that’s true or not, but we certainly wouldn’t disregard it automatically. Plus, it would be a clever way to use Nintendo’s known zealous attitude towards their IPs, using the company for some free marketing.
As for “No Man’s Sky” itself, the game is in a more or less stable condition with regards to opinions at this point. People said what they had to say, and the ratings for the title are quite low across the board, with a roughly 50% approval rating on Steam.
For a title that saw so much investment from Sony, this must be a disaster. But the ones who are probably feeling the full weight of the situation are the developers themselves, as they were a relatively small studio that suddenly found itself in the spotlight.
Many were critical of the developers’ attitude throughout the game’s development, and the misleading statements they made during their talks with the press. In that context, fewer people are apparently feeling sorry for them. It just goes to show that one can’t really get away with lying to their audience nowadays with the Internet being so widespread.
There were various post-release patches to address the initial issues with the title, but the damage from the actual launch was already done and there’s no way to recover from that. According to many, the game would have probably been fine with a little less misleading marketing, and a few extra months of development time.