No Man's Sky Will Remain a Gaming Gem; Dev Doesn't Want Changes
In the latest interview, the founder of Hello Games talks about the process of porting No Man's Sky to Nintendo Switch consoles and declares that he will not change the company's current business model.
In 2022 No Man's Sky received the British Academy of Video Games award in the category of best developed game, and in two days it is finally due to arrive on Nintendo Switch and in a boxed version on PlayStation 5. This is the perfect time to reflect on the future of this astonishing title.
No Man's Sky business model
Hello Games founder Sean Murray gave an interview to Nintendolife, in which he clearly defined the direction in which this unique adventure game in the boundless cosmos is heading.
The creator announced with great confidence that No Man's Sky will not offer microtransactions in the future, and there will be no paid DLCs. At the same time, Murray points out that he is not against such practices and supports other developers opting for such a business model.
"It's great that others can do this, but it's not something we choose to do, with us it's different. Maybe it's naive, but this is our decision, and there are specific reasons behind it, sensible reasons that make us think our current business model is good for us."
This is an extremely impressive approach in light of the road No Man's Sky has traveled since its release in 2016 - from a title that disappointed thousands of players to a truly above-average game that continues to attract new and returning fans. And all this at no additional cost imposed on players.
"Our business model is very clear with players: they give us money to play, and we update the game. We're giving them a title we've been proud of from the very beginning, and as long as it pleases us and them, we'll continue to release updates."
Console versions - successes and problems
Murray also referred to the incredible effort he and all his colleagues put into moving No Man's Sky to a console with as limited computing power as the Nintendo Switch.
"This is one of the biggest challenges compared to other games I've worked on. If you fire up a game on the Switch, it means that everything you see has to be generated by this small device - in the dock or not - which has a very big impact on the gameplay. For this reason, I always assumed that No Man's Sky on Switch would take place in a different universe. Which for gamers would mean nothing, but for us would be crucial. We have generated this universe in many different ways, and we could simplify the process.. I think No Man's Sky on Switch could receive a different universe compared to the other platforms and that would be fine. It could be a good solution and an unavoidable compromise. In the end, I was surprised that we were able to recreate the same universe on Nintendo's console."
Despite the developer's great confidence in Hello Games' ability to tame Nintendo's console (launch on Switch coming as early as October 7), online sources report, that not all of the studio's plans have come to fruition - the release of the boxed version of No Man's Sky for the PlayStation 5 console allegedly had to be delayed. We do not yet know the official reason, but the copies produced so far are to be withdrawn and corrected.
