No Man's Sky Turns 10, Yet Players Have Explored Less Than 1% of Its Planets

Hello Games is marking the 10th anniversary of No Man's Sky with some impressive stats and a sneak peek at the next update. The highly anticipated game launched on August 9, 2016, for PS4 and PC, and quickly faced a barrage of negative reviews on Steam, with players upset over unmet promises and a lack of content, especially in multiplayer. It soon earned the dreaded 'Overwhelmingly Negative' rating on Steam, a clear red flag for anyone checking its page.

But the UK-based developer didn't give up. Over the years, Hello Games continued to update No Man's Sky, gradually turning player sentiment around. It took two years to reach 'Mixed' and another three to hit 'Mostly Positive.' At the five-year mark, Tim Woodley, Head of Publishing, acknowledged how tough it was to recover from such a low rating. Now, No Man's Sky enjoys a 'Very Positive' rating on Steam.

Today, Sean Murray, the development chief, shared a heartfelt note to fans, expressing his joy that the game has stood the test of time. He confirmed that this year has seen the highest player numbers since launch. He also revealed a mind-blowing stat: even after a decade, players have explored less than 1% of the planets in No Man's Sky.

For context, No Man's Sky uses procedural generation to create a universe with over 18 quintillion planets (that's 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 to be exact). Before launch, Hello Games told IGN it would take 585 billion years to see them all. So yes, less than 1% sounds about right. That's a staggering number of planets that exist but will likely never be seen.

Murray also teased the next update, titled 'Cosmos,' confirming that support for No Man's Sky will continue beyond the 10-year mark. Meanwhile, Hello Games is also working on its next project, Light No Fire, an adventure, building, survival, and exploration game set on a fantasy planet the size of Earth. We haven't heard anything about it since its reveal at The Game Awards 2023.

In his note, Murray reflected on the journey: 'I feel surprisingly emotional today. Ten years ago, on 9th August 2016, travellers across the universe set foot on their first alien planet in No Man's Sky. Perhaps you were there ten years ago, or maybe you joined later. It's very cool to me that all around the universe, other Travellers have woken up on countless other planets, light years apart from each other. They took their first steps on their first planet and brought a new unexplored universe into existence together.'

He added: 'Since then millions of players have made No Man's Sky their home, created insane bases, built communities, made friends, and built really creative custom ships. For any game to reach its ten-year milestone is impressive and I think that is especially true for No Man's Sky. It's really a testament to the passion of the team here and of the players for the game, that this year we've seen our highest player numbers since launch, and won a TGA and BAFTA for best evolving game.'

Murray also highlighted the game's evolution: 'Over the last decade, the No Man's Sky players have joined us in another type of journey as we grew, expanded and deepened what No Man's Sky could be. With now 40 major updates, all free, we have expanded our sandbox universe with base-building, exocraft, settlements, mechs, pets, living ships, expeditions and rebuilt the universe several times over. Support for Switch, XBox, VR, PSVR, Switch 2, PS5, XBX and more has been added along the way. In fact No Man's Sky is supported on about as many platforms as there are team members!'

He recalled a memorable moment: 'It became a bit of a meme at the time, me holding up the gold master disc of No Man's Sky but I'm proud to say that most of the people in that photo are still at Hello. The No Man's Sky team has evolved over that period of course, but it is not really that much bigger.'

Murray concluded: 'Since then tens of millions of Travellers have spent hundreds of millions of hours exploring and sharing their discoveries and the universe is more vibrant now than it ever has been. Voyagers released last year saw more players than we've had since launch… and still, all these years later players have explored less than 1% of the planets in No Man's Sky. In a similar way our small team feels we have a lot left to explore in what No Man's Sky can be. In the background we are busy cooking on our next game Light No Fire, and big things for the future of No Man's Sky, with the tease of our upcoming update titled "COSMOS". More will follow! I consider myself exceedingly lucky to work with the people I do, on a game I love with one of the nicest communities in video games. If you're reading this, then it is because you have shown us a kindness over that period. Big or small that helps Hello Games do what we do. For that I am truly grateful.'