Sean Murray breaks his silence on No Man’s Sky’s development, launch

Enlarge / Ludicrous speed. (credit: Hello Games)

The last time Hello Games’ Sean Murray spoke to us, or anyone else in the press, he was still in the pre-launch, hype-building phase for the incredibly ambitious, procedurally generated universe exploration simulator No Man’s Sky. Then the game launched. The summer 2016 release drew some critical praise but also loud, sometimes virulent Internet criticism saying the launch version didn’t live up to the pre-release promise.

Murray and Hello Games have gone quiet since, keeping their heads down and focusing on building and releasing numerous updates that have layered plenty of important new features onto the launch version of the game. With the upcoming release of No Man’s Sky‘s multiplayer-focused “NEXT” update, Murray has finally broken the studio’s radio silence, giving wide-ranging interviews to Waypoint, The Guardian, Eurogamer, and GamesRadar about the game’s past, present, and future.

Too much hype?

First off, Murray told Waypoint that he “never really wanted to talk to the press. I didn’t enjoy it when I had to do it. I think that was super obvious watching me doing interviews.” Keeping quiet and silently working on the game over the last two years, on the other hand, means that “this is the happiest I think we’ve ever been, as a result,” Murray said.