No Man's Sky's Free 'Next' Update Brings Indie Space Sandbox To Xbox One

There aren't any details on what "Next" will bring to the space sandbox, but this seems like a clear sign that the tough times for Hello Games have passed.

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Despite the controversy at launch, Hello Games has continued to supply No Man’s Sky players with three consistent and massive updates, earning it our Best Comeback of 2017 award while gradually moving toward becoming the game that was promised during its marketing run. Much like how the team acted when releasing the Atlas Rising and other updates, Hello Games has quietly revealed another massive update for No Man’s Sky: It’s coming to Xbox One.

The new update, aptly titled “Next”, was announced in a press release for PC, PS4, and Xbox One and will arrive this summer. It’s free just like previous updates and the team had this to say about it:

“We are calling this No Man’s Sky NEXT because it is an important next step in a journey for No Man’s Sky, for Hello Games and for our devoted community,” said Sean Murray, founder at Hello Games. “Each update for No Man’s Sky has been more successful than the last; this was especially true of our last update Atlas Rises. It emboldens the team to push ourselves further. This journey is far from over, and it’s exciting to be working again on something you know will surprise people.”

Hello Games had to dig itself out of a huge hole when No Man's Sky launched and was under investigation for misleading advertising. It's not clear why, but it seems like the indie dev could have avoided all of this controversy by just releasing the game as an early access title, especially considering how significant the three updates to the game have been.

Hello Games is deep into development, but has not revealed what this update with contain. The digital and physical versions of No Man’s Sky for Xbox One will arrive with all content developed thus far and everything Next has to offer. Stay tuned to Shacknews for more updates.

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 29, 2018 5:58 AM

    Charles Singletary posted a new article, No Man's Sky's Free 'Next' Update Brings Indie Space Sandbox To Xbox One

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      March 29, 2018 6:41 AM

      Oh right, I forgot that it never came to Xbox. Cool.

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      March 29, 2018 7:24 AM

      Awesome. Excited by them saying its the biggest update yet, because the one so far have been pretty massive. I also appreciate his no nonsense/talking about it and just release the content.

      Still love No Man's Sky, though it is unquestionably a "boring" game. The progression just peters out faster than you'd like and you're left with a pretty empty game. But the concept and execution are still fascinating to me, and I love to just pop in and enjoy the sights and especially the sounds every now and again.

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        March 29, 2018 7:27 AM

        Hopefully this is the one that gets a more legitimate multiplayer aspect in place. I know there's limitations of what they can actually do with MP due to the nature of how the procedural generation works, but there's still some good possibilities.

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          March 29, 2018 7:33 AM

          What are you looking for, specifically? I guess it could be kinda cool to be able to easily meet up with a friend and explore a planet together. I'd want actual player models too and not just a glowing orb. I guess building a base together a-la Starbound could be fun too.

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            March 29, 2018 7:45 AM

            While I can't expect them to get to something of the scale of the player-run economy of Eve, it would be something along those lines where players would have more ability to work together on common goals in a long-term plan. Whether this necessitates guilds/clans, or something like that, Im not sure. But it's well known that informally, a bunch of players are trying to create an Eve-like player structure within NMS (mapping out planets, "claiming" sectors of space for themselves, etc. and I feel that's a natural lead to what could be done in NMS.

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        March 29, 2018 7:45 AM

        ^^^^ my thoughts exactly

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        March 29, 2018 9:47 AM

        Bill, do you think they'll ever be able to add serious progression to the game? I love the setting and the basics of it, but it's so hard to justify sinking time into it.

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          March 29, 2018 9:54 AM

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            March 29, 2018 10:17 AM

            Eh they have all those tools in place right now, they just all need to be expanded on and fleshed out a lot more.

            They've already tweaked the progression once in terms of what you need to make upgrades etc and it was definitely a huge improvement, but you still hit a wall at some point (earlier than you'd like) and it becomes hollow once more.

            So I don't think it's out of their depth to totally re-tool the progression and come up with something meaningful, just don't know HOW meaningful it will end up being in the long run. Excited to see them take a crack at it tho.

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        March 29, 2018 10:12 AM

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      March 29, 2018 10:08 AM

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      March 29, 2018 10:24 AM

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