No Man’s Sky released two moths ago, and promptly proceeded to disappoint a lot of people who had been led astray by all the promises that the developers had made in the lead up to the game’s launch, few of which were kept. In the wake of the backlash to the game, Sean Murray, who had been the face of Hello Games in No Man’s Sky hype cycle, disappeared off of social media, with no communication from him towards his fans even attempted.
Today, however, we received an update on Murray’s status from Paul Weir, who worked with Hello Games on the game’s music. Posting on his Twitter, Weir said that Murray is ‘fine,’ and that all of Hello Games is right now working on the next patch for No Man’s Sky. Weir also said that the radio silence on No Man’s Sky was entirely up to Hello Games- and when they chose to communicate with their fans next was to their discretion, and that he unfortunately had nothing useful to add.
I have to laud Weir for responding to fans- it is more than Hello Games have been able to manage. I need to remind readers that other games in the past – such as Battlefield 4, SimCity, Destiny, and Diablo 3 – all launched to major fan disappointment, too. It was only with persistent effort on their developers’ parts, as well as transparent communication with their fans, that those games were able to turn their fortunes and perception around. I don’t know whether or not Hello Games are making that continued effort that is necessary to turn No Man’s Sky around, but it is very clear that they aren’t doing their fans the courtesy of keeping them in the loop.
