People awoke to a rather confusing tweet from Hello Games, the developers of No Man’s Sky, this morning. The tweet had read, “No Man’s Sky was a mistake.” Instantly, some took it to be a rather brutal admission of the game’s issues, which remain unresolved months after its release, and began to wonder if morale at Hello Games was at an all time low. Their suspicious seemed confirmed when Polygon got an email from Sean Murray, claiming that he had posted the tweet, and that he had not been ‘coping well.’
However, it appears to have been something more than that- it appears as though the tweet (and the email) were both generated by a disgruntled employee within Hello Games, who had got access to the Twitter and email accounts via LinkedIn. Sean Murray has apparently confirmed to Forbes and to Mashable (via Polygon) that the tweet and email had not been by him. “The tweet came from a disgruntled employee,” Murray apparently said. “We’re currently trying to solve the issue internally.”
Additionally, taking to his own Twitter account for the first time since the game’s launch (Murray has been silent and refused any social media presence or interaction in the wake of the game’s overwhelmingly negative reception), Murray posted that the issue was being investigated, and that the only ‘mistake’ had been “using Linked In (sic) without 2FA.” Meanwhile, Hello Games are claiming that they are ‘100% not hacked’ on Twitter.
This should hopefully put the matter to rest, though of course, Murray’s sudden re-appearance now, as opposed to his radio silence with the fans when they felt cheated out of their money, and when communication with fans would be vital, is bound to make even more tempers flare. It seems to indicate that Murray doesn’t care about his fanbase much at all- which is not a good look for any developer.