In this day and age, it’s impossible for companies to avoid creating a crisis for themselves. Making questionable business decisions, saying the wrong thing in public, or facing damaging accusations of workplace harassment—it’s bound to happen eventually.
The video game industry is no exception, and gaming companies are not immune to this—a lesson the British video game studio Hello Games had to learn the hard way.
When No Man’s Sky was announced back in 2013, it gained a lot of hype and anticipation.
- Lead developer Sean Murray painted it as an ambitious space exploration game with a procedurally generated universe. This universe would consist of 18 quintillion planets, with each planet having its own unique ecosystem.
- Other features that were promised include day and night cycles determined by the orbit of the sun, the ability to land on asteroids, and a smart AI that keeps track of which planets you’ve visited.
- In the years before its release, No Man’s Sky was presented to video game journalists, celebrities and was shown twice at E3 in 2014 and 2015.
- Hello Games initially received praise for being a small, independent studio pushing the boundaries of what the genre could offer.
When No Man’s Sky was released in August 2016, reviews were mixed.
- Most of the features that were promised and shown in trailers were either missing or had poor execution.
- The game’s procedural generation gave planets similar environments that lacked diversity in wildlife.
- There was no multiplayer support, and both critics and players felt the gameplay lacked depth.
- In September 2016, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK launched an investigation into Hello Games over the game’s advertising, following complaints accusing the studio of misleading customers.
- After a two-month investigation, the ASA cleared Hello Games of false advertising, stating its Steam page was “consistent with gameplay and the footage provided” and was “unlikely to mislead” consumers.
Don’t Call it a Comeback
So how did Hello Games survive the controversial launch of No Man’s Sky? The studio opted for a “show, don’t tell” approach to rebuild trust and improve the game.
- Back in 2016, when the backlash was at its peak, Hello Games didn’t address the situation for several weeks.
- In a blog post dated November 25, 2016, they announced the release of the Foundation update—which introduced base-building and improved optimizations for the PC and PS4.
- The studio described the discourse surrounding the game as “intense and dramatic” and expressed that they were “listening and focusing on improving the game that our team loves and feels so passionately about.”
Since launch, Hello Games has released free, major updates for No Man’s Sky. These updates incorporated some missing features and made significant improvements to the game.
- The Path Finder update introduced planetary vehicles, ship/weapon specialization, visual upgrades, and support for PS4 Pro.
- Atlas Rises gave players basic multiplayer, increased variety in weather and planets, and added a main storyline that expanded the game’s lore.
- The NEXT update finally introduced full multiplayer and a complete overhaul of the graphics.
- In the years following its release, No Man’s Sky has gone beyond what Hello Games set out to achieve. Reviews on Steam went from “overwhelmingly negative” to “mostly positive” in just a few years.
Today, No Man’s Sky is considered to be one of the greatest comeback stories in the gaming industry. Its long-term development has made it one of the best space games out there. It’s a reminder that honesty, self-reflection, consistency, and a commitment to concrete actions is all you need to bounce back from a crisis.
