Hello Games has urged people with early copies of No Man's Sky not to play it until the title's first update goes live. It's been a manic few days for the Guildford-based studio, as retail has started shipping copies early β despite the fact that the release's seemingly essential day one patch is still going through quality assurance.
Initially, one person paid $1,300 to get their hands on the game β but now our Twitter feed is full of people playing. Sony, who's publishing the title on the PlayStation 4, has held back review code to ensure that critics cover the "final" version of the hotly anticipated foray β despite some outlets obtaining "leaked" copies and stating that they're going to cover them anyway.
And in an impassioned plea on Twitter, company founder Sean Murray implored fans to sit tight just a little longer. "If you are reviewing/playing our game without our update, on a leaked copy, then please don't," he wrote. "It's not what players will experience." The day one patch is said to include balancing tweaks, additional content, and more.
Elsewhere, the developer has said that it will be wiping No Man's Sky's servers on Sunday, so any discoveries that you've made will be deleted imminently anyway. It's a weird situation this, but then it's unprecedented for a team of ten or so people to be shipping a title that's probably going to sell multiple millions of units.
Maybe cut the Guildford-based developer a teensy bit of slack...
[source twitter.com]
Comments 16
I really hate this trend of shipping broken games that need a day 1 patch to make them playable. :-/
How something like that passes certification boggles my mind.
Quality control really doesn't mean anything anymore, does it?
@meppi Games aren't being shipped broken, Devs know they can patch a game before release so they prep launch/ship off copies to retailers and then bug fix with the day 1 patch.
Game isn't meant to be played before release so any bugs people experience pre-launch are absolutely meaningless.
This Day 1patch must be something special. I wonder what 'content' it has, ships weapons minerals? ONLY 2 DAYS TO GO!
I wonder if These Day 1patches aren't an attempt to thwart those with leaked copies from getting the full experience?
@meppi Its not ideal, but its still better than back in the days of NES/SNES where if you got a broken game, it was just broken. At least now they can fix things.
@meppi Its not ideal, but its still better than back in the days of NES/SNES where if you got a broken game, it was just broken. At least now they can fix things.
Seriously though, have fun beta testing it I guess? I'd be willing to bet it will be a different game a year from now anyways.
Good man Sean....I'd say his patience is wearing thin.
So there's either a lot of bug fixes or a load of content is in this update, to make people hold judgement till it comes out.
@WasabiPeanut
That I certainly understand. And you are right.
But developers have been taken this to the extreme these last couple of years.
If it's just some last minute balance updates for the multiplayer part of the game after an extensive beta test, I'd understand.
But those kinds of day 1 patches are hardly ever reality.
Games get shoved out the door to hit a certain deadline, mostly due to the publisher needing the developer to hit a certain date.
And in the time it takes for the game to pass through certification, get pressed and shipped to retailers, they hope to work out all the kinks.
You can still play all those NES/SNES games perfectly fine today, even though the games haven't been supported for 20-30 years.
But what will happen with a large part of the games that we buy today in 20-30 years time as the servers that support them go offline or the content is no longer available? They will be an unplayable mess.
Mine shipped Friday morning so will Probably arrive Monday, most people that bought the game ain't gonna see this information, reviewers don't really have an excuse.
I pre ordered. The gravity around the hype spaceship is too stronk.
always hated day one patches but in this case i'm glad to see it as early users ain't playing a full game yet. Im just glad to see this game in general truth be told.
I wish tho a day one patch was actually an unlock key to play the game. i.e any title received early didn't actually work until a day one release patch enabled the game for all at the same time. That would make day one patches at least worth downloading as you know noone could spoil the story for you in advance without it.
"Maybe cut the Guildford-based developer a teensy bit of slack..."
How about no? It's not consumers' fault that retailers are selling the game early - they shouldn't be punished for purchasing and playing a videogame legally. Sony and Hello Games are being scummy by trying to blockade reviews - reviews of a finished, printed disc. Day-one patches aren't an excuse - they've been developing the damn thing for so long, and it's not the fault of gamers that they couldn't ship a completed game.
@Kage_88 100% agree if game isnt rady to be shipped dont print the bloody discs. So if you don't have internet or a slow connection. Does the box say in BOLD LETTERS DONT PLAY THIS TILL FIRST DAY PATCH. If not stop shipping the thing. They have plenty of time to sort it & play it. Example homefront the revolution totally broken on ps4. Did they actually play it on a PS4. If you cant/wont put out review copies dont put the game for sale.
@PlaytendoGuy @3Above patch notes are on the offical website if you're interested.
From what I have seen in amature reviews and from watching the streams is that it will probably get a lower score than expected, cause of how empty the planets are.
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