The lead developer of No Man’s Sky, Sean Murray, says he received death threats after news broke of the game’s seven week delay. The original release date of June 21 has been pushed back to August 9. Because Sean Murray remains a delightfully enjoyable human being in the face of adversity, he made sure to include some jokes about it.
New release date for NMS got finalized late last night. It’s been a tough decision, but its the right one
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) May 28, 2016
Thanks to everyone for being so supportive. Apologies to anyone who feels hurt by this. We’ll try make it up to you with a good game
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) May 28, 2016
I have received loads of death threats this week, but don’t worry, Hello Games now looks like the house from Home Alone #pillowfort
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) May 28, 2016
Tell me when it’s safe to remove the marbles and oil from the stairs. It’s getting really cumbersome, and I need the toilet
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) May 28, 2016
Sean Murray founded Hello Games and is currently developing the ambitious procedurally generated sci-fi universe. No Man’s Sky boasts a near infinite number of planets. So many that Murray claims we’ll never discover them all, and even running into other players online will be a rarity.
No Man’s Sky was first shown with an impressive teaser trailer way back during Sony’s E3 press conference in 2014. Since then the video game hype monster has been slavering for any piece of news and information it can get. The open world survival game may be poised to be the next Minecraft, but with great expectations comes irrational hatred.
The ugliness of the gaming community first reared its head when Kotaku’s Jason Schreier reported on the No Man’s Sky delay from a reliable source. Schreier posted a death threat he received, all from simply reporting the news.
Within days No Man’s Sky publisher Sony confirmed the game’s delay, with Sean himself offering a heartfelt post. “As we approached our final deadlines, we realized that some key moments needed extra polish to bring them up to our standards. I have had to make the tough choice to delay the game for a few weeks to allow us to deliver something special.”
No Man’s Sky may be one of the most anticipated games in years, but a game delay should be cause for grudging approval, not hatred. As one of the most prominent figures in gaming, Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Zelda) once famously said, “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”
No Man’s Sky is currently scheduled for release on August 9 (USA), August 10 (EU), August 12 (UK) for Playstation 4 and Windows PC.
