The president of Sony Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida spoke candidly about No Man’s Sky at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. Yoshida told Eurogamer that while he enjoyed the game personally, he acknowledged the widespread criticism it had received.
“I understand some of the criticisms especially Sean Murray is getting,” said Yoshida, “because he sounded like he was promising more features in the game from day one.”
As I had previously written, Sean Murray, founder of Hello Games, had become the face of No Man’s Sky. He was its biggest megaphone – but he was a developer, not PR or marketing.
“It wasn’t a great strategy,” Yoshida said. “He didn’t have a PR person helping him, and in the end he is an indie developer. He says their plan is to continue to develop No Man’s Sky features and such, and I’m looking forward to continuing to play the game.”
Sony published the physical PS4 disc version of the game. But by Yoshida’s accounts, they are passing all the disappointing blame squarely on Hello Games and its questionable marketing.
Murray has already been the subject of abuse and targeting online. Over the games’ lengthy development he had given many interviews, and spoke of very ambitious features, few of which made it into the final release.
No Man’s Sky still sold extremely well. In the end, Yoshida supports their partnership with the game. “I’m amazed with the sales the game has gotten. I personally don’t think it has ‘harmed’ the PlayStation brand. If anything, I am proud that people can play No Man’s Sky on PS4 as well as PC.”
