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Two No Man’s Sky Players Are Trying To Make First Contact With Each Other
“Is No Man’s Sky a multiplayer game?” That’s the question that gamers have been asking for months. It’s also one they haven’t quite gotten the answer to, at least not clearly.
For all intents and purposes, No Man’s Sky isn’t multiplayer, at least not how we typically think of it. You won’t be setting waypoints, joining lobbies, or cruising the galaxy with a group of your friends.
Hello Games’ vast universe is a lonely one, and the chance of encountering another player at the same time on one of the quintillions of planets is infinitesimal. It happened today. Sort of.
Two players named Thesadcactus and Psytokat somehow realized they were in the same solar system. The two ended up communicating via PSN and made it to the exact same spot, a small building.
The only problem is that they couldn’t see each other. The day-night cycles seemed to be different. And at this point, we still don’t know if this is a factor of the servers getting absolutely crushed by day-one traffic (per Hello Games’ Sean Murray on Twitter) or if the only way we’ll “see” one another in this vast universe is through our footsteps.
The two have taken a break and will regroup later. Perhaps then, we’ll know definitively if No Man’s Sky encounters with other players are even possible.
We’ve reached out to Hello Games and Sony for any clear guidance we might be able to get. We’ll update as we learn more.
Update: Hello Games founder Sean Murray has responded (though still a bit vaguely) about players attempting to encounter one another in No Man's Sky. Based on the following string of tweets, it seems that Psytokat and Thesadcactus would have been able to see each other if not for immense day-one traffic hitting the servers. Here's what Murray had to say:
We added a 'scan for other players' in the Galactic Map to try to encourage this happening. We wanted it to happen - but the first day?
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) August 10, 2016
We hope to see those happening... but too many of you are playing right now. More than we could have predicted
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) August 10, 2016
For instance over night we hit 10 million species discovered in NMS... that's more than has been discovered on earth.
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) August 10, 2016
WHAT IS GOING ON!!!
[Source: Psytokat and Thesadcactus on Twitch]
Our Take
There have been multiple instances of Hello Games chatting about multiplayer (including with us in December 2014). It’s time for the answers to be spelled out clearly. Should Thesadcactus and Psytokat be able to lay eyes on one another in-game, or were those design plans laid aside in service of completing the game in a feasible timeframe.
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