No Man’s Sky is launching on Xbox One on July 24th with the new, long-awaited online multiplayer. Sean Murray from developer Hello Games confirmed the rumored feature on today’s episode of Inside Xbox after saying when the game would hit Microsoft’s console. While on an Xbox show, the update will more than likely be coming to the PS4 and PC at or around that date as well.
Murray did not give any sort of player cap or limit on how many people you can squad up with. However, he said that it was a “full multiplayer experience” that they wish they could have done sooner, but are glad that it’s happening now. Murray told Xbox’s Social Marketing Manager Graeme Boyd a little bit about the experience of finally implementing this anticipated feature.
“You can play with a bunch of your friends,” said Murray. “A small group of your friends can go exploring or you can just come across random strangers and other travelers.”
He then went on to say how they’ve been playtesting multiplayer within the studio for the past six months. Murray also claimed that multiplayer changes the game from a solitary sci-fi experience to something more akin to the television series Battlestar Galactica. While he didn’t explain exactly how this would all work, Murray stated you could either team up, help random people, or prey upon them.
The multiplayer will be bundled with in the Next update, which Hello Games states will be their biggest update yet. While a lot of the specifics have not been detailed yet, multiplayer will probably be the headlining feature as it fulfills a broken promise made by the developers before the game launched. The Xbox One X version will also come with 4K and HDR support.
No Man’s Sky has had big updates for the almost two years following the game’s release. Hello Games has added base building, vehicles, a procedural mission system, more modes, and a bunch more since its launch in August 2016.
