No Man's Sky NEXT Update Will Add True Multiplayer

No Man’s Sky has been receiving multiple free updates since release that have slowly transformed it into a game that’s actually worth the asking price; it’s almost as if developer Hello Games was actually releasing an early access game and simply forgot to tell everybody it wasn’t final. Regardless, while the game has been evolving, one of the biggest promises of the game, of a rich universe exportable with friends and family, has thus far remained undelivered. While you can see other players as floating orbs of light, you can’t interact with them at all, so it doesn’t amount to much.

That said, during an Inside Xbox livestream (and reported by PC Gamer), Sean Murray confirmed that the upcoming update, NEXT, will finally deliver on that promise: a fully-featured cooperative adventure where players can build, explore, trade, and fight together.

That is a pretty damn big deal. People will be able to team up with strangers or coordinate with pals and do basically everything they could single-player, but this time with a friend at their side. What we don’t know is if they would update the player Avatar to accomplish that. It’s possible you could have a glowing orb of light running next to you and contributing to building your base, but a fully-fleshed out human/alien thing would be even better. Particularly if there was some customization, but then, that would add another layer to this already comprehensive new update, and that might be asking a bit much of Hello Games.

I’m not saying it’s impossible, I’m saying to temper your expectations.

Regardless. The patch will roll out on July 24, which will also be when the game will be available for Xbox One players. And they can thank the good lord they’re getting a version of the game worth buying. Hope you all enjoy it!