No Man’s Sky Creator Is Happy To Leave Microtransactions Out Of The Game

We are but a few short days away from No Man’s Sky‘s inaugural flight to Switch on October 7th and we are buckling in to see how this massive game plays on Nintendo’s comparatively tiny console.

In order to put some of our fears to rest, we recently got the chance to sit down with the game’s creator, Sean Murray, and talk about all things No Man’s Sky. The conversation ranged from the difficulties of the Switch port to which Nintendo character Murray would most like to add into the game – make sure to check out our full interview to read all of Murray’s insights.

Naturally, our chat turned to the future of No Man’s Sky, and Hello Games’ business model in particular. For the past six years, the game has been in an almost constant state of development. Rather than turning to microtransactions or DLC, No Man’s Sky requires a singular one-off payment with the promise that the development team will provide regular improvements via free updates.

With the title expanding to more and more platforms, it would make sense if Hello Games was to change its business model to move with the times and include other revenue streams. It seems, however, that we can rest easy on this one. Asked if this shift is a reasonable prospect, Murray put us at ease with the following response:

Lots of people tell us that there is this alternative business model or that alternative business model and there probably is; but we’re enjoying this right now, we really enjoy working on the game and we have got this really positive, welcoming community that I really get a buzz out of making updates for and continuing to tend to that game.

This is, of course, not to belittle other titles which utilise microtransactions or paid DLC as their central revenue stream. Sharing his love for Fortnite and Rocket League, Murray clarified that he is by no means against the practice of this approach, but No Man’s Sky won’t be going there any time soon:

It is cool that they can do that, it’s great, but that’s not what we’re doing, it’s just different. It’s probably really naive, but it’s what we’re doing and there’s historical reasons why we got into it, more purposeful reasons why we really think that it’s the right model for us at the moment.

It’s safe to say that No Man’s Sky’s Switch release won’t see the game changing up its player-developer relationship for the time being. For more on Murray’s visions for Hello Games’ future and all things space exploration (of the virtual kind, of course), be sure to check out our full interview.

If you are eager to find out just how well No Man’s Sky will play on the Nintendo console then you are in luck! We recently got the opportunity to go hands-on with the game and our lovely video producer, Alex Olney, has shared his thoughts in a new video. There’s also a short amount of b-roll gameplay footage for you to tuck into while you wait, so there’s no excuse not to fly into October 7th fully prepared!

Are you hopeful for No Man’s Sky on Switch? Blast off into the comments and let us know!