The Engoodening of No Man's Sky

sponsored by that game everyone loves scientists are racing to unlock the secrets of the cosmos questions we once thought impossible to art are within our grasp where does the Sun go at night is math related to science if the universe is so big then why won't it fight me as we look further into the universe we see light from distant stars eons old perhaps hundreds even thousands of miles away hold on can I get a zoom in on that you bet I can this is one of the world's most powerful telescopes initiating six times zoom can this baby do seven I can do you one better maneuvering to eight times doom pressure rising holding steady I can see it um blur it won't hold get me eight point five times you're a madman upscale it to 4k but helium tanks will go critical opening the blind call this ditty uncocking an increasing aspect ratio now punch it there it is life on another world and to think we owe it all to one indie development studio hello games let's start at the beginning yeah it's rewind time okay the year is 2009 Guilford England there's a man named Sean Murray and he's just founded a company called hello games Sean and the boys are working hard on a brand new IP called Joe danger 2010 ad the game just came out it's a success their small team but they are ambitious let's do something bigger let's reach for the stars how about Joe danger - brilliant it's 2012 Gerry danger - has just come out but that one doesn't perform as well we need to do something even bigger than Joe danger to show danger 3 no no even more out of this world something no man has done before Joe danger the mobile game yes and that came out in 2014 seriously guys biggest thing you can think of no I'm just a stock image dude why don't you think of something Shaun pondered for a moment then turned and looked wistfully into the mirror reflected back was the visit of Neil deGrasse Tyson but if you're gonna make a space game first person I've never been done before how about death I'm throwing up in orbit to repair the Hubble telescope hey that's not a knife we didn't have sex with how much microwaves are coursing through your body now the planet Sid Mary hmm space gang procedural generation planet ok that sounds good yes yes we all agree so they said to work coupled together a prototype and by vgx 2013 they are ready to announce another new IP no man's sky check it out check it out [Music] this is special [Music] [Music] it's 2014 and it's III hype time no man's sky has promised to be a game like Noah a practically boundless experience vibrant with life and color and things to explore what's over there you'll have to be the one to discover it and then wow look at that big pink dinosaur holy [ __ ] and a moment later we're in space having a battle amongst a giant fleet claim a planet as your own explore the galaxy with your friends okay that's it this is gonna be the best game ever you guys it even won awards for a title and it will release in June 2016 the hype train was officially loading up and ready to chug out of the station fusion at every stop of the journey there would be pressed Rockets talking about the amazing scale of the day spread across 18 quintillion planets it's so vast that by the time you finish exploring it all I would have to new video is published Sean himself was doing the interviews because who is better to talk about the game than the lead guy himself he went from interview to interview and with each question the answers he gave raised people's expectations of the game's scope can you land on a comment yeah at the moment you can land on asteroid you could encounter other players can you grief other players clearly building your own like massively multiplayer world that's rarely generated sand planets like in June rivets walking sentinels hacker so sophisticated that light diffracts through the atoms they had to redevelop the whole periodic table to make it work what even Elon Musk was hyped for it [Music] two years go by it's early 2016 and that hype train is really moving now perhaps one of the biggest in video game history reddit was troubling most of the gamer fuel skeptics and naysayers are treated as ballast have thrown from the carriage doors pre-war desertion and they are doing very well the date is booked in some are even taking the day off work so much hype there is that uh Jason Trier of the soon-to-be defunct Kotaku is about to spoil at the party he announces a delay from June 2016 - August oh my god liar the incensed audience cries please be quiet they said and death threats - but he was 100% right a week later the delay is officially announced ooh sorry lads we need more polish CID Sean in his usual accent - that Sean received some death threats - by the way although he didn't take them as seriously or go to the police yet sometimes foreshadowing is relatively obvious but the impatient crowd relaxed a bit and said fine we will wait but we expect a level of Polish no man has ever seen speaking of waiting now Shadow Man here have you heard of radiate II my wife died in a plane crash hey let's get serious for a moment really it isn't just a game with 15 million downloads in the last six months it's a lifestyle lifestyle think differently play raid differently achieve your dreams I'm sorry sir you've contracted raids that's good congratulations heads call Ghorab of the undead horde my life fulness you just collected one of over 400 champions why hello there have you heard about the online RPG PPV it's extremely well reviewed on the Play Store oh you remind me of my wife raid is more than just a game it's a reassuring pat on the back from your dad it's a warm bowl of soup on a cold night it's one last dance at your wife's funeral if you haven't played in the arena yet I'm gonna break into your house you're all getting raid for Christmas kids yeah and if you download now kids using the link in the description below you can get an extra 50k silver and an epic champion wait mums did braid shadow legends add over so let's talk about the team in charge of all their polishing it's small tiny in fact I haven't been able to find a smaller team behind a triple a release all of these expectations are on the shoulders of just six people expanding to a team of 15 by the end of production July it's just a couple of weeks until the release date whatever the state of the game by now however much it's finished that's what's going out the hello games team celebrates with this iconic image the quintessential soy thing they're exhausted look at what video game production does to a man nonetheless they continue working on the day one patch and uh-oh Shawn if your game isn't coming out for another two weeks then why is there a box copy on eBay that's right it's a leak someone broke the embargo and is selling early access to the highest bidder and the bids start rolling in it reaches $1,300 u. s. sold to some guy with the reddit handle Damian he gets his hands on it and starts uploading footage to YouTube and dailymotion what did Shawn and Sony Damian finished it a lot quicker than expected but he gave it a decent review there are things I don't like there are things I like but at the end of the day when I say to myself what is this game supposed to be this what I'm looking at right here this is what the game is supposed to be he noted a few problems but said he was optimistic that they would be ironed out with the day one catch Shawn it's another leak some retailers broke the official release date journalists - and they started streaming playthroughs of the game [Music] certainly tried to DMCA all these videos but their aim was terrible round of applause everyone we have officially become no man's censored by Sony our news story from earlier this week about no man's sky leaks has been hit with a copyright strike on YouTube they win bumbling around from platform to platform just taking down any video that even talked about the leak or showed the trailer footage but it was too late the footage had people talking more skeptically about the game especially because there were no early review copies at fair and it was looking like the weight of all these expectations had become too much and the whole thing was about to give oh no it's August everyone's here we've all bought the game and we have [ __ ] hype shall we go let's oh dear Lord it isn't finished gah hello Sean it is me the auditor of games I used to work at an astronomy lab don't worry about that it seems like you've made a lot of promises promises that you have not kept let's go through the checklist have you got any large scale join of all space battles nobody would want that are ringed plan and now no fight well at least let me play as a trader some may call this junk no those sand planets from June look nice think I might huh please Jordan there must be river now no no it's not animals interacts with each other in the environment and now no packs of walking sentinels Sean now I'm literally crying right now should I even ask whether I can play as a space pirate no factions with different attributes fly between star systems manually but nobody's actually done it yet if I can maneuver like in the trailer I'll still be happy now well day/night cycles determined by the orbit of the Sun yeah really no land on an asteroid radio chatter name you share packing portals all that stuff about the elements sure this is not good Sean very not good and ironically the only plugs this game doesn't have other butterflies in the demo buried buildings aggressive emojis tractor beam malfunctions animal husbandry oil slick world raining grass [ __ ] animals doing [ __ ] things ships interiors disappear first-person mode as a gun let's not help flying works let's my only means of transportation leaving the planet take off really take up holes in the map pulls in my graphics card whole lotta nothing from down here textures buggin out animals buggin out animals breakdance look at these busy hands hello there and a couple of unrequested ejector seats [Music] okay that's a lot of stuff I get the picture no wait for graphics rendering some can't even stop the game framerate issues constant crashes major publications are having trouble playing the game on their machines even the best na GTI is a stuttering alt tab it that's a guaranteed crash disc top notifications that's a crash playing the game that's our plan changing options in the game without restarting you'll get this and if you've got the pre-order version with the bonus spaceship you might have a problem your special ship already comes with a hyperdrive inside it great right no because you have to craft it in order to finish the tutorial missions and if you haven't finished the tutorial missions you can't leave the stars so whoops until they patch it you're stranded that's why I gave my kids snowman sky [Music] ah my ships and bits thank you just a quick note about how high expectations were for this game and just how many people bought it on release myself included over three-quarters of a million purchases on Steam at launch it's the single best selling game on the PlayStation Store that month and the large proportion of people who bought it in the hopes of playing with their friends well you're in for a surprise this one is a literal game changer is it even possible to meet up with your friends in no man's sky the answer is absolutely yes it's possible on multiple occasions Shaun said it was definitely in the game will you be able to play with your friends yes can you run into other people other players on the game yes but then just before the release Shaun posted this cryptic tweet to be super clear no man sky is not a multiplayer game please don't go in looking for that experience oh so there's no multiplayer function but then the next line contradicts that because the chances of two players ever crossing paths in the universe this big is pretty much zero oh so it is multiplayer just have to overcome this finding each other huh so you're telling me there's a chance yeah right no it's more confusing than that because the Box doesn't mention online play just network features and the collector's edition had its online play icon stick it over so customers are going which one is it Shawn just tell us if it has multiplayer or it doesn't have multiplayer Shawn wouldn't give any answers but after hundreds of thousands of purchases people soon took it upon themselves to find out despite the claims that it would be so improbable on the very first day two people noticed they were only four star systems from one another and they met up on the same planet in a live stream oh dear a black pillow alright yeah our streams are exactly lined up if you go look at my stream we're looking at the exact same interior right now if you don't yep that's the same spot and they can't see each other that settles it it's not not multiplayer because it's so big it's not multiplayer because it's just not [ __ ] multiplayer and this live declare robot what did Sean have to say about all this so amazing two people found each other on the first day that has blown my mind so why can't we see other players in game wow so many of you playing yeah Sean amazing my mind is blown so what's the game actually like is it any good that is a difficult thing to say well it certainly is stylish and pretty and there are a lot of places to explore but that doesn't mean there's much to find in fact the game boils down to a very simple loop hold down the trigger to pick up resources deal with a full inventory get an upgrade leave the planet go to another planet hold down the trigger deal with a full inventory get an upgrade leave the planet go to another planet hold down the trigger deal with a full inventory leave the planet go to another planet deal with a whole new 60 dollars ladies and gentlemen refuel your multi-tool refuel your life-support refuel a separate part of your multi-tool that shoots bullets instead of the mining beam refuel your launch thrusters it's a busy work that makes it look like you have something to do it's not real what followed was one of the most traumatic crashes and player numbers in gaming history sales in the UK fell by 81% in the second week concurrent players on Steam dropped from two hundred and twelve thousand in August to just over 2,000 by September and fewer than 1000 by October and what followed that was perhaps the biggest pile on in gaming history reviewers on YouTube hand the game [ __ ] it up I had no hype and I can tell you that even without that disappointment this game is hot garbage it has anyone coined Sean Murray news numerous times within the first two hours of the game I kept saying this is it [ __ ] this [ __ ] review is in the media will all missus hawk devastating realization that most of the crafting combat and other activities you do on and between those planets ranges between bemusing and outright ban the criticism was deafening and a lot of it really funny and creative Kirby can't made a video that captured the sentiment of that day and if you haven't seen it yet you missing out so people are furious the game is boring and soon people discover the complaining about the game is actually more fun than playing it well I'm now three to half hours into the tutorial pretty much so they started complaining about it like they were grinding for an achievement this sauce many people made compilations of all the unfulfilled promises one guy on the subreddit compiled a big list of all the missing features front page got a defense for no man sky enjoy your down vert in fact the entire no man's sky subreddit was in such disarray it had to be locked so by the end of the month mere credit is like scrolling through a bottle of Cheerios by October it was one of the worst rated games on Steam with an aggregate of mostly negative from more than 70,000 reviews the outrage of the game was headline news for weeks on dozens of games news publications and the price on eBay and Amazon and second hand at Game Stop was crashing through the floor oh please no more but the beatings had only just begun the demo planet was data mined and found to be of course totally scripted and not randomly generated at all I just got to pick one of these at random if anything horrible goes wrong just keep in mind that I've not been here before it wasn't some level that we built or something like that even though I think it looks quite nice in places people watching this would wonder why you're showing this area again like what's so special about demoing the game on this planet oh no no it's just a place that looks nice not bad Marie I could have ended the demo with you know pre-scripted crazy thing that would happen you know to mean the normal thing of like and then a monster emerges from behind the mountains you don't [Music] people see what's going on with the game and feel lied to this is false advertising they say and angry customers start scoping out a lawsuit on September 28th the aasa' bust through the door goes yep too many complaints we're going to investigate but then soon after the aasa' cleared them of any legal wrongdoing technically the only thing they're interested in is what's on the back of the box what's on the store page and what's on the steam page so it's technically not false advertising but of course technically not illegal doesn't mean much to an angry audience October 28th hello games twitter is hacked the hacker posts no man's sky was a mistake and is [ __ ] on the game in the replies turns out Shawn didn't use two-factor authentication on his LinkedIn and that's how they got in they also sent us credit in emails to journalists which they knew would rile people up if published some people even show up to their offices to take photos and knock on the door even at night and on the weekend they posted empty pictures of the office so naturally out of context this started rumors that hello games simply took the money and ran this in addition to numerous bomb and death threats during that period those ones Shawn did have to take seriously regular intervention from police and Scotland Yard and things like that and while Sony didn't quite throw them under the bus it was more like a gentle push under a minivan when Sony president Shuhei Yoshida admitted that hello games did not have a great PR strategy for no man's sky the press took the ball with that one and ran but despite all of this all of the negative press they were actually nominated for a couple of awards but by this point Murray and the other members of hello games were so downtrodden and so sure they weren't going to win there they opted to go elsewhere for dinner and the Innovation Award goes to no man's sky this lovely trophy going once oops I'm gonna set this other behalf of hello games and congratulations to them and I'm gonna walk out stage like I planned that whole thing by this point you've got to feel just a little bit sorry for them and then what followed that was the final straw for meaning no particular incident but a lack of incidents silence over three months of not a damn word from no man sky where are they where is my refund where is Murray shout into the void the game was over and it was dead the year is 2080 Shawn has just graduated from university and is headed into the big wide world he rises up the ranks at a number of studios eventually working as a technical lead for black and technical director for burnout three when burnouts developer is bought by EA he is in his late twenties and he and three of his buddies decide to leave and start their own studio hello games this was a risky venture so we'd done this incredibly foolish thing of like quitting our jobs and then we had to sit down and try and decide what the game was gonna be together they create their first title Joe danger they work on this game day and night in fact even once they were arrested in their own office because the police thought they were there to rob the place because who would be working at 11:00 p.

m. on a Sunday night but they had to work that hard like any startup it was a huge financial and professional risk they had no income they were working in a tiny room above an old tile floor living off savings and to keep the project running Shawn even sold his house so he made a really tough and probably at the time seemed really foolish decision it's got of almost embarrassing for me to talk about I sell my house and just basically went all-in and funded what we were doing which is not something I would recommend anyone else do but by June 8th 2010 they had done it the game was good and they could breathe the sigh of relief because on the very first day it hit the PlayStation Store they made their money back two years later Joe danger too was released it was not the commercial success they had hoped for and they didn't want to just keep pumping out sequels that was a trap big players in the industry had fallen into in his spare time Sean started working on a prototype for a procedurally generated game they took another gamble and scrambled to get a trailer out in time to present at vgx 2013 so the project is official now and the pressure is on around this time Sean is also looking to start a family concurrent all this development he would go on to have three kids so the weight of responsibility is really piling on but their hard work will pay off as they're finally going to have a chance for some R&R around Christmas they woke up to find their homes flooded their cars submerged and their plans for Christmas Day very much ruined bad news rain rain and flooding in the South of England right around the hello games office they are completely inundated and they return from their holidays to find laptops floating around at waist height but some good news they hadn't lost any data so they pulled together soldier on development continues so there they are working in a damp office and then dingdong who who's at the door it's Danish mathematician dr.