No Man’s Sky came and went pretty fast, especially for a game that was hyped up for some four years. It’s all so strange as I personally really head of the game, but then again I try not to fall into the hype machine that is the internet.
The game itself ran into a number of issues from trumped up claims made by the developer leading up until the launch of the game. Many of these claims of which included features and extra bits didn’t materialize when the game officially hot store shelves.
This is out of the ordinary for big games as features tend to not live up to what was promised, or simply disappear quietly before a game releases. The case with No Man’s Sky is an interesting one because missing features and elements were heavily touted right up until launch, some even on live national television.
No Man’s Sky was so underwhelming in terms of the content people expected (and were promised) that a fairly large campaign was set up demanding refunds on the game. It got so bad that even Sony themselves (they helped fund the game) sympathized with those that felt slighted by the final product.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Sony’s Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida stated that, “I understand some of the criticisms especially Sean Murray is getting, because he sounded like he was promising more features in the game from day one,”
He continued by saying, “It wasn’t a great PR strategy, because he didn’t have a PR person helping him, and in the end he is an indie developer.”
Now, according to a rep that spoke with Eurogamer, an investigation has been launched with regards to No Man’s Sky about its advertising practices leading up to the launch. The investigation headed up by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) will be looking if the developer and/or publisher intentionally and knowingly mislead the public. And if it does find fault, it will then look to remove any and all advertising which breached it’s code on conduct.
Developer Hello Games and Sony can, of course, stand firm against any ruling the ASA make, but there would be consequences for such an action. Sanctions could be placed on the games advertising and the ASA could go directly to ISPs and force the removal of paid advertisements that are currently running (probably on lots of the sites that are reporting this news).
Regardless of what happens next in the fiasco that is No Man’s Sky, but the actions taken by Hello Games have hurt the industry as a whole. It’s going to be a lot harder to gain the trust of gamers, especially for smaller indie studios looking to make the next big thing.
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