No Man's Sky, released by Hello Games on PC and PS4 on August 9, 2016, celebrated its 10th anniversary this month. To mark the occasion, development chief Sean Murray posted an open letter to the community reflecting on the game's history and growth over the past decade.
According to Murray, despite millions of players spending hundreds of millions of hours exploring the game's universe, less than 1% of its planets have been visited. No Man's Sky contains 18 quintillion planets, and Murray's letter notes it would take an estimated 500-plus billion years for players to see everything in the game's universe.
Murray highlighted that 2026 saw the game's highest player numbers since launch, a notable turnaround for a title that some viewed at release as a misfire from a studio that had overpromised and underdelivered. He also noted that last year's Voyagers update drew more players than the game has seen since its debut, and that No Man's Sky won a Game Award and a BAFTA for best evolving game this year.
The letter details the game's evolution since launch, including 40 major updates—all free—that have added base-building, exocraft, settlements, mechs, pets, living ships, expeditions, and a rebuilt universe. Support has also been added for platforms including Switch, Xbox, VR, PSVR, Switch 2, PS5, and Xbox Series X.
Murray said most of the small team that shipped the original game a decade ago is still working at Hello Games, both on future No Man's Sky updates—including a teased update called "COSMOS"—and on the studio's next game, Light No Fire. He told Xbox that as long as the team continues to enjoy adding new features and the community remains passionate, he'd like the journey to continue.
In his letter, Murray thanked the community for its support over the past decade, calling the No Man's Sky player base one of the nicest in video games and expressing gratitude for the kindness shown to Hello Games.