Take a Breath, Zealots and Nutjobs, the 'No Man's Sky' Delay Is a Good Thing

No Man’s Sky has already developed one of the most dedicated followings we’ve seen in the video game industry to this day, promising epic space exploration on an absolutely massive scale. Filled with trillions upon trillions of planets separated into even more solar systems, No Man’s Sky has promised consumers a universe to explore — and it looks like that universe is going to take a little more time to touch up than the team anticipated.

Set to release on June 21, No Man’s Sky faced a rumored delay originally reported on by Kotaku late last month. A few days after Kotaku’s report, Sony released an official announcement from Sean Murray, Founder of Hello Games, confirming the delay and offering some details on the reason behind it:

“The game really has come together, and it’s such an incredible relief. As we sit and play it now, and as I watch playtesters every day, I can finally let myself get excited. We’re actually doing this.

“However, as we approached our final deadlines, we realized that some key moments needed extra polish to bring them up to our standards. I have had to make the tough choice to delay the game for a few weeks to allow us to deliver something special.

“The universe of No Man’s Sky is incredible vast. More than you can imagine. This is a type of game that hasn’t been attempted before, by a smaller team than anyone would expect, under an intense amount of expectation.”

The full announcement continues to address the loyal fans supporting No Man’s Sky and announce the new release date for the game, August 10 here in the U.S.; which is roughly seven weeks past the planned release.

When you think about it, seven weeks isn’t too much time – especially when the game in question has been in development for nearly four years. It’s also worth mentioning that Hello Games faced some difficult times too, including a flood on Christmas Eve that nearly wiped out everything in their office.

Despite the flood and the difficulties many indie studios face though, Hello Games recovered to continue crafting the experience of No Man’s Sky — which they are hoping to deliver to consumers at its best possible state. You’d think there would be nothing wrong with that, but for many gamers that just wasn’t the case.

The delay of No Man’s Sky was met with waves of angry comments from consumers, some of which escalated to death threats as revealed by Sean Murray on Twitter that encouraged him to build up a Home Alone style fort to defend himself with and, honestly, that’s not okay.

No Man’s Sky isn’t the first massive, hyped up release that’s faced a delay before, and it won’t be the last. Just like with Uncharted 4’s delayed release, Hello Games is just trying to deliver the best experience to their consumers as possible. And if Uncharted 4’s review scores are any indication? They made the right decision.

See, delays like this are a welcome change of pace to the way video game development has been handled over the past few years. Typically, we’ll see publishers and development studios feeling forced to release a game on the date they promised, whether it’s complete or not, for the sake of making profit. The results drive consumers to feel the same way as with a delay too, because they’ve purchased a product that feels incomplete and then takes weeks for the developer to fix.

Hello Games is working to create a new experience that feels akin to original science fiction with No Man’s Sky, one which is promising to deliver over 18 quintillion planets that every player can openly explore to their heart’s content. It’s a massive project being developed by a small studio that is asking for a few more weeks to accomplish their goal and deliver the game we’ve all been waiting for — which is the reason why their delay should be applauded instead of condemned.