• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

No Man's Sky: Free updates coming, potential paid DLC in future depending on budget

How fucking childish.

Lots of people in this thread are acting childish. I see the accuracy. The quote posted wasn't difficult to understand. Patches will be free, DLC likely won't if they can't afford to make it free. People purposely trying to see what they want to see over some MP scandal is dragging it farther than it has to be. It's getting so obnoxious and ridiculous, especially when it's coming from people who don't even have the game.
 

UX Genes

Member
I will edit my comment.

We are getting free patches to fix what was shipped.

Additional things will probably cost extra.

I don't see the issue.
 

SomTervo

Member
Well, yes, you do. At least, you meet their footprint.

And, you know, there is still the fact that he very clearly said that there won't be "meet other players face to face" multiplayer back in 2014. Or that he ever showed footage implying that that would happen.

So, if all you've got to go off of is a single statement made whenever, and your conclusion is "he's a horrible lie-monster" instead of "maybe I misunderstood, I should give him the benefit of the doubt, the exclusion of a part of the game so minuscule in the grand scheme of things shouldn't elicit this type of a reaction", then I don't know what to tell you.

I never said he's a horrible lie monster. Again, I'm a big fan of NMS and IMO it delivered 90% of what Murray promised.

He said - again, verbatim - 'the only way to find out what you look like is to see another player'. Can we see other players? No! And spun off of that statement, when pressed on it by other interviewers, he said "yes you can meet your friends", "yes you can play together," etc. The context clearly means that there is an active multiplayer component.

Go back to the 'You can't see other players in No Man's Sky'/'A polite discourse' thread. I was in there for about 60 pages arguing Murray's corner. But a point came when I saw the GIF where an interviewer says "Will I be able to play with my friends" - obviously meaning active multiplayer - and in the GIF Sean Murray smiles hugely and says "Yes".

Again, I'm a big fan of Sean Murray, Hello Games and No Man's Sky. This is just a really, really poor bit of PR for them. It's not impacted my opinion on or enjoyment of the game, but it's fucking bad practice and if you haven't played the game it could turn you off entirely.
 
The one time he managed to answer a question in a straightforward manner.

Edit: Some people seem to have a negative disposition towards Sean Murray and Hello Games. Currently, I am one of them. For some it might be because for some reason they've decided to hate him. For others, including myself, it might be because he has been dishonest about him game on numerous occasions, either willingly or unwillingly. I don't really care about Sean Murray the individual and I do plan on buying the game as soon as substantial content has been added. However, there is no doubt in my mind that if the same dishonesty and PR doublespeak had come from the mouth of an EA, Ubisoft or Microsoft spokesperson, most of GAF would be brandishing pitchforks right now.

I understand that games development is tough, that plans change and that the available budget dictates what can or can't be done. I expect PR bullshit from big publishers, that's basically all they do, but I hold indie devs to a higher standard. From them I expect total honesty and a close relationship to their customer base. Sean Murray hasn't managed to rise up to my personal standard. Not even close.

There are tons of PC games that have launched in early access with much less content and at a worse state than No Man's Sky, yet thousands of people had no issue paying for them because the developers were clear on what their customers were getting for the price. I don't like the fact that Sean Murray is bringing the PR doublespeak of the AAA market to the indie gaming market and I feel that he should be called out for it. For me, constantly blaming his dishonesty on his inexperience being in the public light or his naivety shows that part of the audience simply doesn't want to acknowledge his true failings, for whatever reason.

I feel you are expecting way too much of the guy to be honest. Sure indies are more open but when you make a AAA game things change and it becomes so much harder to be as open as you would like. I won't say Sean Murray is in the right but would bet money he wanted all the features to be in the game but at the end of the day you have to ship a game. Making such a big game and a game with so much hype i can understand a smaller team wanting to make the game live up to everyone's dreams. So i can't really fault the guy too hard when i'm sure he made the mistake coming to the spotlight and over promising feature and just did not have the time or resources to make it all happen. He may even still make good on these things, so all things considered he made a cool game and if he learns and improves i don't see a reason to hold this guy by the fire over this. Now if he pulls a Peter Molyneux and keeps over promising and under delivering i would understand the ire.
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
My favorite kind of thread.

"Fuck you Insert_Developer_Name_Here for wanting more money for additional work!"
I think you forgot the point of the thread.

Obviously their work is not free but when the game still have issues and you've said there won't be paid DLC and suddenly now say there might be if they need money people feel it's another stab in the back.

Fair enough the MP thing probably fuels some of it, but I don't get why he had to make that statement and turn around on it now a week later. Seems like horrible timing considering.
 

UX Genes

Member
I think you forgot the point of the thread.

Obviously their work is not free but when the game still have issues and you've said there won't be paid DLC and suddenly now say there might be if they need money people feel it's another stab in the back.

Fair enough the MP thing probably fuels some of it, but I don't get why he had to make that statement and turn around on it now a week later. Seems like horrible timing considering.

I agree with you guys that the patches to fix what was launched should 100% be free.
He has already said that "building" will be free (in a patch), which is something additional to what we were promised.

People who have issue with this game (OUTSIDE of performance type things) confuse me. This game is for the most part, what was sold to us. So what if you can't physically see another player? Who cares.
 

SomTervo

Member
I think they should fix the game first before selling people on new things or add some things for free. Personally i think "this" is one of the best planned ripoffs in gaming history, thanks to absurd embargos and clever marketing.

If the first update was anything to go by, each update will include what you'd expect from a patch/bugfix as well as new content and systems.
 

Crumpo

Member
I think you forgot the point of the thread.

Obviously their work is not free but when the game still have issues and you've said there won't be paid DLC and suddenly now say there might be if they need money people feel it's another stab in the back.

This is one of the few times he has tempered what was an unrealistic statement ("free DLC forever!") and he is still getting smashed for it.

The guy can't win.
 

daveo42

Banned
Hello Games needs a PR team desperately or at least a coach for what you can and can't promise ahead of time. I would have hoped after the game blew up three years ago he would have learned this lesson. I think he's a pretty genuine guy, he just wants to do some things that either aren't feasible without extra funding or completely overhauling the game in general. You have to always remember he's got a massive game with a massive amount of hype to try and live up to with an exceptionally small team. Hopefully PR will be one much needed addition to his team. He needs it.
 

SomTervo

Member
This is one of the few times he has tempered what was an unrealistic statement ("free DLC forever!") and he is still getting smashed for it.

The guy can't win.

He set the precedent now, I guess!

This statement is really reasonable and it's clear he's trying to be measured with his statements. I suppose that's more progress than we got from 15 years of Molyneux at least!
 

Hektor

Member
This is one of the few times he has tempered what was an unrealistic statement ("free DLC forever!") and he is still getting smashed for it.

The guy can't win.

Bullshit.

He wouldve won if he hadn't made an unrealistic statement in the first place.
 

SomTervo

Member
I've been playing NMS for a few days, been having a great time, been talking about it with my friends. Comparing notes, swapping stories. Good times. Thought I'd check out some GAF threads. Ooh! Free updates coming? That sounds neat!

Good lord.

communitywalkinwithpizzafire.gif
 

E92 M3

Member
Where would be the loss? Sean Murray did everything a person could do to make his words absolutely worthless wether hes just overly naive and ambitious as on group thinks or if he's lying like the other people think, whatever the case we only know for certain that his word shouldn't be held to high standards cos every promise he's making is a subject to change.

So really, what would be the loss?

Nice hyperbole :thumbsup:

--

It's a damn shame that people are such sensitive snowflakes that if information isn't filtered through PR they get upset. Big deal, some things didn't come to fruition. HG is a small studio that tried their best to make a game they love.

What happened to common sense?
 
This is one of the few times he has tempered what was an unrealistic statement ("free DLC forever!") and he is still getting smashed for it.

The guy can't win.
Arguably it's because the game released already and people feel cheated in some way.

I think if Sean had said this a month or a few weeks before release date people might be annoyed, but at least they could purchase accordingly, and most ]people would appreciate that. Now he's saying this after release when only a week before release he sang a different tune. And this is coming off of the multiplayer miscommunication issue as well.

I don't think the issue of optics, timing and context is too hard to get here, rather than waving it away with "he just can't win!"
 
Bullshit.

He wouldve won if he hadn't made an unrealistic statement in the first place.
Especially since it's not unrealistic. Yacht Club games is proving that. During their kickstarter for Shovel Knight, because of the backer tiers that were reached, they promised extensive DLC for free--Plague Knight, Propeller Knight, & King Knight campaigns, along with gender swap mode among other stuff. Of course, that's certainly not easy--it was a lot of hard work, and very costly--but it's what they promised their backers, and their coming through in strides thus far. They made a promise, and they're following through on it because no matter how hard things get, that's the right thing to do.

To see what Yacht Club is going through for the sake of their supporters, and seeing the amount of success Hello Games seems to be having, for Sean Murray to suddenly reverse course only after the game launches and that money starts coming in just frankly seems insulting to the work that other indie developers like Yacht Club Games is going through to make sure that their promises are kept and that their words and the words of developers actually mean something. I mean, why bother when people are proving that that doesn't matter at all and people will suck up to developers and find some way of rationalizing their statements anyway as long as the game's awesome enough? Think about the type of signal we want to be sent to other developers and publishers here.

And with how successful No Man's Sky has been by all indications so far, I just can't fathom any reason to actually hold Hello Games and No Man's Sky to a lower standard than I do Yacht Club Games and Shovel Knight. I mean, one's a kickstarter and the other's not but the point is that Shovel Knight proves that the indie-game and small-developer thing isn't really an excuse and something that makes that unrealistic, especially when massive success is involved (and given the price of the game and the sales we're seeing already NMS seems to be a much, much larger success than Shovel Knight was. And of course that's just Yacht Club/Shovel Knight. That's without even bringing up Mojang and Minecraft also doing the same) so calling it an "unrealistic statement" isn't settling well with me.

tl;dr If Yacht Club can do it, and it wasn't unrealistic for them despite them having much less to work with than by all indications Hello Games does, why is it Hello Games that it's unrealistic for and who are being held to a much lower standard here?
 

Hektor

Member
Nothing he says in this environment is going to be viewed with a fair lens.

What statement could he have made that would have satisfied you?

How is it not viewed in a fair lense? People are literally just using his own words against him. All the time.

The most satisfactory way for him (and all others) to end this is to acknowledge these kinds of issues and to stop talking big in the future.

He should Just say and announce stuff he knows he can keep. Or at the very least not give as definitive statements as the ones in the op.

If his second statement would've been his first one, this entire thread wouldn't even be a thing afterall.
 
If the first update was anything to go by, each update will include what you'd expect from a patch/bugfix as well as new content and systems.

I hope so, because i like the main concept a lot. It will be exciting to see where this project will go. But their publishing policies are a new low point imo, sure this is to differentiate.
 

Tecnniqe

Banned
People who have issue with this game (OUTSIDE of performance type things) confuse me. This game is for the most part, what was sold to us. So what if you can't physically see another player? Who cares.
Why do they confuse you? Because they don't like what you like it's confusing? If you ask me the game that launched is not what I expected being sold, as someone who only had a casual interest in the game since the months heading into release.
This is one of the few times he has tempered what was an unrealistic statement ("free DLC forever!") and he is still getting smashed for it.
If anything he should have tempered expectations right after he made the statement, before the launch week and not after the launch week.
 

Crumpo

Member
If his second statement would've been his first one, this entire thread wouldn't even be a thing afterall.

This I seriously doubt. Every NMS thread has been hijacked with "don't believe his lies" and focuses on wording of vague announcements rather than deliverables. Maybe that's the whole problem.

I actually wanted to focus on what was going to be delivered...to me, what is "free" content and what is paid dlc is going to be the key as to what placates or enrages people.
 

nynt9

Member
Arguably it's because the game released already and people feel cheated in some way.

I think if Sean had said this a month or a few weeks before release date people might be annoyed, but at least they could purchase accordingly, and most ]people would appreciate that. Now he's saying this after release when only a week before release he sang a different tune. And this is coming off of the multiplayer miscommunication issue as well.

I don't think the issue of optics, timing and context is too hard to get here, rather than waving it away with "he just can't win!"

This right here. Seems people are being intentionally obtuse and falling over themselves to defend Sean for some odd reason. It's really simple. Don't say things if you aren't 100% certain of them, and if you have to walk them back, acknowledge that you messed up, point out where you messed up and how you won't mess up again. It's really simple.

There are so many questions the community has regarding the state of the game and his PR right now. If he just got on Twitter and addressed a few of them, or respond to any one of the journalists that have contacted them about this issue, this confusion would be solved swiftly.
 
How is it not viewed in a fair lense? People are literally just using his own words against him. All the time.

The most satisfactory way for him (and all others) to end this is to acknowledge these kinds of issues and to stop talking big in the future.

He should Just say and announce stuff he knows he can keep. Or at the very least not give as definitive statements as the ones in the op.

If his second statement would've been his first one, this entire thread wouldn't even be a thing afterall.


You do know he could easily keep to the original quote, he could just stop making free updates when it's not financially viable and move onto to NMS2. Guess what, he actually thinks that may not be the best idea and instead consider paid DLC.
 

Vindicator

Member
Was thinking about some kind of Planet-Forge where you can design your own planet although that would possibly kill the exploration factor.
 

Crumpo

Member
Was thinking about some kind of Planet-Forge where you can design your own planet although that would possibly kill the exploration factor.

And you could just jam the place full of gold and heridium and no sentinels...it would kill the challenge. Maybe a system you could generate by entering your own number into the game's algorithm? Basic explanation but it would keep the core aspects of the game.

I'm looking for a faster way to upload discoveries and an easier mapping/waypoint system, both on planets and the galactic map.

Edit: oh, and fov slider and some kind of sped up walking/slow vehicle
 

flkraven

Member
This is one of the few times he has tempered what was an unrealistic statement ("free DLC forever!") and he is still getting smashed for it.

The guy can't win.

December 12, 2014
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/12/70questionsandanswersaboutnomanssky.aspx

This interview has a BUNCH of stuff that runs completely counter to what actually was released, but the best question for this thread.

"Will there be DLC?"
Sean Murray: "No"

At around 5 mins in the video.


Last Week
http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2016/08/09/hello-games-no-mans-sky-dlc-just-patches/

We do want to add a ton of features, like we’ve just discussed: Freighters, bases, these type of things. But we want to do it for free. You’ve paid for the game, so you should get this stuff without paying even more money. So no, there will be no paid DLC, just patches
 

Handy Fake

Member
Was thinking about some kind of Planet-Forge where you can design your own planet although that would possibly kill the exploration factor.

magwel.jpg
 
This game could be great, but it needs a lot of work. I can't see the player retention holding enough though in order to make significant DLC viable.
 

Crumpo

Member
December 12, 2014
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/12/70questionsandanswersaboutnomanssky.aspx

This interview has a BUNCH of stuff that runs completely counter to what actually was released, but the best question for this thread.

"Will there be DLC?"
Sean Murray: "No"

At around 5 mins in the video.


Last Week
http://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2016/08/09/hello-games-no-mans-sky-dlc-just-patches/


So I didnt see the 18 month ago vid...the correction is quite a long time coming on Sean's part and not great that he reiterated his statement at launch. He had time to correct it.

The key question, for me, is context-it sounded like a lot of people bought NMS for the mp element (even though it wasnt advertised or noted as a key feature) and their mis-selling criticism has context but would people have bought the game because of the promise of undisclosed things being added in patches? That's a stretch.

If people arent making purchasing choices based on this statement we are bitching about nothing. Context stops us from turning into cat throwing crazies.
 

StereoVsn

Member
I was just thinking how hilarious it would be if MP mode would come in in a paid DLC/Expansion. Just think of all the threads it would produce. It would be priceless.

As far as the game goes, the guy keeps lying and people are defending him to the ends of the Earth. If it was Ubisoft, Activison, EA or Bethesda, they would be absolutely skewered for this. Remember folks, this is a $60 retail/Steam game and not Early Access $20 title.
 

flkraven

Member
So I didnt see the 18 month ago vid...the correction is quite a long time coming on Sean's part and not great that he reiterated his statement at launch. He had time to correct it.

The key question, for me, is context-it sounded like a lot of people bought NMS for the mp element (even though it wasnt advertised or noted as a key feature) and their mis-selling criticism has context but would people have bought the game because of the promise of undisclosed things being added in patches? That's a stretch.

If people arent making purchasing choices based on this statement we are bitching about nothing. Context stops us from turning into cat throwing crazies.

How can you know for sure? Many reviews and GAFFers have said that this game doesn't feel like it should have cost $60, that it is much more in line with a typical $25-$30 indie game. I could easily see those people justifying the purchase for themselves by 'buying in early' in the hopes that the future, free content improves the game enough to justify the cost in their eyes.

It doesn't matter how big an impact a specific deceptive comment has, since it is nearly impossible to measure it's impact. The point is, especially if you watch that video, it is quite clear that Sean Murray misrepresented various elements of NMS. Whether they just under delivered or outright lied remains to be seen, but either way it doesn't matter.

Honestly, everything in that 70 questions interview from a year and half ago seems off. Why even give the interview at all? Even positive things he's wrong about (ie, there will be no NPCs).
 
How can you know for sure? Many reviews and GAFFers have said that this game doesn't feel like it should have cost $60, that it is much more in line with a typical $25-$30 indie game. I could easily see those people justifying the purchase for themselves by 'buying in early' in the hopes that the future, free content improves the game enough to justify the cost in their eyes.

It doesn't matter how big an impact a specific deceptive comment has, since it is nearly impossible to measure it's impact. The point is, especially if you watch that video, it is quite clear that Sean Murray misrepresented various elements of NMS. Whether they just under delivered or outright lied remains to be seen, but either way it doesn't matter.

Honestly, everything in that 70 questions interview from a year and half ago seems off. Why even give the interview at all? Even positive things he's wrong about (ie, there will be no NPCs).
Going by a two year old interview seems disengenous

Consider Enemy Starfighter/House of the Dying Sun. For years, the plan was to be a Mount & Blade style space game in a dynamic world and factions. A month before release, dev said how that plan had been too ambitious, that the structure didn't suit the combat and gameplay, and he had decided to scrap that larger version and scale the game down to a linear hand-crafted campaign.

Is that lying? Was the dev being manipulative when he said two years ago that the game would be a dynamic open world? Or do plans changes, features and mechanics that seemed good at the time don't end up fitting well with the overall structure/pacing of a game, seem bloated and need to be cut, and whatnot?

Is it lying when the SuperHOT kickstarter page has this art style but the devs eventually decide to go with this one?

Or when Klei said Don't Starve wouldn't have multiplayer, and then deciding to implement multiplayer later?

As for NPCs, they said they had been working on NPCs at the time, but weren't sure if that element would make it into the game so didnt want to talk about it yet
 

flkraven

Member
Going by a two year old interview seems disengenous

Consider Enemy Starfighter/House of the Dying Sun. For years, the plan was to be a Mount & Blade style space game in a dynamic world and factions. A month before release, dev said how that plan had been too ambitious, that the structure didn't suit the combat and gameplay, and he had decided to scrap that larger version and scale the game down to a linear hand-crafted campaign.

Is that lying? Was the dev being manipulative when he said two years ago that the game would be a dynamic open world? Or do plans changes, features and mechanics that seemed good at the time don't end up fitting well with the overall structure/pacing of a game, seem bloated and need to be cut, and whatnot?

As for NPCs, they said they had been working on NPCs at the time, but weren't sure if that element would make it into the game so didnt want to talk about it yet

I showed the 1.5 year old video just to create a time line. A week ago he reiterated that there would be no DLC. So between a year and a half ago and now, he was still saying there wouldn't be DLC. Then suddenly a week after release he changes his tune.
 

Crumpo

Member
How can you know for sure? Many reviews and GAFFers have said that this game doesn't feel like it should have cost $60, that it is much more in line with a typical $25-$30 indie game. I could easily see those people justifying the purchase for themselves by 'buying in early' in the hopes that the future, free content improves the game enough to justify the cost in their eyes.

It doesn't matter how big an impact a specific deceptive comment has, since it is nearly impossible to measure it's impact. The point is, especially if you watch that video, it is quite clear that Sean Murray misrepresented various elements of NMS. Whether they just under delivered or outright lied remains to be seen, but either way it doesn't matter

I'll never know for sure; I'm saying buying a game that you feel has no content on the basis of maybe getting free content in the future is a very irrational decision. Those people should have voted with their wallet and not preordered.

I still stand by context being important, otherwise we just rant about ANY misrepresentation; why are there no threads about NPCs now being included when Sean said there wouldn't be? He lied to us.

Context led us to decide it's not worth shouting about.
 
I imagine people wouldn't be as annoyed if they felt they're $60 had gone to the game that was promised not the game they got :p

No, people had bizarre expectations of the game. The game delivered what was promised, with the exception of multiplayer but that is such a small part of the game i feel safe to say the game delivered 95% of what was promised. If people feel ripped of by the game its their own fault.
 
I will edit my comment.

We are getting free patches to fix what was shipped.

Additional things will probably cost extra.

I don't see the issue.

The problem has nothing to do with paid DLC itself. It's that he said in the past there would be no DLC at all, then last week he said everything would be free, and then only a week later he's changed his mind again and basically said "Oh i didn't mean it really, we might charge for DLC after all". So the "There will be No DLC" that he said actually wasn't true, and the "It'll all be free updates" that he said wasn't true either.
 
I showed the 1.5 year old video just to create a time line. A week ago he reiterated that there would be no DLC. So between a year and a half ago and now, he was still saying there wouldn't be DLC. Then suddenly a week after release he changes his tune.
He said free updates are the norm, and if sometime in the future they reach a point where their budget can't support free updates, then maybe possibly there could be paid DLC. That's not a change in tune. That's being realistic.

Or should they contain to do free updates even if their budget can't support them?
 

Justified

Member
Going by a two year old interview seems disengenous

Consider Enemy Starfighter/House of the Dying Sun. For years, the plan was to be a Mount & Blade style space game in a dynamic world and factions. A month before release, dev said how that plan had been too ambitious, that the structure didn't suit the combat and gameplay, and he had decided to scrap that larger version and scale the game down to a linear hand-crafted campaign.

Is that lying? Was the dev being manipulative when he said two years ago that the game would be a dynamic open world? Or do plans changes, features and mechanics that seemed good at the time don't end up fitting well with the overall structure/pacing of a game, seem bloated and need to be cut, and whatnot?

As for NPCs, they said they had been working on NPCs at the time, but weren't sure if that element would make it into the game so didnt want to talk about it yet

I think at this point the root of the problem isnt the flip-flopping, mis-direction, "things change", or "But they are a small studio"

Sure those are the arguments various consumers are using to make their points/arguments, but as a whole, NMS consumer and the potential consumer base are polarized.

Its the lack of comment or a statement from Hello Games on the matter thats feeding this frenzy.

Leaving their consumers to rely on past statements is the root problem here, no matter how one feels, supportive or spurn, because these statements are all over the place.

For the good of the franchise and studio I think they need to come out with a definitive statement, directly addressing the communities concerns
 

flkraven

Member
He said free updates are the norm, and if sometime in the future they reach a point where their budget can't support free updates, then maybe possibly there could be paid DLC. That's not a change in tune. That's being realistic.

Or should they contain to do free updates even if their budget can't support them?

I don't want to calculate the logic in what he said, just saying exactly what he said. In August of this year he said the quote:

"We do want to add a ton of features, like we’ve just discussed: Freighters, bases, these type of things. But we want to do it for free. You’ve paid for the game, so you should get this stuff without paying even more money. So no, there will be no paid DLC, just patches"

What I take that to mean is that there won't be any paid DLC, but the game will continue to be supported for free. It is literally exactly what he said.
 
Top Bottom