A decade after No Man’s Sky launched, its enormous procedural universe remains almost entirely unexplored. Hello Games development chief Sean Murray says players have visited fewer than one percent of the game’s planets.
The milestone comes as the space exploration game marks ten years since its release on PC and PS4. Over that time, millions of players have explored, built bases, formed communities and shared discoveries across its digital galaxy.
A universe that still feels almost untouched
No Man’s Sky contains 18 quintillion planets, making complete exploration effectively impossible. Murray estimates that seeing everything would take more than 500 billion years. Even after ten years of community activity, more than 99 percent of those worlds have not been seen by players.
That figure helps explain why the game can continue offering a sense of discovery despite its age. Every expedition, settlement and shared creation takes place within a universe that still has vast amounts of unexplored space.
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Ten years of free expansion
Murray’s anniversary message also highlighted the scale of the game’s ongoing support. Hello Games has released 40 major updates at no additional cost, adding or expanding features including base building, exocraft, settlements, mechs, pets, living ships and expeditions. The studio has also rebuilt parts of the universe during that process.
Support has expanded across PC, Xbox, PlayStation, virtual reality, PSVR, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. The game is also supported on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Murray noted that No Man’s Sky now runs on roughly as many platforms as Hello Games has team members.
The game’s player base reached its highest level since launch during 2026. That is a notable turnaround for a title whose original release was criticised by some players for failing to meet expectations. The team has since continued developing the game, and No Man’s Sky has won The Game Awards and BAFTA awards for best evolving game.
The original team and the next chapter
Most of the people shown with Murray in the familiar gold-master photograph from the original release are still working at Hello Games. Although the team has changed over the past decade, Murray says it has not grown dramatically.
He also confirmed that the studio is developing Light No Fire while continuing to plan major additions for No Man’s Sky. The next teased update is titled “COSMOS”, with further details to come.
In his anniversary message, Murray thanked the game’s community for its support and described the ongoing relationship between the developers and players as central to the project’s continued life. He said the team would like the journey to continue while it remains excited to create new additions and the community continues to enjoy them.
Murray told Xbox, “As long as the team are having fun conjuring up ever-crazier additions they want to add to the game, and as long as there is a passionate and positive community enjoying what they make, I’d love for this journey to continue.”
The scale of No Man’s Sky means its tenth anniversary is less a conclusion than another waypoint. With almost the entire planetary catalogue still unseen, the game’s central promise of discovery remains remarkably open.
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