No Man's Sky Dev Talk Pressure of Hype, Why it Turned Down Money to Expand Scope

Upcoming PlayStation 4 and PC space-adventure game No Man's Sky is one of the most hyped upcoming video games currently in development. Following a positive showing at E3 and with its release scheduled for later this year, that hype continues to grow still.

Now, in a new interview, Hello Games creative director Sean Murray has tackled that subject head on. He also discusses why Hello Games has refused every offer made so far for extra money to expand the scope of the game. He started off by saying Hello Games faces something of an uphill battle with No Man's Sky.

“People say to me: there's never been a game that's had this much hype and hasn't disappointed everyone," Murray told The Guardian.

It's not hard to see why No Man's Sky has so much hype. Hello Games is pushing it as a procedurally generated space exploration game where you can go anywhere and do anything in a truly massive world. Basically, it's difficult to not get excited about a game with such bold ambition.

Murray goes on to say that Hello Games is working hard to ensure that every piece of No Man's Sky footage it shows is an authentic representation of what players can expect. Over-promising and under-delivering is something Hello Games wants to avoid.

“We've always ensured that every video and demo we put out is raw gameplay," Murray said. “Every time you see No Man's Sky, it's literally me playing... It's the most genuine way in which we can show the game."

But of course, some gamers have gotten carried away. Murray said he can't do anything about this.

"They project their own idea of the game onto what we're doing," he said. "Maybe that is the nature of hype: runaway excitement that can never be matched?"

Also in the interview, Murray reveals that Hello Games was approached by a number of companies--including publishing partner Sony--who offered up extra funding to expand the scope of the game. But Murray has turned down every request--and he explained why.

"A lot of other companies would have taken the interest, taken loads of investment, grown the team massively and so on," Murray said. "And of course, we did talk about things like that. But it felt like it wouldn't work. We had an idea for a game and we may never be able to deliver on the hype. But we can deliver the game we set out to make. That has to be enough."

The full Guardian interview offers an incredibly fascinating, in-depth look at No Man's Sky and the team behind it.

No Man's Sky is coming later this year, and will launch for PS4 and PC on the same day. We also recently learned that when you die in the game, you may see a Jaden Smith quote.