"No Man's Sky" has been one of the most anticipated PS4 games of 2016. Players buzzed social media and Reddit with endless conversations as to how exciting the space-exploration game, published by Hello Games, would be. However, when the game finally went on sale, players' expectations were dashed to the ground. "No Man's Sky" was no video game. It was said to be a disappointment of epic proportions.
Games Radar.com echoed these sentiments, saying that "No Man's Sky" has failed to satisfy the hopes of fans and that it was not the game players saw advertised on Youtube.
One person in the video gaming industrywho concurred with the criticisms is Sony's famous CEO Shuhei Yoshida himself. The Japanese CEO said that "No Man's Sky" has indeed let fans down and the criticisms, despite being harsh at times, were valid.
Yoshida said the company's PR strategy apparently took the wrong approach of overhyping the game which set up fans with very unrealistic expectations on what the game can actually deliver.
Players lamented that the game lacked multiplayer features which have been a near universal feature of all PS4 games.
Analysts found it ironic that people cannot meet and interact with each other in a game that purported to be an intergalactic exploration game akin to "Star Trek" and "Star Wars."
The lack of a multiplayer feature was exacerbated by the absence of a coherent and satisfying story that open-world RPG games often and should have.
Some gamers believe they apparently have been slighted by Hello Games' development chief Sean Murray who had previously teased in past interviews and previews that the game will eventually offer multiplayer mechanics that would weave into the game's narrative.
Players who have traversed the game from beginning to end have not found any evidence that these promises were delivered.
During the recent Tokyo Game Show, Shuhei Yoshida was asked by Eurogamer about his thoughts on the embattled video game. The Japanese CEO said: "I had the opportunity to play the game right before launch. And I restarted playing the it on launch day with the Day One patch. I (could) understand some of the criticisms especially Sean Murray is getting, because he sounded like he was promising more features in the game from day one."
"It wasn't a great PR strategy, because he didn't have a PR person helping him, and in the end he is an indie developer. But he says their plan is to continue to develop No Man's Sky features and such, and I'm looking forward to continuing to play the game."
Nonetheless, Games Radar advises fans to take the Sony CEO's words with a grain of salt. Although Sony did not have a direct hand in the creation of "No Man's Sky," it nonetheless published the physical CDs of the game. It would be unusual for the tech firm to take part in the game's distribution if it foresaw that things would fall apart later, damaging its bottomline.
