No Man’s Sky won’t have early access or open beta testing

No Man's Sky has not only appeared as GI's cover story, but it will also have a quite a presence at the upcoming PlayStation Experience. Fans waiting to learn more about this ambitious space exploration game will get a large dose of info over the next coming days.

In the latest Game Informer issue, we get to learn about many of No Man's Sky's gameplay elements, from starting out on an uncharted planet, to losing your ship and then having to earn it back, to the limited but still unique multiplayer elements. With such an ambitious game, many would assume that Hello Games is planning on a early access version of the game, to make sure all those elements mesh together in an open environment with thousands of people, however, it looks like that may not be happening.

Sean Murray has this to say on the matter:

I know it sounds ridiculous, but I want it to be finished before it comes out. Maybe this is hubris, but we plot out millions of people making journeys starting from different points. Then guess what their upgrade ramp will be, see how long it takes, and how many jumps. [Estimating it will] probable take 20 percent longer than that and kind of averaging it out.

The story states that there is no early access or open beta planned. While it sounds risky, it really seems like Hello Games is ensuring that the game is completely finished. While that statement may sound silly, in this day and age, it's more than commonplace to rush a release and fix the game post launch with patches and updates. I give tons of credit to Hello Games for wanting to make the best possible game right from day one.

Are we sad we won't get a taste of No Man's Sky through a beta program? Sure. But if the final product matches the quality that Hello Games is touting, then we're sure it will be worth it.

[Game Informer Magazine]