The recent announcement of Hello Games’ space adventure No Man’s Sky would be coming to Xbox One with the “Next” update was a hell of a surprise. What’s more it might just be the perfect addition to the game as it arrives on a new platform.

The addition of REAL multiplayer has the potential to invigorate the fanbase and for Xbox players it might even become a sci-fi alternative to Sea of Thieves. I know both games have been associated (and derided) for their issues and promises but I think this update could change the situation as NMS has a chance now to bring in one of Sea of Thieves’ best features in cooperative multiplayer.

Twenty months since its launch and No Man’s Sky still stands out visually.

The relaxed narrative of NMS creates a similar environment to Rare’s pirate game (at least from my perspective) but in its favour are the expansions that have added a pile of content that will encourage sharing the workload with other people while developing your group’s own unique goals. Looking at the content now it seems like these may have been designed for multiplayer in the first place so it’s nice seeing the developers working to a long term game plan. Whether it be a bigger base or a new freighter there is plenty to do now and I think it will be much more fun achieving those with friends.

If Hello Games succeeds here it might even make Rare push a bit harder in delivering content for Sea of Thieves because this update might just make both titles occupy a similar space for casual gamers on Xbox One and PC. The full announcement from the recent Inside Xbox broadcast is below if you want ot hear it all from Sean Murray of Hello Games.

No Man’s Sky is out now on PC and PlayStation 4, with the Xbox One version arriving in July to conicide with the “Next” update.