In a perfect world, there are no delays. There’s also sunshine, perfect temperature 24/7, and a portable game console of your choice. Plus a bunch of other things you prefer for yourself. But alas, we live in reality and it just set in: as earlier reports indicated this week, the highly anticipated No Man’s Sky has been delayed from June until August 9. The internet just collapsed because an indie game with insane standards to live up to was delayed by two months, and death threats ensued. Sean Murray, founder of Hello Games and owner of the @NoMansSky Twitter account, has since been subjected to a “load of death threats.”
I have received loads of death threats this week, but don’t worry, Hello Games now looks like the house from Home Alone #pillowfort
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) May 28, 2016
At this point, most people are likely on the same page when it comes to delays. It happens, and it leaves a sour taste in your mouth. But some seem to take much more offense than others. The first to officially publicize No Man’s Sky‘s delay was the US PlayStation Blog. The article has received 470 comments as of this writing, and has engaged readers to publish such constructive responses as, “…yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…” And this one, which hit home for me: “I bought a PS4 for this game alone. I get the PS4 home, plug it in, preorder No Man’s Sky and then literally 2 hours later it gets delayed 2 months. Thanks Sony/Hello Games, enjoy my $460.”
Despite all the hate sent to Murray, he’s taking it with a rather chill attitude, but we’d be surprised if he was out wandering the streets alone.
Death threats aren’t unheard of in the gaming industry, especially towards developers. Delayed games can be one such reason, while other incidents have included the reboot of the Devil May Cry video game franchise and Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus, as well as during the Gamergate crisis that started back in August 2014.
No Man’s Sky will be released on PlayStation 4 and Windows 10 for PC.