Skip to main content

After nearly two years, ‘No Man’s Sky’ is finally coming to Xbox One

505 Games To Distribute The Xbox One Retail Version of No Man's Sky Worldwide

Hello Games’ No Man’s Sky hit the PlayStation 4 and PC in 2014, offering players a nearly limitless universe filled with procedurally generated planets and creatures. The game skipped the Xbox One at the time, but that will soon be rectified thanks to a big, new update.

Coming later this year, the Xbox One version of No Man’s Sky will be available at retail. The PlayStation 4 version was also available in retail stores when it originally launched. Game publisher 505 Games will handle the physical distribution. The Xbox One version will include all of the content developed so far for the other versions of the game, including the large “Atlas Rises” update.

This summer, all versions of No Man’s Sky will also receive the game’s largest update to date, which Hello Games has dubbed “Next.” It isn’t clear yet if the Xbox One version will be released at that time, but it will feature Next when it’s eventually released.

“Each update for No Man’s Sky has been more successful than the last,” said director Sean Murray in a press release. “This was especially true with our last update, Atlas Rises. It emboldens the team to push ourselves further. This journey is far from over, and it’s exciting to be working again on something you know will surprise people.”

Though the original launch version of No Man’s Sky was criticized for its lack of content, the updates it received added base-building and multiplayer, giving players more of a reason to stick around on various planets aside from just stripping its resources dry. Quality-of-life changes related to how items are stored also make the game less frustrating, as players don’t need to drop what they’re doing to sell their found supplies as often. A more substantial narrative hook still isn’t really there, but perhaps the Next update will address that.

With No Man’s Sky coming to Xbox One, only one major platform is missing the game: Nintendo Switch. Though it would likely be a technical challenge to get it running on the weaker hardware, much of the game is playable offline, so players would be able to take it with them on the go.

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Doom: The Dark Ages launches next year, and Xbox is bringing it to PS5
Doom: The Dark Ages Doomslayer

During the June 2024 Xbox Games Showcase, Microsoft revealed Doom: The Dark Ages. It's a medieval take on the first-person shooter series that's typically set during contemporary times. It's set to launch in 2025 for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. The game will also launch on Xbox Game Pass.

Doom: The Dark Ages is a prequel, with the Doomslayer donning animal fur and spikes on his shoulder-blade armor. With his trusty and classic shotgun, he's ready to take down demons. However, he now has a new shield with blades that he can rev up like a chainsaw. The trailer shows the Doomslayer even throwing his shield at them like Captain America. He will also be able to ride a dragon at some point in the game, highlighting the fantasy elements of the game.

Read more
Amazon’s ambitious MMO New World is finally coming to PS5 and Xbox this October
Key art for New World Aeternum.

Amazon is finally bringing its MMO New World to consoles this October, and that’s coming as part of a larger rework of the fantasy game called New World: Aeternum.

When New World hits consoles on October 15, it will also add crossplay, so you can group up with your friends on different platforms. That said, it won’t feature cross-progression, as the characters you make will be locked to whatever platform you made them on. The controls and UI have also been reworked to function better with a controller, and Amazon Games expects New World to keep update parity across all three platforms starting this October.

Read more
Studio behind one of Xbox’s biggest upcoming exclusives hit with layoffs, studio closures
The logo for Contraband. It has "Contraband" in physical letters inside a case lined with straw.

Approximately 50 people have been laid off from Avalanche Studios Group, the company behind the Just Cause series and the upcoming Xbox console exclusive Contraband, according to the studio.

In an official blog post published Monday, the company also announced that it will be closing two of its five locations: the one in New York and the other in Montreal. It's unclear of the exact number of layoffs, but the post says "around 50" workers were affected, or around 9% of the workforce.

Read more