Let’s Talk About the Price of No Man’s Sky
If you didn’t catch the wildfire consuming Twitter, an accidental post (now removed) on the Playstation Blog has led many to believe that No Man’s Sky will cost players a full $60. A battle still rages between those who wonder what the hell else Hello Games would be asking for it, and others who think the indie studio has too much nerve, asking triple-A prices for a procedurally-generated game they’re saying precious little about.
Many gamers around the web say they’re more than happy to pay $60 to explore a nearly-infinite universe. Some pointed out past pre-orders for unimaginative series installments for the same price or more, saying they’re willing to speculate on developers dedicated to this level of ambition.
Opponents of a $60 tag have a wide variety of issues, ranging from concerns about lack of depth in the game (regardless of universe size), to concerns that the game isn’t using enough code.
Some concerns about the game are good ones. My fellow blogger GameChangerDOC on Twitter says he doesn’t feel a procedurally-generated game can compete with something lovingly-handcrafted like Skyrim, so they shouldn’t come at the same cost. While I feel that the right procedural gameplay system has potential to meet or exceed the value of a handcrafted game, I think he’s probably right to believe No Man’s Sky won’t feature planetside action that compares to that of Skyrim. It will certainly contain a wide set of activities, but it’s true that the environments for the action were spit out by a computer without a care in the world. That puts long-term playability at risk if players don’t fall in love with their trek to the center of the universe.
To be clear, I’m glad Hello Games isn’t trying to position No Man’s Sky as a game deserving of a monthly subscription fee, but is a $60 upfront entry fee an admission of little confidence in the long-term? They’re going to make the same amount of money whether players play for three weeks or six years — which would also be true at $20–30 or whatever people were hoping to pay for it. Still, perhaps it’s reasonable to balk at a pre-order while we see how it holds up.
Ultimately, there’s no denying the ambition of No Man’s Sky, nor the work that went into it. The game has surely cost a ton to create, and may cost even more to support after launch. Hello Games has a case for a $60 price tag. That said, they’ve set the stakes even higher for launch time. They’ve promised us the entire universe, and most of the players on this planet have big expectations.
