Sean Murray reveals how much money No Man’s Sky made

In the sprawling world of digital development, sometimes the most valuable asset isn’t profit—it’s pure creative enjoyment. That’s the philosophy driving Hello Games, the studio behind the massively popular exploration game No Man’s Sky, and its head, Sean Murray.

When asked about the potential financial rewards of charging for expansions or implementing microtransactions, Murray offered a surprisingly candid response: he strongly advised against letting monetary figures influence his work. He made it clear that seeing PowerPoint slides detailing potential revenue from DLC or in-app purchases would be a bad idea for his mental health.

“I never want to see that PowerPoint,” Murray stated. “I’m sure somebody could take me aside and show me how much money we could have made if we had implemented in-app purchases or DLC.”

This resistance stems from a core desire: the team wants players to experience all post-release content together, allowing updates to compound and build upon one another. For Hello Games, the journey of exploration is more important than short-term commercial efficiency.

This dedication to continuity isn’t just a philosophy; it fuels the creative process itself. Murray emphasized that the true motivation for working on an update is the collective experience. “I really enjoy working on an update and knowing that what I’m working on, everyone is going to experience this,” he explained.

This mindset extends to game mechanics. For instance, introducing new features like the turn-based creature battles found in Xeno Arena is driven by passion, not just marketability. Murray noted that such features wouldn’t be worth pursuing if it meant “fragmenting your audience.”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s not the most commercially efficient thing that we can do,” he added. “What matters is that it makes us still excited about working on it ten years out.”

A decade later, No Man’s Sky continues to prove the power of this player-centric approach. The game recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, yet Murray pointed out a fascinating piece of data: players have only discovered about one percent of the game’s total planets after ten years of exploration and forty major updates.

As Hello Games looks toward the future, they are already plotting new adventures. The studio is currently developing an ambitious new title titled Light No Fire, a game rumored to feature dragons, though no release date has been announced yet.