There are many secrets hiding in the 18 quintillion planets of No Man’s Sky, but one fan has taken a break from exploring space and mining for resources in favour of datamining the game’s files.
NeoGAF user Hugo Peters extracted data from the PC version of the game and found all kinds of weird and wondrous things, including a folder titled ‘POOP’ – which is actually what I called my first planet, funnily enough.
A model of a monkey wearing a fez was also found, which could be a reference to developer Hello Game’s Joe Danger franchise.
But perhaps the biggest find was information that suggests No Man’s Sky could one day come to Xbox One.
Peters came across data concerning the Havok physics license Hello Games uses for No Man’s Sky, and discovered that it allows the team to do work for Microsoft’s console.
Of course, this doesn’t outright confirm anything. While the Havok license might allow Hello Games to develop for Xbox One, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re going to for sure.
Still, it is worth noting that Hello Games owns the No Man’s Sky IP, and it’s unclear what (if any) kind of exclusivity deal publisher Sony has with the developer.
I’m sure Microsoft would be keen to get the game on their console – especially after the inevitable heap of patches and updates that it’ll be getting over the next year.
Other info stumbled across by our intrepid dataminer is less interesting, but still pretty cool.
There were various 3D models (above) which might be the nameless, silent protagonist you play as, as well as a Half Life 2 logo that were presumably used for testing.
There were also folders for PS3 and Xbox 360, but nothing has been found yet that points towards any kind of multiplayer, sadly.
No Man’s Sky’s launch has proved deeply divisive, but it’s clear that Hello Games have more tricks and secrets planned before we can truly give up on it.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.