No Man’s Sky Fans Fund Billboard To Thank Hello Games

Sean Murray/Twitter/Hello Games

No Man’s Sky was not a popular game when it released back in 2016. As you’re probably well aware, the product promised by Hello Games was not the one fans got, which led to an ugly backlash towards the developers, ranging from hate mail to actual death threats. 

To the credit of No Man’s Sky creator Sean Murray and his studio, instead of simply abandoning the game in the face of such intense hate, they got their heads down and stuck with the space exploration/survival sim.

They worked with the community to rebuild trust, and slowly deliver a number of substantial (and free) updates that improved the game no end, with features both previously promised and completely new.

Hello Games

Ewan Moore

The recently-released No Man’s Sky Beyond update represents the pinnacle of Hello Game’s commitment to its baby. The largest update to the game yet introduces a huge number of minor quality of life improvements, as well as improved base-building, multiplayer, missions, a HUB area, and creature riding.

In response to the studio’s hard work over the last few years, a number of fans decided to thank Hello Games with an incredible gesture. Back in June, fan Cam G set up GoFundMe page in order to buy the billboard outside the Hello Games office in Guildford, and adorn it with a special “thank you” message for the team.

After less than 24 hours, the campaign absolutely shattered its funding goal, and Cam G decided to extend the goal so that remaining funds could to go towards buying video games for sick kids in hospital.

Cam G wrote:

I thought if we have already achieved this in half of a day imagine what we could do to help kids who really need the joy, escape, and most importantly the beautiful shared experiences that you get in playing and simply talking to others who will listen.

Given that billboards are booked months in advance, the fans had to wait a while to see their project in all its glory – but it’s now officially in place. Sean Murray took to Twitter to share his appreciation for the thoughtful fan gesture, which comes just as the staff at Hello Games are no doubt celebrating the launch of Beyond.

As the GoFundMe originally promised, remaining funds have been used to buy games for the kids at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead. All in all, a good story about good people doing good things for one another. That just doesn’t happen often enough.

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Ewan Moore

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.