Sony's Shuhei Yoshida Blames Poor PR Management For No Man's Sky's Woes

Yoshida says that unrealized promises led to unrealistic expectations the game could not deliver.

After years of being hyped up to no end, Hello Games’ space exploration title No Man’s Sky launched not with a bang but with a sputtering whine, and Sony president Shuhei Yoshida has a theory on why the game didn’t make a more positive impression on players.

According to Yoshida, who spoke about No Man’s Sky during the ongoing Tokyo Games Show, Hello Games CEO Sean Murray’s decision to not use a PR representative and to instead hype No Man’s Sky up on his own through interviews and preview sessions was a poor one, as he inevitably wound up overhyping the game and promising the inclusion of features which weren’t actually part of No Man’s Sky’s final release:

"I understand some of the criticisms especially Sean Murray is getting, because he sounded like he was promising more features in the game from day one. It wasn't a great PR strategy, because he didn't have a PR person helping him, and in the end he is an indie developer.”

Despite his criticism of Murray’s PR strategy, Yoshida said that he personally enjoyed his time with No Man’s Sky, and that he’s excited to continue playing it due to Murray expressing a commitment towards improving No Man’s Sky’s core gameplay and eventually expanding it with new features.

For more on the latest Indie Obscura news coverage, be sure to check out our previous looks at developer Ultra Ultra’s upcoming stealth/action game Echo, the imminent Xbox One release of Axiom Verge, and why the new Steam review changes are hurting indie developers

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