Two players of No Man's Sky claim to have already run across one another in the game's expansive world. Moreover, even though they seem to be in precisely the same exact spot on the same exact planet, neither player can either see one another nor see the effects of the other making changes in the area.
The two players that have met up have tried a variety of different tactics to be able to see one another, the assumption being that possibly they need to unlock, do, or have something in particular to see one another. A comment here sums it up well, as the two have tried relogging in the same spot, both ensuring they have a PSN account, and more. This screenshot here shows the players both in the same exact spot but unable to see one another. Beyond that, others have noticed during the stream that the two players, while in the same spot, have different NPC ships pass by them, different ones in the hangar, and more. So while the physical locations seem to be the same, the experience itself does not.
From pretty much the beginning Hello Games has said that players would be able to see one another, yet still cautioning that they'd have to think of multiplayer differently, because No Man's Sky isn't a multiplayer game. Even as late as yesterday, Sean Murray on Twitter said this:
https://twitter.com/NoMansSky/status/762689755792412672
That seems a bit contradictory, as on the one hand the first tweet implies that players can actually meet up in No Man's Sky (disregard the fact that two players, on launch day, seem to have already found one another), but the other tweet tosses in some doubt with the "so people can know they are playing in the same universe."That almost seems to imply that players won't be able to meet, but the effects of player's sharing the universe will be seen in some fashion. The claim that two players will likely never cross paths with that second tweet almost seem to all but say interactions between players are impossible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE0nuW-mQ8A
The message of encountering other players has been pretty consistent throughout, as seen in the above video (though it is far too early and unfair to say Sean Murray was lying at this point until we get official comment from Hello Games).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0uYnwqlslU&feature=youtu.be&t=1m31s
Then you have answers like this that seem to add a little more confusion to the mix in the vagueness of Sean's answers. What does he mean by "characters" here and that they can see each other? He had another vague answer in an interview from March of this year as well, implying again that players, even though extremely unlikely, could possibly cross paths.
Without explanation or word from Hello Games, we cannot know if this was intentional or not, or whether players need to do something specifically in-game to see one another. Further, we must all be cautious in knowing that this is just one known instance of this happening—who knows how others may experience it. There have yet to be multiple reports beyond this sole post on Reddit.
TechRaptor has reached out for both comment and clarification. We will update you when and if we get word.
Have any of you had a similar experience so far in No Man's Sky? What do you think is going on in this case with No Man's Sky? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Update 1:
https://twitter.com/NoMansSky/status/763270259080097792
If you click through that tweet and look at the chain of tweets from Sean Murray, he acknowledges the two players meeting. However, nowhere is there any confirmation that the two players were supposed to see each other, nor not supposed to see each other. Further, look at these tweets:
https://twitter.com/NoMansSky/status/763271239662174208
They seem to imply that server issues are somehow responsible for something, but there is no elaboration on what issues those are causing exactly, like how it may or may not be disrupting how player interaction is supposed to work. For now, we are still awaiting official word on how the multiplayer aspect of No Man's Sky is supposed to work.
Update 2:
PCGamesN is reporting that the limited edition physical version of No Man's Sky has a sticker showing a change in the rating of the game, as well as removing the icon that indicates multiplayer is available. The sticker does not show up on the regular edition, only limited editions.
https://twitter.com/PCGamesN/status/763445974199050241
Further, according to PCGamesN, this sticker is not present on the U.S. version of the game but does seem to appear on all European versions of the limited edition.
What this means exactly is, again, anyone's guess. Maybe there was some change to go away from adding the limited multiplayer functionality, maybe it doesn't work currently and will be patched later. We're all still waiting for official word from Hello Games.
Stay tuned here for more.
