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No Man's Sky Has Gotten 1 Million New Players Thanks To Xbox Game Pass
The addition of No Man's Sky to the Xbox Game Pass library has rocketed up the game's player count by over a million new players according to a blog post from Hello Games founder Sean Murray. For those still in the dark about what many believe to be the best game subscription service currently available, Xbox Game Pass charges players a monthly fee to access a large roster of titles from its games library, which continues to expand with newer titles.
The impact of Xbox Game Pass on titles varies based on which one has been added and when it joins the service relative to its own life cycle, but it's generally an extremely beneficial process for all involved. Gears 5 sales performed strongly in large part due to the game's availability and launch through Xbox Game Pass, while already established greats like Red Dead Redemption 2 have seen their communities grow after joining the Xbox Game Pass roster. In the case of No Man's Sky, it's another example of the latter, where a title that has already proven its chops over a long period of time becomes the subject of renewed interest thanks to its availability on Xbox Game Pass.
The impact of No Man's Sky on Xbox Game Pass is even bigger than normal, however - over a million new players joined the game within its first month on the service, rocketing up its player count as consumers explored all the game has to offer. The news was delivered by Hello Games' Sean Murray via the Xbox Wire, and accompanied the developer's announcement that No Man's Sky Desolation update was now live. According to Murray, this has resulted in some of No Man's Sky's "biggest ever in-game numbers," a remarkable feat for a game that has been out since 2016 and first arrived on Xbox One in 2018.
If Murray's announcement isn't yet another ringing endorsement of the Xbox Game Pass service, it's hard to imagine what constitutes one. The subscription service has been turning heads for a long time now thanks to a steady flow of big games joining it, and in terms of sheer value, it seems the runaway favorite for many gamers choosing between it and competitors like Sony's PS Plus (and whatever it is Nintendo is doing with its online services).
The increased player count is an even bigger win for No Man's Sky than it might be for other games, too - No Man's Sky notoriously had an extremely rocky launch and, though the general discourse surrounding the game is now mostly praise, many out-of-the-loop fans might not have known that. It wouldn't be surprising if those million players, experiencing how much depth and quality is now present in No Man's Sky, bring even more players with them over the next few months. Analysts will have to wait and see exactly how it shakes out, but the fact that No Man's Sky generated a new million players so late in its life cycle bodes well for the state of Xbox's online services heading into the all-important first year of a new console release with the Xbox Series X at the end of 2020.
No Man's Sky Desolation update is available now.
