It looks like No Man’s Sky’s next update is imminent as Sean Murray breaks out the emojis again – and fans reckon it’s a big one

Sean Murray, head of No Man's Sky developer Hello Games, has posted a new emoji on social media, a signal fans have learned to interpret as a sign that a major update to the space exploration game is close to release. The tease points towards the imminent arrival of "Cosmos", the update previously confirmed to mark the game's 10th anniversary, and its scale matters to the community because Murray's cryptic emoji posts have historically preceded big content drops rather than minor patches.

Murray's habit began in 2020 with an egg emoji trailing the Living Ship update, and has since included symbols for the Endurance, Beacon, Breach and Remnant updates. This time he posted a cocktail glass, a nod to fan jokes about how "Cosmos" should be pronounced, followed by a Hello Games social post featuring three cocktail glasses, fuelling speculation that release is very near, historically the pattern has meant updates land within days, often on a Wednesday afternoon. Fan hopes for Cosmos range from a galaxy overhaul and multi-biome planets to improved multiplayer synchronisation and a more persistent universe, though Hello Games has yet to confirm specifics.