No Man's Sky, the space exploration game from British studio Hello Games, marks its tenth anniversary today, having transformed from one of gaming's most notorious launch failures into one of its most celebrated redemption stories. The game launched on 9 August 2016 to widespread criticism after lead developer Sean Murray had promised features that were absent at release, but a decade of continuous free updates has since rebuilt both the game and its reputation, without Hello Games charging players anything beyond the initial purchase.

At launch, No Man's Sky's player base collapsed by more than 95 percent within a month, falling from over 212,000 concurrent players to just 9,000, and eventually to around 1,000, while Steam reviews sat at roughly 20 percent positive. Hello Games withdrew from public communication and focused on development, gradually rebuilding trust through major free updates such as Foundation, NEXT, Beyond and Living Ship. The game has now received 42 updates in total and holds an 85 percent positive review score on Steam, with Murray marking the anniversary by engaging directly with the game's community.