No Man's Sky Is Unexpectedly Arriving on iPhone

Ten years after a rocky launch, the update pace has not slowed

No Man's Sky is one of gaming's most notable recovery stories. The game began with an extremely rocky launch, but Hello Games kept working on it until it became what it is today. The game has just turned 10, and even though the studio's next project is well underway, its update pace has not slowed.

This year alone has added a Gravity Gun, Pokemon-style creature-catching adventures, World of Warcraft-esque raids, and a major overhaul of deep-space exploration and endgame content. That ongoing flow of updates sets the stage for a new platform milestone: Sean Murray, Hello Games co-founder, announced that No Man's Sky is coming to iPhone and iPad later this month.

The scale that made the mobile move seem impossible

The scale of No Man's Sky is why the announcement stands out. The game contains 256 galaxies, each with three to four billion regions. It has approximately 4.3 trillion star systems, each featuring multiple planets, moons, and space stations. It also includes asteroid belts, comets, and ice fields, plus around 18 quintillion planets. It is remarkable that the game runs on even the most powerful PCs, but it does, and it also works on multiple consoles.

For Hello Games, that was not the end of the platform story. The iPhone and iPad version began as a technical challenge. Murray said that a couple of years ago, shortly after the studio announced that No Man's Sky was coming to Mac, someone on the team thought the game could run on an iPhone. He did not believe it until he played it himself for the first time.

This follows the studio's earlier work with virtual reality and Nintendo Switch, both of which began as seemingly impossible technical challenges.

Full universe, with known Switch limitations

Murray said the mobile version is not No Man's Sky Lite. It is the full universe to explore, complete with over forty major updates, including COSMOS, which came out just a few weeks ago. It even includes some of the studio's most ambitious updates, such as Voyagers.

The only limitations relative to the PC and console version are the same ones that launched on Switch: no multiplayer and no settlements on Day 1. Hello Games has listened to players and built from there on Switch, including with a much expanded version on Switch 2. Based on feedback and player numbers, the studio said it will support iOS in a similar way.

Touch controls, controllers, and long sessions

The game's controls are another challenge. No Man's Sky has on-planet controls, flight controls, first person, third person, vehicles, and mechs, so many ways to play that usability became as big a problem as the technical one.

To solve it, Hello Games rebuilt touch controls from the ground up to make No Man's Sky feel at home on mobile. Murray said he was proud of how quick and intuitive the new touch controls feel. The mobile release also supports controllers, casting to TV, and even mouse and keyboard on iPad.

The studio also put significant work into battery life and thermodynamics, aiming for long comfortable play sessions rather than short bursts.

October 28 and a much larger audience

Pre-orders for the game begin today, and the full release takes place on Wednesday, 28th October via the Apple App Store.

The release moves into the largest part of the gaming market. Mobile gaming accounts for by far the largest share of gamers: around 26 to 28 percent play on PC, 18 to 20 percent on consoles, and roughly 84 percent on mobile. About 35 percent of all gamers report playing exclusively on mobile devices.

With the October 28 launch, Hello Games is moving a 10-year-old universe onto iPhone and iPad, extending No Man's Sky's comeback story to a new platform rather than simply repeating an old one.