No Man's Sky Next Adds Online Multiplayer, Xbox One Release Date Revealed

No Man's Sky has a new major update coming out in July called No Man's Sky NEXT. The update will be bringing online multiplayer to the game, announced Hello Games. The studio also released the cover art and Xbox One launch date for the game.

In a blog post, Hello Games revealed that No Man's Sky NEXT will be available as a free update for PC and PS4 owners on July 24, and that the Xbox One version will release on the same day, also July 24.

Next is described as the biggest update ever for the game, No Man's Sky NEXT has been playtesting the full multiplayer for the last six month. The update will allow players to interact with others online, to work together to help stay alive, or maybe even steal their supplies.

No Man's Sky began as a space exploration game where players could explore a vast, procedurally generated universe. However, despite the ambitious concept the game's features upon launch were lackluster. Disappointed players even started a petition to have the game removed over "false advertising."

Over the course of several updates however, No Man's Sky's fortunes are seemingly turning. Multiplayer is set to shake-up the game's foundations as previously the game never actually featured an online multiplayer component. As a result, the game gains some serious survival genre bonafides atop of its space travel simulation.

NEXT is the fourth expansion for No Man's Sky. The previous expansion, Atlas Rises, added over 30 hours of narrative elements to the game, fleshing out the universe's lore and characters.