No Man's Sky will get cooperative multiplayer this July

As we already know, No Man's Sky will get a substantial update this July in the form of NEXT. But today during an Inside Xbox livestream, Hello Games' Sean Murray confirmed that the update will usher in a feature many have been baying for since launch: fully-featured cooperative multiplayer.

While functionality has already been implemented to allow players to see one another as glowing orbs (but scarcely interact), this update will allow base building collaboration. You can team up with friends, and you can meet strangers as well. In fact, anything you can do in No Man's Sky appears to be possible with friends, from on-foot exploration to deep space aerial combat.

Murray didn't mention what a player avatar would look like, and nor were any other details about the patch revealed. If it's anything like previous No Man's Sky patches, there will be more. It's set to roll out on July 24, which will also mark the game's first release on Xbox One.

Upon release of the last major update last year, Atlas Rising, Chris wrote that while the game has improved, it still lacks "magic and mystery". For those still wanting more from the space exploration game, fingers crossed NEXT will prove satisfactory.

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.