Hello Games has given its next major No Man’s Sky update a name: Cosmos. The reveal landed alongside the game’s 10th anniversary, tied to an open letter from co-founder and director Sean Murray. Right now the name is essentially all that is public, with Murray teasing “big things” for the game’s future and promising more information later.
Quick answer: Cosmos is the next free No Man’s Sky update. Only the title is confirmed so far, full details are due at a later date, and it is unlikely to arrive in 2026.
What is confirmed about the Cosmos update
The Cosmos name arrived through an anniversary trailer and Murray’s open letter to players. Beyond the title, the specifics of what Cosmos adds are being kept under wraps. Murray framed it as one of several “big things for the future of No Man’s Sky” the team is working on, with a fuller reveal to follow.
Like every substantial No Man’s Sky update before it, Cosmos is a free update rather than paid downloadable content. That pattern has held across roughly 40 major updates since launch, covering new features, overhauls of existing systems, and mechanics that did not exist in the game at all.
Note: The name Cosmos invites obvious guesses about deeper space exploration, but Hello Games has not attached any features, systems, or content to it publicly. Treat anything beyond the title as unconfirmed until the studio shares specifics.
When Cosmos is expected to release
There is no confirmed release date for Cosmos. Hello Games has said only that details are coming later, and the update is not expected to land in 2026. Until the studio commits to a date, any specific window is speculation.
What is clear is that Hello Games sees runway well beyond this single update. Murray’s letter points to plans that extend past Cosmos, which fits the studio’s steady cadence of a handful of updates per year.
The 10-year milestone in numbers
The Cosmos reveal is bundled with a decade of context. No Man’s Sky launched on August 9, 2016 for PlayStation 4 and PC to a rough reception, then recovered over years of free updates. Murray’s letter shared several figures marking where the game stands now.
| Detail | Where it stands |
|---|---|
| Launch date | August 9, 2016 (PS4, PC) |
| Major updates to date | Around 40 |
| Planets explored by players | Less than 1% |
| Total planets in the game | ~18 quintillion |
| Time to see them all | An estimated 585 billion years |
| Player numbers this year | Highest since launch |
| Recent awards | The Game Awards and BAFTA best evolving game |
Murray also noted that most of the developers who shipped the original game are still at Hello Games, and that No Man’s Sky now runs on close to as many platforms as there are team members. Those platforms include PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, PC, PSVR, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.
The turnaround shows in Steam sentiment too. After launching to “Mostly Negative” reviews, the game now sits at roughly 83% positive, landing in “Very Positive” territory. Recent 2026 updates added a gravity gun, creature battling, raid-style content, and a Star Wars-inspired boss encounter.
Light No Fire, Hello Games’ next title
The same letter confirmed that Light No Fire, the studio’s next game, is still in development. It is set on a single fantasy planet the size of Earth and draws on the procedural generation and sandbox mechanics familiar from No Man’s Sky, with a focus on adventure, building, survival, and exploration together.
Light No Fire is currently slated for release sometime after 2026 and is confirmed for PC. More platforms could follow later, as happened with No Man’s Sky, but nothing beyond PC is locked in yet.
For now, Cosmos is a name and a promise rather than a feature list. The most reliable read is to expect another free update after 2026, with Hello Games filling in the details when it is ready. Everything else about the update stays open until that reveal.
