No Man’s Sky is inches away from release now, which made a particularly surprising report from last week sound like a cruel joke. A Dutch company claimed that the procedurally generated space explorer was making use of a mathematical formula they owned to do it, continuing on to imply that Hello Games knew about the infringement. Hello Games, and by extension their lead programmer Sean Murray, chose to address this head on over the weekend.
In the most casual manner I might add. Taking a day to compose the response, Sean Murray sent out a simple tweet to notify concerned fans that the game didn’t make use of any stolen formulas. He labelled it all as a “non-story”, before wishing the best to superformula author Johan Gielis and promising to discuss maths with him in the near future. How sweet.
No Man’s Sky doesn’t actually use this “superformula” thing or infringe a patent. This is a non-story… everybody chill
(?_ _)?— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) 23 July 2016
I wish Johan Gielis, the author, all the best in future. We’re going to meet and chat maths once the game is out
— Sean Murray (@NoMansSky) 23 July 2016
Of course the timing of it all seemed to good to be true, and if Hello Games really was making use of something that didn’t belong to tem you would’ve expected it to come to light a lot sooner. Still, the evidence was mounting last week – what with Sean Murray mentioning Gielis by name just a year ago and the very company he works for making the claims of infringement. But for now it seems Hello Games is safe, and the launch of No Man’s Sky isn’t going to (hopefully) be flying into any asteroids before August 9th.
If you need a little refresher, Hello Games have been releasing short, bite-sized trailers for their latest game over the past few weeks. Check out the Exploration, Combat and Trade of No Man’s Sky here, before jetting off on your own adventure on PS4 and PC.
Last Updated: July 25, 2016
konfab
July 25, 2016 at 11:08
They probably multiplied the results of the superformula by 1.1 to give the required 10% difference that would be necessary for a patent.
Frik van der Hewerskink
July 25, 2016 at 11:20
How would one even quantify or measure differentiation of patents ? It’s not possible
Crippled by UK State goons
August 7, 2016 at 10:37
Like the lyrics to a song…. you either can show the deliberate copied similarities, or you cant.
Frik van der Hewerskink
August 7, 2016 at 10:38
Showing the similarities and giving it a % is not the same thing
Crippled by UK State goons
August 8, 2016 at 05:13
Semantics.
Such a boring game.
Ottokie
July 25, 2016 at 11:24
Something is fishy here…
Admiral Chief - Check
July 25, 2016 at 11:30
…with added AI
Ottokie
July 25, 2016 at 11:32
Then they will have Treyarch up their bottom as well
Admiral Chief - Check
July 25, 2016 at 11:36
Imagine if CoDgames could not use the same formulae for each subsequent game…They would sue themselves bankrupt in 15 minutes
VampyreSquirrel
July 25, 2016 at 11:34
…On multiple planets…
Raptor Rants
July 25, 2016 at 11:41
Ok, someone is dividing by 0 here….
HairyEwok
July 25, 2016 at 13:03
Really? Guess I’ll get the corn out then.
HvR
July 25, 2016 at 12:19
Chris Robberts should sue them for copying Wing Commander 2; I’m really disappointed in the space combat part
of the game.
RustedFaith
July 25, 2016 at 12:30
this will be a nice filler until Star Citizen is out.
konfab
July 25, 2016 at 12:43
Yup. According to Hello Games, it will take 5 billion years to explore every inch of the universe.
That might be enough time for Star Citizen to get finished.
HairyEwok
July 25, 2016 at 13:04
Zing!
RustedFaith
July 25, 2016 at 13:48
ROFL!!
I have no comeback 🙂 Well played Sir!
HvR
July 25, 2016 at 13:02
That is like saying I should drink Fosters untill Lion Lager comes back.
RustedFaith
July 25, 2016 at 13:51
You can drink whatever you like until Lion Lager comes out, with space flight sims its either the snore fest Elite Dangerous or Eve at the moment. I am not interested in No Mans Sky as its to cartoony for me but I will get it to get my space flight sim trading fix till Star Citizen is released.
Bipple
July 27, 2016 at 18:38
Or like saying you drink Fosters until Fosters tastes good.
Darren Peach
July 25, 2016 at 21:17
Unless they actually stole the mathematical equations from this place, the company in question has no real argument or case. Procedural technology has been around for yonks. It’s almost like trying to put a patent on breathing.
Crippled by UK State goons
August 7, 2016 at 10:36
Cant trust anything Sean nor the No Mans Sky team say anymore (whether about a release date for PC, or this copyright infringement).
Even the Steam No Mans Sky Forum Mod will ban you for pointing out the evidence this article mentions.
I got a lifetime ban from Steam NMS forum after mentioning this and providing the link (and asking for a further delay for NMS to perfect the game).
Then they tried to ban me for my Steam Avatar picture which merely says “Its GREAT to be STRAIGHT”
Then they tried to ban my Steam Name (which was “Work makes you Free” [in German]).
They are a bit of an offensive bunch, and they should be stopped.
They certainly made sure I will never buy their cartoon space toytown game.
Buy Star Citizen or something like.
Crippled by UK State goons
August 8, 2016 at 05:14
All I know is the Steam No Mans Sky Mod will ban you for life for suggesting they;- “Delay the game for another month, to make the game even better” in a thread on the forum.
Thats why they banned me for life.
Then they delete the thread where people in good humor agreed with me.
QED
Dont buy anything from such hysterical people.