In accordance with previous reports, Hello Games has officially postponed the release of No Man’s Sky, nudging the sprawling exploration sim out of June. Now, it’ll launch across PS4 and PC on August 9 in North America.

Taking to PS Blog, Sean Murray offered a status report on the game’s prolonged development, noting that the title “needed extra polish” in order to bring it closer to internal standards.

The game really has come together, and it’s such an incredible relief. As we sit and play it now, and as I watch playtesters every day, I can finally let myself get excited. We’re actually doing this. However, as we approached our final deadlines, we realised that some key moments needed extra polish to bring them up to our standards. I have had to make the tough choice to delay the game for a few weeks to allow us to deliver something special. After a short delay, No Man’s Sky will launch in on 10th August in Europe, 12th August in the UK. We understand that this news is disappointing. Making this game is the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but we are so close now, and we’re prepared to make the tough choices to get it right.

Initially pegged for June 21 back in March, word of No Man’s Sky missing its hotly-anticipated due date emerged earlier this week, when Kotaku caught wind of changes to the marketing material. Citing sources close to GameStop, the report accurately predicted that “the release date for No Man’s Sky has changed since the posters were printed. Please use a coming soon pop-up to cover up the date and communicate as needed to your guest about the change of release.”

Indeed the fact that both Sony and developer Hello Games had been relatively quiet on the No Man’s Sky front indicated that a delay was in the cards and sure enough, PlayStation has confirmed the postponement this evening.

It’s official: No Man’s Sky will now launch for PS4 and PC on August 9 in North America. Expect Hello Games’ title to hit Europe and the UK on August 10 and August 12, respectively.

[Source: PS Blog]