the backlash his studio received in the wake of what he describes as a polarizing launch

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“ It was as bad as things can get.

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“ It's made us quite happy just working on something and seeing it improve.

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In an interview with IGN, Murray weighed the differences between reasonable, constructive criticism No Man’s Sky received post-launch from dedicated fans, and the kind of dangerous vitriol that has become all too familiar in pop culture spaces over the years.“The internet isn't always the fairest at determining appropriate responses,” Murray told IGN."We messed up some of the easy things. We talked about the game too early. We talked about features as they were in development," Murray said."The people who were often the most disappointed with the game were angry or frustrated because, for them, it could've been their perfect game. I think they pointed out things that we did badly that they were right about. And I think actually, luckily for us, those are things that are easy to change.”And while Murray and team have been happy to address some of those things – a huge, free update called No Man’s Sky Next is slated to add an assortment of new features later this month – an impassioned or even disappointed community doesn’t excuse the level of violent toxicity Hello Games has also endured, to which Murray spoke about more candidly with The Guardian While he didn’t go into too much detail, Murray noted the relentless harassment and death threats that, according to The Guardian, kept him and team in constant contact with local law enforcement. Some threats were over things as innocuous as butterflies in the trailer not appearing in the final build – others escalated into more dangerous territory, with Murray mentioning bomb threats sent to the team’s office.Sadly, online abuse hurled towards creators has become an increasingly normalized presence in games, especially as game development becomes more and more of a public process. But despite the hardships, Murray and team have found reward in seeing No Man’s Sky grow and change, and the community along with it.“It's made us quite happy just working on something and seeing it improve and seeing people who wanted to like the game [...] come back to it,” Murray told IGN.The positive reception to No Man’s Sky Next has been especially revitalizing for the team.“That’s what you make games for,” Murray told The Guardian. “You’re stood there, and there is admittedly an angry mob in front of you, but behind that there’s a crowd of others. I just want to communicate with them directly. I want to make things for them.”

Chloi Rad is an Editor at IGN. Follow her on Twitter at @_chloi