The thing is where other developers fail to see issues like this and it cripples their game; for instance Ubisoft's failure to see the failings in The Division 1 or Watch Dogs, or EA's failure to see how messed up Anthem was. While companies like those failed to work with the community they did build and fix the game with content and patches, Hello Games almost did a complete rebuild of No Man's Sky as did Rare with Sea of Thieves. They looked and saw that despite the good will they most likely burned, that they had player bases for their games, with that they asked their community questions about content and they came up with their own unique ideas. They took the time and effort to look and the time and effort to almost rebuild their games from the ground up; each leaving us with the two games we have today and I'll go into each one down below.
Then comes the silence, the deafening silence from Hello Games, there was absolutely nothing for the longest time and no one thought there would be absolutely nothing done to it and we'd seen what could've been one of the greatest space games ever just end up being an utter flop, a tragic mess.
That's where we ended up being wrong. Over time, Hello Games listened to the community and also took some of those initial ideas they had as well as some new ones and built something great. They've released I believe 4 "expansions" to No Man's Sky and when I say expansion I mean more of a free patch that has completely overhauled the entire experience. Everything they promised to add to No Man's Sky is there and now there is even more than they promised. Intricate base building mechanics were added which is incredibly fun to do. Think about that concept for a second, a planet that you discovered on your own that could be completely barren or full of life and then you create something on it and say, "this is mine I live here". It's so neat. Actual space battles, against police, against pirates, and even other people !!! That's another thing, that touted multiplayer that Sean Murray went on and on about on talk shows and in interviews finally appeared. What was it like when it finally appeared, absolutely solid. Building bases with clans, discovering and naming galaxies and planets together, fighting pirates in space, creating floatilas of spaceships, everything is just splendid. Then those dead planets, the ones that just had barely anything on them, are now what we saw when the original trailer was revealed; granted not all of them are that way because as with real space not every world is habitable and full of life.
The commitment that Hello Games has shown toward the community that did stick with them and the fans they did pick up via word of mouth after the games launch or via Xbox and PC when it launched on those platforms has been nothing short of superb. It's what you want to see from every game developer but you know you won't see it from 95% of them.
Then Rare, similar to Hello Games (though I'm sure Microsoft also had a big push in it), looked at their game and the community; they saw that even though it was bare bones that people loved the Sea of Thieves and were like "WE MUST ADD TO THE SEA" and they did.
Now while you might think adding Plunder Passes, their Battle Pass, is a terrible thing because all games do it and it's just a way to monetize things for this game I disagree. The FREE pass actually gives the rewards and the paid pass only gives a few extras at the beginning, at the end, and a few ancient coins to basically make the next pass free. What's most important about this pass is that I find has kind of put direction into the game; the developers know what they want to focus on for each pass and put all their focus into that. Not only do they do that but they make game play improvements throughout regardless. They improved combat, they improved sailing mechanics, added new enemies, added new factions, created new stories, so many things that were just devoid of anything now had something. They also made the vaunted title of "Pirate Legend" actually mean something.
Then the new season started and it's honestly a collaboration that so many people wouldn't imagine ever taking place but is one that most fans of pirates absolutely would love. What if Pirates of the Caribbean joined the Sea of Thieves ?? Honestly, it's a simple premise but Disney holds their properties tight so it's not something you expect to occur. But occur it has in this new season as it is your job to rescue Jack Sparrow and ask for his help to stop Davey Jones from destroying the Sea of Thieves with an ancient artifcat that was stolen.......by Jack Sparrow. Sounds very Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow messed up and now needs others besides himself to clean his mess so tons of people don't die. While I haven't finished all the Tall Tales related to it yet, it's been quite fun so far to say the least.
Rare still looks to be added to Sea of Thieves and improving it on a constant basis and that provides me with hope that this already fun game can get even more fun.
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That's the key here, it's the fans, No Man's Sky and Sea of Thieves would've never gotten fixed if it wasn't for the fans and while not all developers will listen like Hello Games and Rare, it never hurts to try. So if there's a game you love but it's a smidge underwhelming, make some noise, you'll never know what might come of it.