# Hello Games
**Hello Games** is a British independent video game development studio and publisher based in [Guildford](https://www.edgepedia.org/guildford) and Cambridge in the UK, known for the stunt-bike game *Joe Danger* and the procedurally generated space exploration game *No Man's Sky*.[1](https://hellogames.org/about-us) The company was incorporated on 4 August 2008 as HELLO GAMES LTD, a private limited company registered at Dolphin House, 3 North Street, Guildford, Surrey, England.[2](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06663645) It was founded by four industry veterans, Sean Murray, Dave Ream, Grant Duncan, and Ryan Doyle, who had worked at UK studios including EA, Criterion, Kuju, Climax, and [Sumo Digital](https://www.edgepedia.org/sumo-digital).[3](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/interview-ea-criterion-vet-murray-forms-indie-hello-games-talks-i-joe-danger-i-)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 4 August 2008 (incorporation of HELLO GAMES LTD, company number 06663645)[2](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06663645) |
| Founders | Sean Murray, Dave Ream, Grant Duncan, and Ryan Doyle, veterans of EA, Criterion, Kuju, Climax, and Sumo Digital[3](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/interview-ea-criterion-vet-murray-forms-indie-hello-games-talks-i-joe-danger-i-) |
| Locations | Guildford and Cambridge, UK[1](https://hellogames.org/about-us) |
| Games | *Joe Danger* series, *No Man's Sky*, *The Last Campfire*; next game *Light No Fire*[1](https://hellogames.org/about-us) • [4](https://www.gamesradar.com/light-no-fire-guide/) |
| *No Man's Sky* | Launched 9 August 2016; major free updates through its first ten years[5](https://www.nexus-gg.online/article/no-mans-sky-redemption-precedent-opinion) |
| Reputation | Reached a Very Positive Steam rating eight years after a widely criticized launch[6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/holy-s-t-you-guys-it-happened-8-years-after-a-terrible-launch-no-mans-sky-has-reached-a-very-positive-rating-on-steam/) |
| Recognition | First winner of two "Evolving Game" BAFTAs for *No Man's Sky*; voted #1 UK developer at Pocket Gamer Connect[7](https://hellogames.org/news) |
## Founding and Joe Danger
The four founders left established studios to start the company, working first at Murray's dining room table and then in a tiny office in Guildford.[3](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/interview-ea-criterion-vet-murray-forms-indie-hello-games-talks-i-joe-danger-i-) Their first title, announced in September 2009, was *Joe Danger*, an [Evel Knievel](https://www.edgepedia.org/evel-knievel)-inspired stuntman bike racer for digital platforms.[3](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/interview-ea-criterion-vet-murray-forms-indie-hello-games-talks-i-joe-danger-i-) The studio's own history describes the team as four people in a tiny room above a tile shop creating the multi-million selling *Joe Danger*.[1](https://hellogames.org/about-us) The series grew to include *Joe Danger 2* and multiple platform versions, and the studio was for a time best known for this quirky mobile game and its sequel.[8](https://www.wired.com/story/no-mans-sky-sean-murray-interview/)
## No Man's Sky
**A secret project.** Work on *No Man's Sky* began as a splinter project years before its release: a four-person group worked in isolation inside the studio, in a secret space with its own entrance and a mirrored window looking into the rest of the office.[9](https://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/19/the-secret-story-behind-no-man-s-sky) Murray, the studio's programmer, managing director, and co-founder, began writing the new engine during an all-night session around Christmas 2009, at a time when the company was having problems with a US-based publisher.[9](https://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/19/the-secret-story-behind-no-man-s-sky) The game was revealed at the 2013 VGX show, and its scale, an entire galaxy of procedurally generated worlds built by a team of about a dozen employees, drew wide attention.[9](https://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/19/the-secret-story-behind-no-man-s-sky) The studio's history records that, as a dozen developers in a leaking shed borrowing their neighbor's internet, they created one of the biggest selling new IPs in video games.[1](https://hellogames.org/about-us)
**The 2016 launch.** *No Man's Sky* launched on 9 August 2016 without the multiplayer, creature variety, and planetary depth that Murray had described in pre-release talk-show and press interviews, prompting Sony and Valve to process refunds outside their normal policies.[10](https://pixpause.com/receipts/games/no-mans-sky/) The gap between the imagined game and the actual release became the story of the launch, and the once-vocal studio went quiet afterward.[11](https://files.core.ac.uk/download/187119955.pdf)
**The long update campaign.** Rather than abandoning the game, Hello Games committed to years of free updates. Murray marked the game's tenth anniversary with the figure of 40 major free updates since 9 August 2016; the studio's own announcements count 41 named updates, and a German retrospective counts 42, all describing the same program of free post-launch content.[5](https://www.nexus-gg.online/article/no-mans-sky-redemption-precedent-opinion) • [12](https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/announcements/) • [13](https://www.republicofpixels.com/artikel/no-mans-sky-zehn-jahre-jubilaeum-2026) Named updates such as *Atlas Rises* (2017), *Next* (2018), and *Beyond* (2019) progressively added back multiplayer, base building, and much of the originally promised depth.[14](https://time.com/4892998/no-mans-sky-atlas-rises-update/) • [15](https://dbc.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/452181/9789048557219.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1) In January 2025 the *Worlds Part II* update (5.50) added gas giants, water worlds, ancient ruins, and billions of new stars and planets, free for existing players.[16](https://gamingpurists.com/no-mans-sky-reviews-on-steam-change-from-mostly-negative-to-mixed/) The 2025 *Voyagers* update introduced fully walkable, customizable ships and drove the highest player counts since launch.[7](https://hellogames.org/news) • [17](https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/the-voyagers-update-transforms-no-mans-sky-with-fully-walkable-customizable-ships-build-it-crew-it-and-explore-with-friends)
The recovery is measured in player sentiment as well as content. Eight years after launch, *No Man's Sky* reached a Very Positive rating on Steam, a milestone Murray greeted with the words "Holy s**t you guys, it happened".[6](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/holy-s-t-you-guys-it-happened-8-years-after-a-terrible-launch-no-mans-sky-has-reached-a-very-positive-rating-on-steam/) Murray has said a "weight had lifted" once players were talking more about new content than about the controversial launch.[18](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/survival/sean-murray-says-a-weight-had-lifted-when-no-mans-sky-players-were-finally-talking-more-about-its-new-content-than-its-controversial-launch/) The game has also won BAFTA recognition, becoming the first winner of two "Evolving Game" BAFTAs.[7](https://hellogames.org/news)
## Technology and Hello Labs
*No Man's Sky* uses procedural generation by necessity, creating vast game worlds that let a player transition seamlessly from space down to interactive, populated terrain; the studio's GDC 2017 lecture broke down the pipeline from voxel-based world generation through polygonization and texturing to population and simulation.[19](https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024265/) At the 2017 [Game Developers Conference](https://www.edgepedia.org/game-developers-conference), Murray announced Hello Labs, an initiative to incubate more procedural-tech games, saying procedural generation "is a big part of our future".[20](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/03/sean-murray-unveils-hello-labs-will-incubate-more-procedural-tech-games/) The studio continues to push this technology: for a 2026 "free to try" iOS launch on 28 October, the developers compressed *No Man's Sky* to under 5 GB, describing the port as a seemingly impossible technical challenge they wanted to disprove, comparable to bringing the game to VR and [Nintendo Switch](https://www.edgepedia.org/nintendo-switch).[21](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/survival/no-mans-sky-devs-compress-the-survival-game-to-under-5gb-for-free-to-try-mobile-launch-overcoming-seemingly-impossible-technical-challenge-we-wanted-to-disprove/)
## Light No Fire and current work
Hello Games' next game, *[Light No Fire](https://www.edgepedia.org/light-no-fire)*, was announced at the 2023 Game Awards. While *No Man's Sky* built a whole universe through procedural generation, *Light No Fire* instead creates one full-scale planet set in a fantasy setting: a shared, Earth-sized open world featuring real oceans to sail across, requiring sizable ships and crews, and big enough to hold the 7.8 billion people living on Earth.[4](https://www.gamesradar.com/light-no-fire-guide/)
The studio remains active as a publisher as well, publishing Ghost Town Games' *Stage Fright*, a party game from the *Overcooked* developers.[22](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/overcooked-broke-you-apart-and-stage-fright-is-there-to-put-you-back-together/) Its catalog also includes *The Last Campfire*, described by the studio as an intimate puzzle adventure.[1](https://hellogames.org/about-us) The company describes its current aim as joining the stability and quality of AAA development with the freedom and creativity of an independent studio.[1](https://hellogames.org/about-us)
## References
1. [About Us, Hello Games](https://hellogames.org/about-us)
2. [HELLO GAMES LTD overview, Companies House / GOV.UK](https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/06663645)
3. [Interview: EA, Criterion Vet Murray Forms Indie Hello Games, Talks Joe Danger, Game Developer](https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/interview-ea-criterion-vet-murray-forms-indie-hello-games-talks-i-joe-danger-i-)
4. [Light No Fire: Everything you need to know, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/light-no-fire-guide/)
5. [No Man's Sky Is a Precedent Nobody Can Borrow, NexusGG](https://www.nexus-gg.online/article/no-mans-sky-redemption-precedent-opinion)
6. ['Holy s**t you guys, it happened': No Man's Sky reaches Very Positive on Steam, PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/holy-s-t-you-guys-it-happened-8-years-after-a-terrible-launch-no-mans-sky-has-reached-a-very-positive-rating-on-steam/)
7. [News, Hello Games](https://hellogames.org/news)
8. [No Man's Sky director: 'we still work all night', WIRED](https://www.wired.com/story/no-mans-sky-sean-murray-interview/)
9. [The Secret Story Behind No Man's Sky, Game Informer](https://gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/19/the-secret-story-behind-no-man-s-sky)
10. [No Man's Sky PixProof: What Actually Shipped at Launch, PixPause](https://pixpause.com/receipts/games/no-mans-sky/)
11. [Why Good Games Go Bad: Exploring Consumer Engagement in Video Games (academic PDF)](https://files.core.ac.uk/download/187119955.pdf)
12. [Steam Community :: No Man's Sky announcements](https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/announcements/)
13. [No Man's Sky: Zehn Jahre nach dem Launch-Debakel, Republic of Pixels](https://www.republicofpixels.com/artikel/no-mans-sky-zehn-jahre-jubilaeum-2026)
14. [One Year Later, No Man's Sky Is Becoming Delightfully Mysterious and Weird, TIME](https://time.com/4892998/no-mans-sky-atlas-rises-update/)
15. [Ecogames (academic PDF, Utrecht University Library)](https://dbc.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/452181/9789048557219.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
16. [No Man's Sky Steam Reviews and the Comeback Story, Gaming Purists](https://gamingpurists.com/no-mans-sky-reviews-on-steam-change-from-mostly-negative-to-mixed/)
17. [The Voyagers update transforms No Man's Sky, Windows Central](https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/the-voyagers-update-transforms-no-mans-sky-with-fully-walkable-customizable-ships-build-it-crew-it-and-explore-with-friends)
18. [Sean Murray says a "weight had lifted", GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/survival/sean-murray-says-a-weight-had-lifted-when-no-mans-sky-players-were-finally-talking-more-about-its-new-content-than-its-controversial-launch/)
19. [Continuous World Generation in 'No Man's Sky', GDC Vault](https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024265/)
20. [No Man's Sky creator describes issues with launch, crashes, money, Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/03/sean-murray-unveils-hello-labs-will-incubate-more-procedural-tech-games/)
21. [No Man's Sky devs compress the survival game to under 5GB for mobile launch, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/survival/no-mans-sky-devs-compress-the-survival-game-to-under-5gb-for-free-to-try-mobile-launch-overcoming-seemingly-impossible-technical-challenge-we-wanted-to-disprove/)
22. ['Overcooked broke you apart and Stage Fright is there to put you back together', PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/adventure/overcooked-broke-you-apart-and-stage-fright-is-there-to-put-you-back-together/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Video games and digital play › Game industry › Developers and studios › Individual studio profiles › European studios*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license