No Man's Sky is a descendant of a genre of games involving starships, acting as traders, mercenaries, or explorers. That genre began with Star Trader in 1974. But the most influential game in the history of the genre, featuring 3D graphics and procedurally generated worlds, was Elite, in 1984. You could play it on a Commodore 64.

So the very features the Sony exec described as unprecedented are among the oldest game design techniques there are, and was present in more sophisticated games thirty years ago.

And, to reiterate what others have said, it's absurd to talk about Sony's hopes about what the game may eventually become. It's a published game with almost none of its advertised features, not a disappointing pilot for a new TV show. This is far beyond a few missed features that can be filled in with some DLC.

I started looking more closely at Star Citizen after the No Man's Sky debacle, and had been visiting the site every few days to look for updates. I'd been told they occasionally had "fly free" events, and I was watching for announcements for the next one.

So this morning, I get my *weekly* GameSpot newsletter, with a link to an article titled, "Play Star Citizen's Alpha Free All Month".

That's this morning, November 3.

So I click on the link, and it turns out that it was one week, not a month, not even until the end of the month, and it was last week.

Seriously, why do you even bother?