No Man's Sky's post-launch transformation continues into 2019 with the announcement of another major free update. Friday morning Sean Murray revealed plans for an upcoming Beyond update, which he described as Hello Games' "most ambitious chapter so far." While Murray wasn't willing to share all of Beyond's secrets just yet, he did confirm that it would include a "radical" new social and multiplayer experience named No Man's Sky Online. Beyond is planned to launch this summer.

Developer Sean Murray says the No Man's Sky Online content coming to No Man's Sky will empower, "players everywhere in the universe to meet and play together." And while Murray doesn't elaborate on that description, he clarifies that No Man's Sky is not an MMO and the Beyond update won't change that. While players still don't know what Beyond is, Murray says that No Man's Sky will not add a subscription or microtransactions.

Beyond doesn't stop with No Man's Sky Online, however. According to Murray, Hello Games reevaluated its roadmap in early 2019, deciding that rather than releasing three smaller updates in the coming months it wanted to join those updates together and interweave them. Beyond is the product of that and No Man's Sky Online is just the first of component included therein.

The remaining components of Beyond will be revealed in the weeks to come as Hello Games determines when it "can be precise." With No Man's Sky Online implementing new social features, Murray insisting he doesn't view No Man's Sky as an MMO, and Beyond to include multiple core components "interweaved" with No Man's Sky Online, whatever Hello Games has planned is going to be very interesting to hear about.

Beyond will prove the latest in a string of updates to No Man's Sky since its launch in August 2016. Foundation, Path Finder, and Atlas Rises filled the game's first year with many of the features and fixes they wanted to see in No Man's Sky at launch. The NEXT update in 2018 brought with it true multiplayer and could perhaps be considered the delivery of the true No Man's Sky experience. Where No Man's Sky goes next is left to discover, though Hello Games' on-the-nose naming makes it clear: Beyond.

No Man's Sky is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.