No Man’s Sky has just reached its highest player count since 2016, with over 110,000 concurrent players on Steam as of September 7, 2025, according to SteamDB. This major milestone comes in the wake of the Voyagers update, the latest free expansion from developer Hello Games.
The Voyagers update introduced a host of new features, including Corvette-class starships, expanded base-building tools, and new co-op gameplay options—all of which have drawn both longtime fans and curious newcomers back to the game.
At launch in 2016, No Man’s Sky peaked at 212,000 concurrent players, but quickly saw its numbers drop amid widespread backlash over missing content and broken promises. Since then, the game has undergone a remarkable transformation. Hello Games has spent years steadily rolling out free updates, adding everything from VR support and living ships to massive fleet systems and diverse planetary biomes.
Now, nearly a decade later, the Voyagers expansion appears to have reignited that long-earned momentum. At its recent peak, No Man’s Sky surpassed live-service giants like Destiny 2 and Warframe in concurrent Steam players—a feat few would have predicted after its rocky debut.
The surge also makes No Man’s Sky one of 2025’s most impressive comeback stories, outshining even Hollow Knight’s resurgence, which reached 20,367 concurrent players following the announcement of Silksong’s release date. While Silksong later rocketed past 550,000 players post-launch, No Man’s Sky’s slow-burn success serves as a testament to the game’s resilience and the dedication of its developers.
Once dismissed as one of the most disappointing launches in modern gaming, No Man’s Sky has cemented its place as one of the industry’s greatest redemption arcs.