No Man's Sky hits Xbox One on July 24 along with true multiplayer

No Man's Sky, the space-exploration sim that promised a near-infinite number of planets to hop around, finally has a release date for Xbox One.

After releasing for PC and PS4 in August of 2016, the game will finally hit Microsoft's console on July 24.

Sean Murray, founder of No Man's Sky development studio Hello Games, made the announcement through the Inside Xbox preview show, as well as revealing details of an enhanced multiplayer mode also set to launch. You can hear it in the Tweet embedded below:

True multiplayer

Landing with 4K resolution options and all the updates previously available on PS4 and PC, the so-called "NEXT" update seems to finally make good on the game's hoped-for multiplayer promise.

You'll be able to team up with other players, building structures together, remaining permanent for all other players to see. You'll also be able to take part in space battles together and create customisable race tracks.

Murray stated that the game will continue to get similar sorts of substantial updates "for the foreseeable future," and though you can probably expect the features to roll out to the other rival platforms as well as Xbox, he unfortunately fell short of confirming that news – this is unsurprising, given the Xbox-focused nature of the Microsoft-run show.

It's been a long old road for No Man's Sky, which amazed gamers with its near-infinite freedom ahead of release, but fell short initially of giving them something substantial to do with all that space. Finally, it seems, the game everyone saw in their heads is now the game they'll actually be able to play, too.

Gerald Lynch

Gerald is Editor-in-Chief of iMore.com. Previously he was the Executive Editor for TechRadar, taking care of the site's home cinema, gaming, smart home, entertainment and audio output. He loves gaming, but don't expect him to play with you unless your console is hooked up to a 4K HDR screen and a 7.1 surround system. Before TechRadar, Gerald was Editor of Gizmodo UK. He is also the author of 'Get Technology: Upgrade Your Future', published by Aurum Press.