It’s been an interesting week for No Man’s Sky with new trailers and also news that Dutch company Genicap challenged Hello Games over the use of their Superformula.
Genicap claimed that the procedurally generated planets were using the Superformula created by Johan Gielis, the founder of Genicap. There was concern that legal action might be taken by Genicap which could hold up the release of the game.
In an interview with the New Yorker, posted in 2015, Murray claimed he came across Gielis’ Superformula and stated that the “Superformula appeared to be reliable”. The problem lies that since then the Superformula has been patented by Genicap.
Genicap stated this week that they don’t want to delay the game’s release but at a later time they will want to talk to Hello Games.
Last night Sean Murray posted a tweet to try and calm the situation. “No Man’s Sky doesn’t actually use this “Superformula” thing or infringe a patent. This is a non-story… everybody chill”, said Murray.
With the game’s release due on 9 August it will be released on schedule.
Update: Following the initial post, Murray added, “I wish Johan Gielis, the author, all the best in future. We’re going to meet and chat maths once the game is out”.
