No Man's Sky lead responds to reports of stolen assets in fellow open-world survival game Once Human, says the "joke's on them" because they're actually unfinished

It's been a wild couple of days in the No Man's Sky community, as players share reports that fellow open-world survival game Once Human has potentially nabbed some of Hello Games' assets – and it turns out they've caught the eye of Sean Murray himself.

The situation first unfolded on Reddit, where a user pointed out, "A cosmetic item in Once Human looks extremely similar to NMS's Base Teleport Module – and it's being sold as a high-tier lootbox reward. Is this acceptable?" They had attached an image comparing both the No Man's Sky Base Teleport Module and the premium lootbox reward from Once Human… and, well, yeah, they do look pretty similar.

A cosmetic item in Once Human looks extremely similar to NMS’s Base Teleport Module — and it’s being sold as a high-tier lootbox reward. Is this acceptable? from r/NoMansSkyTheGame

They noted that it's not just the fact that the asset or design appears to be ripped from the space game, but "it is obtainable only as the highest-tier reward from a premium lootbox, often at significant cost" in Once Human. On the other hand, in No Man's Sky, "the teleport module is simply part of the journey – something players naturally build and use as they explore and progress." As for how developers feel, Sean Murray has a funny response.

"Joke's on them," writes the Hello Games founder. "We forgot to LOD those rivets." Attached to his own post is a torn-down version of the Base Teleport Module from development – and the rivets are wild. The sheer amount of polygons is hilarious, showing an unoptimized asset, to say the least, and fans are absolutely loving it. One jokingly questions, "Wtf are you modeling those with? A spirograph?"

Another adds, "Bwahahaha! I suppose this is a good way to get back at asset thieves." Some dub it "evil," but in a genius sort of way that they "love." All in all, Murray's reply is catching the attention of players as it's an amusing and not-so-heavy-handed way to acknowledge the possibly stolen assets. Once Human dev Starry Studio has yet to respond itself, or explain why the lootbox drop resembles the Base Teleport Module.

Here's hoping it all works out for the best – but judging by Murray's screencap here, it might not all be as smooth as it seems on a surface level. I mean, seriously… each rivet looks like a hand-woven basket. Rest in peace to any unsuspecting GPUs out there.

Well darn, Hello Games' Sean Murray says the team working on No Man's Sky follow-up Light No Fire is "tiny" and working "in the background"