No Man's Sky updates like Xeno Arena take "2-3x" longer on Switch 2 and Steam Deck because Hello Games has to beat "impossible memory constraints," engineer says

No Man's Sky recently received its big Xeno Arena update, introducing a fun Pokemon and Palworld-esque creature battling system that fans had been requesting for nearly two years – and now, it'll finally be available on Switch 2, too.

Although Hello Games does its best to release updates on all platforms in a timely manner, it's unsurprisingly difficult to port patches evenly. That's why, even though Xeno Arena dropped on PC and most consoles on April 8, it's taken longer to come out on portable devices like Nintendo's Switch 2. It's happening now, thankfully, but developers are well aware of the wait – engine programmer Martin Griffiths included.

In a new online post, he explains that, although it's not ideal, the wait is sort of necessary because of the extra work that properly porting updates like Xeno Arena takes. "The mobile platforms like Switch 1 and 2, along with Steam Deck, take a disproportionate amount of engineering time with every update we release," writes Griffiths.

He's not overstating this, either. He's talking two to three times more than usual, in fact.

"A bunch of us at Hello Games probably spend 2-3x more time to make these updates seamlessly work," as he says, "exactly like the other consoles do, along with PC/Mac, etc."

Griffiths concludes that, regardless, "It's really a delight to constantly beat impossible memory constraints with a growing game to allow people to continue to experience and enjoy No Man's Sky." I'd certainly agree there – I'm glad fans on all platforms get to play.

Folks seem largely supportive of Hello Games in the comments, too, with people stating they "love" the No Man's Sky updates. Heck, there are even fans asking the devs to port their now-beloved survival game to mobile mobile – you know, like Android and iOS.

I'm, uh, not sure that'll happen any time soon, but we've got quite a diverse range of platforms to play on as is. From PC to Switch to PlayStation 4 and 5, No Man's Sky is everywhere.

I just hope Hello Games keeps up the hard work on its frequent updates. Even though No Man's Sky suffered a rocky launch back in 2016, the devs have more than made up for it – in fact, I'd wager many newer fans don't even remember that whole debacle anymore.

No Man's Sky's Xeno Arena update has given me something I never knew I needed: Pokemon battling in VR