Sean Murray Is Still Having Fun Building Light No Fire as Fans Wait for More
Sean Murray says a 90-second teaser drew roughly 20 million views and helped push Light No Fire to No. 2 on Steam's wishlist charts, giving Hello Games less reason to rush another reveal.
Fans expected to see much more of Light No Fire by now, but Sean Murray is still enjoying the work behind the game. Murray described the project as unusually ambitious and “crazy” in remarks covered by Kotaku.
“I don’t think people realize just how ambitious and crazy it is,” Murray said. His comment offers a glimpse at why the game’s public rollout has been quieter than some fans expected.
Murray also explained in an PC Gamer interview that Hello Games had planned a much larger presentation at Summer Game Fest 2024 roughly six months after the 90-second announcement teaser. He said the team was already ready to present more of the game, but the teaser drew roughly 20 million views, and Light No Fire climbed to No. 2 on Steam’s wishlist charts, making another round of promotion feel less urgent. “We’ve like shot up the Steam wishlist charts; we’re like number two on there,” Murray said. He then questioned the need for more promotion: “And I was just like, ‘OK, that’s enough. You know, we don’t need to say any more. Why? Why do any marketing?'”
Steam’s popular wishlist chart currently lists Light No Fire at No. 2, behind Valve’s Deadlock and ahead of Fable 4, Blight: Survival, and Dear Passengers. The ranking gives Hello Games plenty of room to wait for a meaningful update instead of filling the silence with more marketing.
Light No Fire has remained mostly out of the public eye since its reveal at The Game Awards in December 2023. Hello Games framed the fantasy game as an attempt to approach fantasy in a similar way to how No Man’s Sky tackled science fiction. The game will center on a single procedurally generated planet, where players can meet others, explore varied biomes, battle enemies, gather resources, and survive together. Persistent structures and communities will let players build or head out alone, leaving discoveries behind for other people to find.
Murray said the version of Light No Fire currently running inside Hello Games is far more advanced than most teams would normally keep hidden. He had played the game earlier on the day of the interview, but still did not show what he had seen.
Rather than describing the slower stream of information as a problem, Murray’s remarks present it as the side effect of having a lot of ambitious work to do—and genuinely having fun doing it. For players waiting to see what Light No Fire becomes, that leaves plenty of the game still hidden.
The quieter rollout also stands in sharp contrast to Hello Games’ promotion for No Man’s Sky before its 2016 release. The studio made regular conference appearances, while Murray gave frequent television and media interviews and showed the game to high-profile visitors. Looking back, he called that approach “madness” and said, “I sort of cringe at it.” Hello Games has since released around 40 major free updates for No Man’s Sky, leaving the game in a very different state from its original launch.
When asked whether more of Light No Fire might appear before the end of 2026, Murray made no promise, saying experience had taught him not to discuss plans too far ahead.
Hello Games has not specified when the next major look at Light No Fire will arrive or shared a release window. In a <post marking No Man’s Sky‘s 10th anniversary on August 10, 2026, Murray also pointed to a future COSMOS update for the space game, but no release date or new showing for Light No Fire was announced alongside it. His comments make one thing clear: the project is still receiving his full attention. What do you think of the game’s slow reveal cycle? Share your thoughts in the comments, and follow the latest coverage on X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
Light No Fire
Developed by Hello Games
