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Sean Murray
May 8, 2026 at 09:00 AM
Applied Title Case to body headings
Sean Murray was born on 28 July 1980 in Ireland. He grew up between Ireland and Australia and started programming early, writing his first game (a text adventure) at around age six. He studied Computer Science at University College Cork in Ireland, graduating in 2000.
In 2001, Murray joined Criterion Games as a lead programmer and worked on the Burnout racing series. He moved to Kuju Entertainment in 2006, where he became technical director. By 2008, he was tired of working on sequels and other people's IPs, so he left to start his own studio.
Murray co-founded Hello Games in February 2008 with Grant Duncan, Ryan Doyle, and David Ream. Their first game, Joe Danger, shipped in 2010 to positive reviews. But the project that defined Murray's career was No Man's Sky, announced in 2013 and released in 2016.
The No Man's Sky launch in August 2016 was one of the most high-profile rough launches in gaming history. Pre-release interviews and trailers set expectations the game could not meet at launch. The backlash was personal: Murray received death threats, and the studio coordinated with law enforcement for months.
Murray's response was to stop talking publicly and start shipping updates. Foundation (2016), Pathfinder (2017), NEXT (2018), Beyond (2019), and dozens more followed, all free. By 2020, No Man's Sky had rebuilt its reputation entirely. Murray later said that the experience taught him to let the work speak rather than making promises.
Murray announced Light No Fire at The Game Awards in December 2023. He described it as "something very different, something maybe more ambitious" than No Man's Sky. The pitch: one planetthe size of Earth, shared by all players, set in a fantasy world with swords and magic instead of spaceships and lasers. He called it "the first real open world."
In a July 2024 interview with, Murray called Light No Fire "crazy ambitious" and acknowledged "it's a lot for a small team." By November 2025, he was describing the development crew as "tiny" and working "in the background" while the rest of Hello Games continued updating No Man's Sky.
Murray has been explicit about the connection between the two games. During the August 2025 Voyagers update for No Man's Sky, he wrote: "Much of the technology we're introducing with Voyagers is shared with our next game, Light No Fire." The ship-building system in that update is the same technology powering boat construction in Light No Fire.
"For our new game, we wanted to create an Earth." (The Game Awards 2023)
"This is a game I would like to still be updating 10 years from now." (The Game Awards 2023)
"Light No Fire is crazy ambitious." (, July 2024)
"I am really pleased with the progress we are making and I think it's going to be something really special." (Steam Awards, November 2025)
