No Man’s Sky can technically be played online, but it won’t require a PlayStation Plus subscription on PS4 in order to do so.

Sony confirmed this with Game Informer, with a spokesperson saying, "PS Plus won’t be a requirement to play online, however you will need to connected to the internet for your discoveries to register with the universal atlas."

The atlas referred to is a sort of compendium that all players contribute to by being the first to discover planets, lifeforms, and so on, which they can then name.

Given how incredibly vast No Man’s Sky galaxy is, you’re all but guaranteed to be the first person to ever explore most planets. And even though the game is played in a shared world online, as a result of that difficult-to-fathom size, you’re unlikely to stumble upon other players in your travels, including your friends.

That may explain the lack of a Plus requirement, as you’ll in all likelihood be playing alone; Game Informer notes that both Steam and the PlayStation Store describe it as a single-player game. Creator Sean Murray told us previously that developer Hello Games has "always downplayed multiplayer because it’s not really a multiplayer game," adding that it’s rare you’ll even end up on a planet someone else has visited before.

No Man’s Sky arrives for PC and PS4 on August 9. Hello recently began releasing short videos for the game documenting its various aspects; so far we’ve seen those focused on trading, exploration, and combat, with one more still to come. Meanwhile, Hello may potentially run into legal issues as a result of the formula it uses to generate its worlds, though it remains unclear if the situation will impact the game’s release.