The 5.03 version of No Man's Sky is now available for download. Along with the introduction of several optimizations exclusive to the Switch and Xbox versions of No Man's Sky, this release includes over sixty bug fixes and enhancements.

No Man's Sky has been hailed for a long time as a model example of a successful video game comeback narrative, in part because of the numerous important patches that the game received after its  2016 launch, which drastically changed the game's image in the eyes of the general public. The most recent of those was the Worlds Part 1 upgrade, which was released in the middle of July 2024. As usual, a number of smaller patches aimed at ironing out bugs and general improvements came right after this release.

The fifth iteration of the update, 5.03, was released on 29th July. Although mostly focused on fixing visual glitches and bugs, it also sports some added polish, such as a slightly redesigned companion registration user interface for No Man's Sky. The updated user interface (UI) has been intended, according to Hello Games, to more effectively convey that the companion register offers more than six spots. A few enhancements to the quality of life are also included in the bundle, such as a slightly modified summoning location for the pirate dreadnought freighter that facilitates simpler flying into.

Along with certain platform-specific speed enhancements, the latest No Man's Sky update also targets the Nintendo Switch version of the game with multiple memory optimizations. Additionally, a Switch-only bug that was preventing users from interacting with the base Science Terminal has been fixed. Xbox players are also receiving a patch addressing various water-rendering issues and a bug that occasionally resulted in an endless loading screen when launching the game on Microsoft's platforms. This release also includes an improvement to the PSVR2 version of the game's particle rendering quality.

Although there are numerous platform-specific changes included in the 5.03 version, it can only be downloaded for PCs at this time. Hello Games stated that the patch will be available for the console versions of No Man's Sky "as soon as possible," although they did not provide a more precise release date.

Meanwhile, the Worlds Part 1 release continues to fuel a significant PC player rise for No Man's Sky. In particular, its top daily concurrent player count on Steam increased from less than 6,000 to over 50,000 in mid-July 2024, and by the end of the month, it was still hovering around 36,000.