No Man's Sky Adds 3rd 2026 Update, Free Swarm Event Hits Xbox and Game Pass

6 articles · Updated · Xbox.com · May 27

Free now for existing Xbox and Game Pass players, The Swarm adds a community-wide space combat event centered on a new Hive-like ship threatening the No Man’s Sky universe.
Hundreds of battle drones shield the vessel’s main weapon — billed as the game’s biggest laser cannon yet — forcing players to split into squadrons, attack defenses and probe crashed drones for weaknesses.
Three traveller groups are competing and cooperating at once, with contributions tracked in the Space Anomaly and Galactic Atlas and the top team set to be memorialized permanently.
Exclusive rewards include a multi-tool, jetpack and exosuit items, while non-pilots can still aid the war effort through debris recovery, planetary swarm fights and network sabotage.
The release is Hello Games’ 3rd update of 2026 and arrives ahead of No Man’s Sky’s 10th anniversary in August, following February’s Remnant and last month’s Xeno Arena.

Will the 'Swarm' war permanently alter the game's universe, or will its impact fade once the event concludes?

As its tenth anniversary nears, can No Man's Sky's new war reignite excitement, or is player fatigue finally setting in?