Well, I am afraid that still has a ton of very personal and arguable views of the matter. With regards to update numbers it could also be said that a significantly large portion of the NMS updates were simply reskins of the same content (basically more biomes, lifeforms and more vehicles, i.e. more of the same) and a large bunch were also just aiming for new platforms or UIs or included overhauls of existing stuff.
That's better than Odyssey which offers barebones planets to "explore" (with occasional flora).
It was done by a handful of devs and, despite its success, it shows. Having said that NMs also brought in actual new mechanics such as bases, settlements, freighters, pets, squadrons etc but Elite has brought in radically new and different elements to its base engine code with planetary surfaces and first person mechanics following vanilla release, plus all the content added to those. I suspect Elite is a much more complex beast to code in most respects than NMS.
Hello Games had
37 people in 2020. Reskins of existing stuff makes sense, because they had to carefully select content and features to improve and expand. Their commercial and critical success shows they picked things that appeals to a larger audience than ED has currently. A low employee count + more sales also means their revenue and profit margin is higher.
Anyone could equally show tons of examples where Elite may be better and more detailed than NMS in their views. In my case, while I have enjoyed NMS VR in first person a lot for example (sorely missed in Elite),
ED has a more realistic aesthetic, but the graphical fidelity is not better. 10 years post-launch, ED doesn't have decent anti-aliasing, DLSS nor customization of the orange colored HUD (except via a fan-made mod).
I still thing Elite has many areas with much more depth and content than NMS, including the immersion I get in a fully realized 1:1 scale of planetary bodies, proper rotation and orbits aswell, modelled from basic astrophysics principles, thousands of which come from actual real astronomic catalogues and integrated into the game. Also the flight model and ship management systems in Elite, space combat, mining, repairing, refueling, pirating etc etc etc blow out of the water those in NMS, imho, and I take much more pleasure in flying and progressing my ships in the former than in the latter.
Agreed, Elite excels at those features, yet the overall gameplay experience is arguably worse. ED is more grindy with a (very) steep learning curve, long dull space travel (would be nice to walk inside the ship with a customized interior while waiting 30 min to reach a destination). The graphical fidelity is arguably worse than NMS too. This is subjective to some degree, but the hard truth is NMS surpasses ED in terms of average user score and sales. NMS had a disastrous launch, yet Hello Games made gameplay design and development choices that resulted in higher player satisfaction with a 2-4x larger active player base (
ED steam charts: Last 30 Days: 2,782.6, peak: 5,240.
No Man's Sky steam charts: Last 30 Days 5,243.1, peak: 23,127).
Which is good in a space game...The lore of Elite and how it actually intertwines in the gameplay blows NMS lore out of the water as well (again, imo). Elite allows for actual faction territorial warfare, influencing npc factions and the galaxy at large be it in pve or pvp, and you can battle it out and progress your faction and all around it through a BGS that NMS does not really have to any reasonable degree. Space exploration in Elite feels also like actual exploration with all the phenomena available unlike the one in NMS which for me at least feels like mostly survival mechanics driven. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Yes the Powerplay factions and exploration are better (more realistic) in ED. It does leave a lot to be desired (pales compared to Eve Online) hence they're making PP 2.0. The lore of ED is more mature and in-depth. However, NMS has the main Atlas story and expedition system which integrates into the game since Omega. ED doesn't have such long, story driven quest-chains (series of missions). Lots of people would love a main storyline with quest chains for each faction (Federation, Alliance, Empire).
As a TLDR, I enjoy both games, and I can appreciate that each has its clear strengths and also weaknesses. But both are competing peers and both always appear in the usual top "10 space game" rankings we can find out there. Both deservedly so. Trying to officialize one as better than the other is pretty much a useless exercise at worst, given the great recognition both already have after 10 years, or a personal preference at best.
ED is the older and more realistic take on space sims while NMS is arcadey. In terms of commercial and critical success; NMS is doing better based on Steam reviews, sales and Steam chart stats.
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