There’s nothing quite like the quiet thrill of landing on an uncharted ice planet, scanning never-before-seen fauna, and searching for hidden ancient ruins in No Man’s Sky. That magic can vanish in a second when you suddenly hear a random stranger yelling about their new freighter over voice chat, or loud background static from a player who forgot to mute their mic. If you’re here to figure out how to turn off voice chat in No Man’s Sky, you’re in the right place. This guide covers every step for all platforms, plus fixes for common glitches and alternative settings if you don’t want to disable voice chat entirely.
Step-by-Step Guide to Turn Off Voice Chat in No Man's Sky
The process works almost identically across PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch, so you can follow these steps no matter what device you play on. You can adjust the setting either from the main title screen before you load your save, or mid-game without having to restart your session.
First, open the pause menu or main settings menu. On controller, this is the options/menu button, while on PC you can hit Escape to pull up the menu. Next, navigate to the Network tab from the top row of settings options. This is where all multiplayer-related settings live, including crossplay toggles and session privacy settings.
Scroll down until you see the Voice Chat heading, then flip the toggle next to "Enable Voice Chat" to the Off position. The change applies immediately, so you won’t have to restart your game or reload your save for it to take effect. If you’re in a multiplayer lobby when you make this change, you’ll stop hearing other players right away, and they won’t be able to hear you either.
It’s worth noting that this setting is saved to your game profile, not individual saves, so you won’t have to re-adjust it every time you switch between different save files. If you ever want to turn voice chat back on, just follow the same steps and flip the toggle to On.
Common Reasons to Disable No Man's Sky Voice Chat
Plenty of players choose to turn off voice chat even if they enjoy multiplayer play, and it’s not just because of toxic players. There are tons of legitimate use cases for disabling this feature entirely, depending on your playstyle and situation.
- You prefer immersive solo exploration with only the game’s ambient soundtrack, creature calls, and storm sounds to keep you company
- You’re streaming or recording gameplay and don’t want random player audio picked up in your final content, or you don’t have permission to share other players’ voices
- You’ve encountered disruptive or toxic players in public lobbies who spam mics, play loud music, or harass other players
- You have limited internet bandwidth and want to free up resources for smoother gameplay, faster loading times, and less lag during multiplayer sessions
- You’re playing late at night and don’t want unexpected loud audio from other players waking up family members or roommates
Disabling voice chat won’t lock you out of multiplayer features entirely, if you still want to play with friends. You can still join lobbies, trade resources, build bases together, and use the in-game text chat to communicate. Many players also use third-party apps like Discord to talk to people they actually know, instead of relying on in-game voice chat for public sessions.
That means you don’t have to choose between playing with friends and avoiding random voice chat interruptions. You can disable in-game voice chat and use external comms for your friend groups, which is often more reliable anyway.
Fixes for Voice Chat Turning Back On Automatically
Some players report that their voice chat toggle keeps turning back on after they restart the game, or when they join a friend’s lobby. This is a common minor glitch, and there are a few simple fixes you can try to make your setting stick permanently.
First, check your platform-level voice settings to make sure they aren’t overriding in-game settings. For PlayStation and Xbox users, party chat settings can sometimes force in-game voice chat to turn on even if you disabled it in No Man’s Sky. If you’re on PC, check the Xbox Game Bar or Steam Voice settings to make sure they aren’t forcing voice activation for the game.
If you use mods for No Man’s Sky, that’s another common culprit. Some multiplayer or quality of life mods reset network settings to default when you launch the game, so you’ll need to check the mod’s configuration file to turn off that auto-reset feature. You can also re-order your mod load order to make sure your settings mods load after any multiplayer mods, which usually fixes the issue.
For players who play across multiple platforms using cloud saves, the glitch is usually caused by conflicting saved settings between devices. Double check the voice chat toggle every time you switch from PC to console, or vice versa, until the sync catches up. If none of these fixes work, you can always mute No Man’s Sky in your platform’s audio settings as a last resort, though that will mute all game audio so it’s only recommended if the toggle is completely broken.
Alternatives to Disabling Voice Chat Entirely
If you don’t want to turn off voice chat for all players, there are a few less extreme settings you can adjust to get the best of both worlds. These options are perfect for people who sometimes play with friends using in-game chat, but don’t want to hear random strangers in public lobbies.
Mute individual players instead of disabling voice chat for everyone if you only run into the occasional disruptive user. To do this, open the quick menu when a player is nearby, select their profile from the list of nearby players, and hit the mute button. You won’t hear them for the rest of the session, and they won’t be notified that you muted them.
Another great option is to set your session privacy to Invite Only or Friends Only from the Network settings menu. This stops random players from joining your lobby entirely, so you’ll only ever hear people you explicitly invite or already have on your friends list. This is the most popular setting for players who mostly play with a small group of friends, and it eliminates 99% of random voice chat interruptions.
If you want to keep voice chat on but don’t want your mic to transmit background noise when you’re not talking, switch the voice chat setting from Open Mic to Push to Talk. On PC, you can assign any key to your push to talk button, while console users can assign a controller button from the settings menu. This is perfect for players who share a space with other people, or who have noisy keyboards or fans near their mic.
At the end of the day, No Man’s Sky is designed to be played whatever way works best for you, whether that’s solo exploration with zero interruptions or chaotic multiplayer sessions with a dozen friends. Knowing how to turn off voice chat in No Man’s Sky gives you full control over your gameplay experience, so you can focus on the parts of the game you love the most. If you ever run into issues with the setting not sticking, the simple fixes we covered work for all platforms, and take less than a minute to test out. Next time you head out to hunt for S-class ships or document new species on distant planets, you won’t have to worry about unexpected audio interruptions ruining your vibe.
