Sea of Thieves Will Have to Face the Reaper Sooner or Later – GameRant

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After years of working on Kinect Games and the Viva Pinata series, no one really knew what to expect from Rare. It seemed like the studio was very far from its glory days, which the release of the nostalgia-filled Rare Replay only further cemented. However, things quickly changed with the surprise announcement of Sea of Thieves, and the studio has not really looked back since.

While it is not a perfect game, Sea of Thieves has seemingly kicked off a new era for this iconic studio. It not only felt like an extremely unique multiplayer experience, but it also served as one of the earliest selling points for Xbox Game Pass. Rare has since focused much of its resources on expanding this title and whisking players away on brand-new journeys across the high seas. It is impressive just how far the game has come, yet that will likely not last forever. While Sea of Thieves will not close tomorrow, there will come a time when players must take one final voyage across its oceans.

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Upon release, Sea of Thieves was a bit lackluster. While the visuals and ship combat were fun, the rest of the game felt rather bland. There was no real form of progression, the gameplay felt like a series of rinse-and-repeat scenarios, and there was not much to do within its massive world. It may have been a unique experience, but that uniqueness could only take the game so far. Instead of abandoning the project, Rare committed to improving upon it.

Since release, Sea of Thieves has gotten countless updates that have expanded the game in new ways. New collectibles are frequently added along with new factions, new mission types, new time-limited events, and various other goodies. Originally, the studio was releasing massive new updates every single month, which gave players a reason to keep logging back in for more. In 2020, the studio shifted to a seasonal model with new content every three months, and that seems to have mostly paid off.

Sea of Thieves has gone through a ton of changes since release, making it feel like a vastly different game. It has even featured crossover stories from Pirates of the Caribbean and Lucasfilm Games' Monkey Island series, along with cosmetics from all sorts of different Microsoft franchises. All of this has helped create one of the best pirate games around, which has built an audience of over 30 million players as of June 2022. It seems like there is no stopping this multiplayer game as the studio has plans for the next five years, but no live-service game can last forever.

While Sea of Thieves' last days are likely a ways away, there will come a time when the game must close its doors. Already, Rare has had to cut off support for the PvP Arena mode because players were just not playing it. The game has also been going on for five years now, so naturally players will end up finding new games to play. On top of that, the game's 10th season had to be delayed, some players have become aggravated by cheaters, the newer content has not been engaging enough, and there is still no interesting form of progression outside of cosmetics.

Sea of Thieves is still going strong, and it likely will be for years to come. But if the playerbase gets bored with its content, then it will no longer buy its microtransactions. If there is no income stream, then Rare will not be able to keep updating the game with new content. With no new content, players will likely fall off in droves with only the diehard ones sticking around. Even if it does not seem like it, every online game has its expiration date, and Sea of Thieves' day may come sooner than some players realize.

Sea of Thieves is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

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Sea of Thieves Will Have to Face the Reaper Sooner or Later - GameRant