Recently, Sea of Thieves celebrated its fifth anniversary and ninth season – but the tale of the high seas is far from being over for Rare and its pirating epic. It has been revealed in a lengthy post on Xbox Wire that Rare has plans to actively expand Sea of Thieves over the next five years, giving the game a lifecycle of (at least) ten years.
In a retrospective, developers looked back at the journey they’ve taken to make Sea of Thieves what it is today, from the earliest concepts to the modern-day product that has seen many millions of players take to the open seas to secure the best booty around.
With five years of plans in the pipeline, Sea of Thieves is a long way from sinking.
Destined to be Special
According to the article posted on Xbox Wire, the earliest stages of development for Rare and Sea of Thieves were built around an open-book policy – no idea was too silly or outlandish, and everything that could be fielded was fielded.
Reportedly, Rare worked to design the game in secret, fleshing out the project without the knowledge of senior members of staff working within Xbox. It wasn’t until six months into the development cycle that Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, was shown what Rare had made thus far.
However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing, and the Xbox Wire article goes on to explain that Rare had to cut some content from the prototype in order to launch the game on time and in as stable a state as possible. Over time, some of that content was re-introduced to the game, but for the most part, Rare knew it was in it for the long run, and content began being drip-fed into the ecosystem.
In a statement, Creative Director at Rare, Mike Chapman, explored the future of the game:
I think 10 years of Sea of Thieves will feel like a long time – but also, we’ll blink and be there. And I still think we’ll have unfinished business when we get to that point.
Toward the end of the article, it was revealed that Rare’s leadership team had held a meeting to map out the next five years of Sea of Thieves. There was a mention of smuggling mechanics, advanced reputation systems, and other neat features that are sure to keep the game at least somewhat alive for the foreseeable future.
Are you still playing Sea of Thieves, and do you think you will be doing so in five years’ time?
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of Respawn’s all-new studio and plans for Apex Legends.
