Rare: People Watching Sea of Thieves Has Really Boosted Pre-Orders

Shiver me timbers! It appears that people like both playing as and watching pirates in action.

Rare has recently reported that its betas for its forthcoming Sea of Thieves have gone really well, as they’ve not only attracted fans who enjoy playing the game, but also several that get a kick out of watching it. As a result of those live streaming sessions, pre-orders have increased a bit.

While talking with Eurogamer, Rare executive producer Joe Neate noted, “It’s a very watchable and shareable game. We’ve seen from our beta that people watching other people play has driven them to come into the game. It’s driven pre-orders during that time period. Watching people play and seeing their adventures and going, oh, what could I do, sparks your creativity and imagination and makes you want to come into this.

“And because it’s a fun and welcoming game, you’re not watching a super competitive game, which is great to watch but then going, I’m not going to be able to do that. Instead, you’re watching it and going, oh that was really funny, or, I wouldn’t have imagined using the explosive barrel in that way, or firing myself out of the cannon into someone crow’s nest. You start going, oh, what can I do in that game? You see a real conversion of people who want to then come in and try stuff.

“There are so many reasons why I have such confidence in the appeal of Sea of Thieves. Strategically we’ve made some really good decisions around the type of game we’re making and how we’re bringing it to market. For me, it’s about the scale of the opportunity and making the most of the opportunity. That’s the pressure I feel. It’s like making the most of the opportunity.”

Along with pre-orders for the full release, the game should also do well on the Xbox Game Pass front, since it’s one of the first premiere titles being offered with the on-demand service for Xbox One. So here’s hoping we see even more pirating adventures as next month rolls around. ARRRRR!

Sea of Thieves releases on March 20 for Xbox One and Windows 10.