Xbox Series X and Series S Optimizations Revealed for Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves players who’ve been sailing the oceans and plundering treasures on the Xbox One have some next-gen optimizations to look forward to when the game launches on the Xbox Series X and Series S. Microsoft and Rare revealed the plans for those optimizations this week just under a week before the two consoles launch to preview the sort of experience Sea of Thieves players will get. The Series X will of course yield the better experience, but both consoles will be a step up from what players are used to now.

Those optimizations for each respective console can be seen below courtesy of the Sea of Thieves Twitter account. On the Series X, players will be able to play Sea of Thieves at a 4K resolution and at 60FPS, a welcome detail seeing how most games have to compromise between one or the other in a “performance” or “resolution” mode. On the Series S, the game will run at 1080p and at 60FPS as well. Both consoles will treat players to faster load times when playing so that they can get their treasure hunts on quicker than ever before.

Sea of Thieves is one of several games that was previously announced to be a launch title for the Series X and Series S. Though most of the names on the 30-title lineup of launch games are ones that have already been released and playable for some time, they’re being considered launch games once again in the next generation because of their upgrades like the ones outlined above. We’ve seen optimizations announced for many of the others on the same list as well, though there are still some that haven’t been detailed yet.

Rare’s Sea of Thieves game is also part of the Xbox Smart Delivery program which is good news for anyone who’s been playing it on the Xbox One already. That means that when this new version of the game releases with the Series X and Series S optimizations, you’ll get the next-gen version for free if you already own the current one. It’s also part of Xbox Game Pass, so even if you don’t own it, you’ll get the next-gen version if you’re subscribed to Xbox Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.