Xbox announces Sea of Thieves release date

Sea of Thieves will be released on March 20 next year, Xbox has announced.

The highly-anticipated shared-world adventure game in which players control pirates is now available to pre-order ahead of its launch on the Xbox One family of devices and Windows 10 PCs.

Players who digitally pre-order a copy of the game will receive exclusive access to a pre-release closed beta and the Black Dog Pack, featuring special clothing.

Sea of Thieves can be pre-ordered from the Xbox website, priced at £49.99.

Xbox has also announced a Sea of Thieves limited edition wireless controller, featuring a deep purple translucent design, with laser etched barnacles, one golden trigger and a skull that glows in the dark.

The controller is now available to pre-order form the Xbox website priced at £64.99, which includes an exclusive Ferryman clothing set for your Sea of Thieves character, a 14-day trial of Xbox Live Gold and a 14-day trial of Xbox Game Pass.

It will be available in selected retailers from February 15, 2018.

Sea of Thieves is a multiplayer game that lets you explore islands, find treasure, solve riddles and battle other players, either on your own or in a group. You will learn to sail a ship, including steering, navigating, setting the sails and maintaining battle readiness, along with repairing and bailing out water if you are attacked. You can fight back with cannon or, if on land, with guns and swords.

It has been developed by British game company Rare.