Sea of Thieves played by more than five million people, Rare reveals

More than five million people have played Sea of Thieves since its launch in March, the maker of the game has revealed.

In a blog post announcing the release of the latest update to the popular shared-world adventure title, Rare said reaching the milestone was “inspiring and humbling”.

The game has also racked up 300 million views on YouTube and more than 40 million live broadcast hours on streaming service Twitch.

“Seeing our creative community embrace the possibilities that Sea of Thieves presents is an inspiration to everyone at the studio, and on behalf of us all at Rare, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been a part of this amazing adventure,” wrote Joe Neate, Executive Producer at UK studio Rare.

“Sea of Thieves is a uniquely social game, where interacting with other players – either on the same ship or on rival crews – plays a critical role in the overall experience. Because of this, every single one of the five million players who’s played has bought something unique and special to the game: themselves. It genuinely wouldn’t be the same without you, and we can’t wait for you to jump into Cursed Sails and see how we’re working to fulfil our promise of new content in the months to come.”

Cursed Sails, released on Tuesday, is the second major update for Sea of Thieves. It introduces enemy skeleton ships, a new Brigantine three-player ship and a new Alliance system, which lets players team up and go on adventures together in the game.

It follows the release of The Hungering Deep in May, which added the Megalodon sea creature and a new speaking trumpet and flag system to help players communicate with each other. The update also featured new scars and tattoos so gamers could further customize their pirates.

A third update, entitled Forsaken Shores, is due to be released in September and will open up a new volcanic area to explore.

Neate added: “At Rare, we are more excited than ever to see where we can take this game. Every day I see the growth and content the team is working on, or is planning for future releases, and it is unbelievably exciting. Thanks to everyone who has joined us so far, and to those who we will see join the adventure in the future. We’re really just getting started here.”

Cursed Sails is available for free on the Xbox One family of devices and Windows 10 PCs, or as part of Xbox Game Pass.