Sea of Thieves developer Rare has introduced its first ever Community Direct broadcast to debate the sport’s imminent and longer-term future, per week after Microsoft’s newest spherical of layoffs hit the studio onerous.
Rare was one of a number of Xbox groups that suffered cuts as half of final week’s devastating resolution by Microsoft to shed round 9,100 staff throughout Xbox and its wider firm.
The adjustments noticed Everwild, Rare’s long-gestating fantasy undertaking, canned after round a decade in growth, whereas quite a few employees members engaged on the title — together with, it is believed, Rare veteran Gregg Mayles — are actually anticipated to depart the studio.
Towards that backdrop, Rare has stated it is going to now speak instantly with Sea of Thieves followers in regards to the future of its long-running pirate live-service sport, firstly in regards to the in-development content material coming all through the remainder of this yr — after which what’s subsequent for the sport general.
“Be a part of core crew members for the primary ever Sea of Thieves Community Direct, the place they’re going to speak about upcoming Seasons, large Insider Programme adjustments and a much-requested characteristic that is not too long ago been ticking away in growth,” Rare stated immediately in an outline for the printed.
The livestream will likely be held tomorrow, Thursday, July 10 at 3pm UK time — that is 10am Japanese or 7am Pacific.
Sea of Thieves has been successful for Rare, with a continued sturdy neighborhood that has saved the wind within the sport’s sails by way of to its present seventeenth season. Initially launched on PC and Xbox in 2018, Sea of Thieves has additionally been a success on PlayStation, the place it topped the charts upon its arrival there in 2024.
Xbox Video games Collection Tier Record
Xbox Video games Collection Tier Record
Final week, Xbox chief Phil Spencer stated the staffing cuts and the cancellation of initiatives like Everwild and the Good Darkish remake have been mandatory to make sure the corporate’s continued success, and to permit Xbox “to deal with strategic progress areas.”
“If a sport was in growth for 7~10 years, canceling feels just like the worst transfer,” EA Japan boss Shaun Noguchi stated in response. “That’s a decade of work, doubtlessly 1 / 4 of someones (sic) whole profession completly (sic) misplaced. Even when the ultimate product isn’t what individuals initially anticipated, I feel it nonetheless deserves to ship.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You’ll be able to attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social