Upcoming Sea Of Thieves Update Shrinks Game's Overall Download Size

Rare has announced a new update for Sea of Thieves, which is designed to both reduce the overall install size of the game and make it easier for the developer to implement further patches in the future. However, to download the update, you'll have to reinstall the entire game. The update goes live on February 6.

The new install sizes for each version of the game has been outlined in a blog post on Sea of Thieves' main website. The PC version of the game will shrink from 47 GB to 27 GB. For Xbox One, the version on the original console will go from 35 GB to 10, and the One X install size will shrink from 47 GB to 25.

As a result of this update, Rare executive producer Joe Neate writes that future patch sizes might "increase slightly in the future." However, the overall install size will no longer grow significantly--like it has in the past--so it should be faster to reinstall the game going forward.

In our Sea of Thieves review, Peter Brown gave the game 6/10, writing, "For now, [Sea of Thieves is] a somewhat hollow game that can be fun for a handful of hours when played with friends, and something worth trying out if you happen to be an Xbox Game Pass subscriber. Even though it's hard to wholeheartedly recommend, I like enough of what I see to hold out hope that things will eventually improve as the game continues to be patched and updated with new content."

Since then, Rare has implemented several updates into the game, including a competitive PvP arena mode, a new type of quest, and more enemy types. Rare design director Mike Chapman has announced that the developer has more content planned for the future, including a possible battle royale mode.

Sea of Thieves is available for Xbox One and PC.