Sea Of Thieves Beta Extended Thanks To Server Problems

Sea of Thieves' Xbox One and PC beta has experienced some problems since it started earlier this week, with some players unable to access the trial at all until very recently. In response, developer Rare has now extended the game's beta by two days; the test period will now end on Wednesday, January 31 at midnight PT / 3 AM ET / 8 AM GMT / 6 PM AEST.

Regarding the issues themselves--which have seen some users met with a "too early" message, denying them entry to the beta--Rare says it has deployed a fix that is "unfortunately taking longer than anticipated to reach all affected players." The company has apologized for the delay and says it is still working on returning normal service to all players.

For those who manage to take part in the beta, Rare says it has crafted a tailored experience for the trial "that offers a true taste of the pirate life," rather than simply featuring a portion of the full game. Like the Sea of Thieves technical alpha that took place back in December, the closed beta is only available to those who either joined the Sea of Thieves Insider Program prior to December 1, 2017 or pre-ordered the game. Players who fell into the latter camp received the beta automatically if they pre-ordered Sea of Thieves digitally, while those who reserved the title at retail had to redeem a code in order to install the beta.

Sea of Thieves launches for Xbox One and PC on March 20 and will support cross-play between the two platforms. Ahead of the game's release, Microsoft will sell a limited quantity of cool-looking Sea of Thieves Xbox One controllers, which come with a Ferryman Clothing DLC set and 14-day trials for Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft also announced that Sea of Thieves will be the first Xbox One-exclusive available on Game Pass the day it launches.