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Sea Of Thieves Just Had Its Biggest Month Ever, 35 Months After Release

Rare's pirate game is performing incredibly well, nearly three years after release.

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Microsoft's swashbuckling pirate game Sea of Thieves is bigger than it's ever been. Developer Rare has announced that January 2021 was the game's biggest-month ever in terms monthly active users. Executive producer Joe Neate commented in video about the "incredible" achievement that the game has reached, nearly three years after it launched in March 2018.

Neate also revealed that Sea of Thieves just recently saw the highest concurrent user figure ever since the game's initial launch period.

"To be nearly three years into the journey of Sea of Thieves and to be in that position is just incredible," he said. "So thanks to everyone who has been here since the start or has joined us more recently. It's an amazing moment in time for us."

Looking ahead, Neate predicted that 2021 will be the biggest year ever for Sea of Thieves. The launch of the new Seasons schedule--whereby new content and activities are released every few months--is just the beginning. There is a lot more to come, Neate said.

To support Sea of Thieves' growth, Rare has ramped up its staffing. Right now, the company employs more people than ever before on the Sea of Thieves project, and the growth in headcount is meant to reflect and support the growth in players, Neate said.

Additionally, Neate said Rare continues to work with external development partners to support the continued scaling of Sea of Thieves. "We want to make Sea of Thieves as big as it can be," he said.

The next update for Sea of Thieves arrives today, February 18, introducing a series of quality-of-life improvements. There is a new accessibility feature that allows players to select mono versus stereo. Additionally, Sea of Thieves will connect more seamlessly with Steam's framework to support things like inviting friends to your match and joining them.

There is also now Japanese localization in the game, while a new in-game charity campaign has kicked off to help support a local children's hospital. Check out the video above to catch up with everything that's new in Sea of Thieves.

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