Sea of Thieves Beta Streams Drove Pre-Orders, Says Producer

“[Sea of Thieves] Is a Very Watchable and Shareable Game”

We live in an age where watching video games is almost more common than playing them. But it has worked out well for developer Rare, apparently. In January, the Sea of Thieves beta garnered top viewership on Twitch, outshining the likes of PUBG and DOTA 2. That enticing week of streaming eventually translated into pre-orders.

Sea of Thieves

In a recent interview with Eurogamer, Rare Executive Producer Joe Neate revealed that Sea of Thieves pre-orders were up during the beta week. According to him, its fun factor and ease-of-access garnered lots of attention.

“It’s a very watchable and shareable game. We’ve seen from our beta that people watching other people play has driven them to come into the game. It’s driven pre-orders during that time period. Watching people play and seeing their adventures and going, oh, what could I do, sparks your creativity and imagination and makes you want to come into this.


“And because it’s a fun and welcoming game, you’re not watching a super competitive game, which is great to watch but then going, I’m not going to be able to do that. Instead, you’re watching it and going, oh that was really funny, or, I wouldn’t have imagined using the explosive barrel in that way, or firing myself out of the cannon into someone crow’s nest. You start going, oh, what can I do in that game? You see a real conversion of people who want to then come in and try stuff.

“There are so many reasons why I have such confidence in the appeal of Sea of Thieves. Strategically we’ve made some really good decisions around the type of game we’re making and how we’re bringing it to market. For me, it’s about the scale of the opportunity and making the most of the opportunity. That’s the pressure I feel. It’s like making the most of the opportunity.”

Neate is not kidding in the slightest. If you’ve watched any of our Sea of Thieves previews, especially this one, you’d understand how easy it is to get lost in the game’s offerings. Furthermore, the rise of pre-orders shows a promising outlook for the Microsoft exclusive. We don’t even know how much attention the game will bolster from Xbox Game Pass. Stay tuned as we learn more on the route to Sea of Thieves, which makes port on March 20th.

Happy gaming.

SOURCE: Wccftech