A new developer update from Rare on Sea of Thieves hasn’t returned to port quite yet, it seems to be lost at sea. But Rare are working on getting the game back on course as they plan to launch the update next week.
“We worked on it, and we tried to resolve this issue; we couldn’t resolve it in time. Our only choices were: do we release this build that has a known issue that will affect a portion of our player base, or do we hold on this, work on fixing it and then look to release a version of the game next week instead?”
Check out the developer update video below. In said video, executive producer Joe Neate discusses the circumstances that created the issues in the first place. The build that Rare would have released contained an issue that might have made the game unplayable for PC users. Rare made the decision to delay the patch on the back of that bug.
Overall, the video is more of an apology than a patch rundown, but that’s not really a bad thing. Given that player retention rests heavily on developer confidence in terms of improvement to the game, Rare shooting for more transparency is only a good thing. Rare has been going over player feedback constantly, using it to adjust their plans as needed. And the developer will continue to do so for future updates, like when they added in item sets that were missing from the game but included in the patch notes. It’s this level of cupability and honesty that should help Sea of Thieves succeed long-term.
There’s a variety of small changes and bug fixes coming, but the biggest addition for the forthcoming patch is that it will introduce more matchmaking options, allowing players to make crew slots private and public, so you can choose to only play with your friends. There’s also a couple of gameplay adjustments, like making player names invisible underwater, which makes it easier to sneak aboard enemy ships. Also, you can finally share items with other crewmates directly, no more having to drop an item for a team member to pick up.
