A new port of Rare’s pirate game could be a sign of confidence in the Redmond-based company’s shift in strategy, as the former Xbox exclusive is being used as a test bed for Microsoft’s approach to multiplatform.

We’ve previously reported that Microsoft is treating the PlayStation 5 version of Sea of Thieves as a test. The first gulp, Hi-Fi Rush, was just a warm-up (but that doesn’t change the fact that it was one of the surprise titles and best games of 2023), and now the eyes of the world are on Rare’s creation. If there’s a huge demand for the game, Microsoft will benefit, and with that, perhaps Redmond will consider whether it’s a good idea for bigger games not to take the potential money off the table that, say, a PlayStation 5 port of Starfield would generate (the game is not currently slated for a PS5 port).

The port, which was announced in mid-February, is currently in beta testing. It started on April 12th and will run until April 15th. The first results are very encouraging, and we do not mean that the pre-order results have been good: the Sea of Thieves servers are struggling to cope with the heavy traffic they are receiving. It took only an hour after the PlayStation 5 beta launched for Rare to announce on Twitter that they had a lot of new players and that wait times could be much longer than usual as a result. So the high number of pre-orders wasn’t just a marketing ploy, there really is that much interest in the game.

The @PlayStation 5 Closed Beta is currently experiencing a high volume of new players, which may result in longer waiting times than normal as pirates enter the Sea of Thieves. Thanks for your patience, everyone! https://t.co/4Djsg7lkwn

— Sea of Thieves (@SeaOfThieves) April 12, 2024

This gives Microsoft two weeks to prepare their servers for the PlayStation 5 community, as the PS5 port of Sea of Thieves will be released on April 30th. Rare has already admitted that there was an issue that caused players in the closed beta to take a little longer to join the servers. Hopefully, this problem will be fixed when the final version launches.

And Microsoft is right to break out the champagne.

Source: GameRant