Yar, mateys! Microsoft has taken it on the chin in recent years for its lack of Xbox One-exclusive games compared to the PlayStation 4’s lineup. If the just-released Sea of Thieves is any indication, Xbox players will show up when a good exclusive game launches. During its first two days on the market, Sea of Thieves racked up an impressive 1 million players across PC and Xbox One.
But packing all those players into an online world puts a lot of strain on the game’s servers. Sea of Thieves has been struggling to keep up. During peak play times, some players are having trouble signing in. Others already in the game are seeing delayed rewards and achievements, along with inventory items that temporarily go missing. When a game doesn’t work properly, gamers tend to get mad.
Just a few years ago, the developer’s actions probably would have played out behind the scenes. But the relationship between game makers and players has evolved since then. Players expect fast and open communication from developers. They’re willing to forgive a lot, as long as they know the developers are working on a fix.
To that effect, the studio heads of Rare posted a video outlining the problems Sea of Thieves has faced during its first days on the market. They also detail their plans to fix them and provide suggestions for players experiencing problems.
The video is long, and they seem exhausted from working long hours addressing the issues. But their advice is, if you’re having trouble signing in on a solo ship, try joining a galleon crew that’s already in progress. Those requests go through different channels. When one is too crowded, the other might be open.
It’s good to see the interest in Sea of Thieves, though. At one point, the developers said, 5,000 people were trying to sign on per minute. The server loads have been roughly four times larger than they were during the game’s final beta.
If you want to try out Sea of Thieves for free, you can do a 14-day trial of Xbox Game Pass. Every Xbox Game Pass member gets free access to Microsoft Studios games, including brand new ones like Sea of Thieves. Good luck signing in.