Sea of Thieves [XO, PC, PS, XGP]

Some of the more "hard core" gamers (who don't like games without Power progression) I've seen are losing interest at anywhere between 6-20 hours. If they got it on game pass, that's not bad for 10-12 USD. Even at 60, that's a somewhat reasonable amount of playtime.

But some are still really into although they're really wanting new content drops. The more casual players seem to be continuing to have a blast.

I wish there were sales numbers for the game. But MS was claiming it's the fastest selling (1 week) new IP of this generation as well as fast selling Windows Store PC sales ever (not exactly a high bar to pass there :p). Not including Game Pass as those don't count as sold games.

Anyone know off hand what some other 1st week sales of new IP for this generation were? Don't want to turn this into a pissing contest, so can PM me if you don't want to muck up this thread. I'm just curious to try to get an idea of what SoT would have to move in order for MS to make that claim. Whatever it is, it has to be less than 2 million units in 1 week as that was the number of unique players they had after the first week (over 2 million players was the claim).

Regards,
SB
 
Easy to come back to. Still a great sailing game. Still pretty one of a kind.

Been playing division since I put that on perma hold since destiny TKK and the X1X patch is due next week and some of the mates are getting into it again.

I respect SoT more not less since playing TD. I honestly spend more time tweaking my gear, mods, skills, talents, and hunting for shit to make my Build work that actually playing and enjoying the game.

If of course you love spending tons of time making Builds then that’s awesome, but for some of us with limited time, sailing the seas Is pretty great.
 
Thought this was funny. Seems like Gaf is falling out of love quickly, how's it holding up after a few weeks?
I’ve seen some of your other off cuff comments in other threads, so don’t mind me if I make some assumptions about your post here. Your contempt is showing, and it’s pretty unwarranted. Can you imagine a world where you didn’t have to do this? And just enjoy the games you play instead of having to come here and try to rile folks up to prove a point that has no correct answer?

If you could indulge me for a moment,I’d like for you to look at video games in a different light. To do that, I want to tell you about the board games scene, a scene that largely died when video games came out and have completely exploded since the 2000s.

Board games used to be all Risk, Monopoly, battleship, Life, trouble, connect four, etc your typical board games we grew up with. Then came one day, Settlers of Catan. A game that was quite a bit different, A Euro board game. And it became a gateway to more hardcore board games and board games completely moved from these shallow family games to these crazy long decision making sessions.

Agricola, Puerto Rico, etc you’ve probably heard of these games as being the best board games ranked by all board game players in the world. And i would be among that group as well. But an interesting thing happened during this time of hardcore board game domination, the crowd while thrilled, the barrier to entry was too high. So the reverse started happening, more board games, less pieces, less cards, less rules to the point where the games are entirely talking and bluffing. There are board games where the only marker is the score board.

And so board gamers would buy all these games from casual, to gateway and all the games in between to hardcore. There is so much innovation in the board game space, each 3 months you always here about the next amazing board game that is already sold out before the print is done.

But the interesting bit is that despite being hardcore and still playing the top games, we would still buy shallower, easier and simpler games too. And the reasoning was simple. When we play board games we bring “all” the games we have to someone’s house and see who shows up to play. And we look st how much time we have, and we choose a game that the entire audience would be happy playing.

So instead of just 4-6 hardcore guys playing, we have games that support 12 people and now the wives and girlfriends are playing.

What I’m trying to say is that, the key for boardgaming is that different boardgames target different purposes and are supposed to do different things.

In the same light video games could be that. And sea of Thieves is very much a gateway type game. Shallow yes, for now, but I’ve seen all sorts of people playing it, wives included. And to be able to just play together and have fun, or to choose different games in which other people can compete with you at equal ground is fun for everyone. Like BadTB25 gets bored of me stomping him in Halo 5, so we switched to Destiny and since we are doing co-op I don’t need to stomp him anymore.

So I don’t look at SoT as this game where I need to play 24/7 and have these deep moments of artistic shit like I’m watching a movie. It’s not that I don’t enjoy watching a movie with others or myself, but I don’t want that to be my only form of entertainment. Just like playing a sport or esport shouldn’t be my only form of entertainment.

So is the game shallow? Sure. Is the game fun? Sure, it absolutely can be both.

There’s no game like SoT on the market today, and so I think it’s worthy of being in anyone’s library even if you don’t intend don’t to play it all the time.

You might think it’s sad that people might defend a game that has shitty reviews. I think it’s sad that the only games you think are worthy of praise are games that encourage players to play alone and discuss with only like minded people.

Try to open to more experiences, And go with the flow. To often people are trying to make games into something they think they want to play instead of playing the game for what it is.
 
Some images of the original prototypes:

12.jpg

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2018-04-09-sea-of-thieves-early-protoypes-looked-very-different

The downgrade is soooo evident.
 
Some of the more "hard core" gamers (who don't like games without Power progression) I've seen are losing interest at anywhere between 6-20 hours. If they got it on game pass, that's not bad for 10-12 USD. Even at 60, that's a somewhat reasonable amount of playtime.

But some are still really into although they're really wanting new content drops. The more casual players seem to be continuing to have a blast.

I wish there were sales numbers for the game. But MS was claiming it's the fastest selling (1 week) new IP of this generation as well as fast selling Windows Store PC sales ever (not exactly a high bar to pass there :p). Not including Game Pass as those don't count as sold games.

Anyone know off hand what some other 1st week sales of new IP for this generation were? Don't want to turn this into a pissing contest, so can PM me if you don't want to muck up this thread. I'm just curious to try to get an idea of what SoT would have to move in order for MS to make that claim. Whatever it is, it has to be less than 2 million units in 1 week as that was the number of unique players they had after the first week (over 2 million players was the claim).

Regards,
SB
The 2M players claim included game pass, but the sales did not, so the sales numbers are probably significantly lower than 2M.

SoT sold 22,695 week 1 in the UK (which is close to what Quantum Break sold week 1). After 3 weeks, SoT has sold a hair under 41K in the UK, which does not include digital sales. (edit: Also does not include PC) The US is often times roughly 10x the sales of the UK to give you some rough perspective.

Horizon Zero Dawn is the fastest selling new IP of this generation (all platforms) and it sold 2.6M in 2 weeks. For an apples to apples comparison, HZD sold over 100K week 1 in the UK, again not including digital.

Both claims from MS were made week 1, so clearly MS conveniently left out 'Microsoft' from their 'fastest selling new IP of this generation' claim. So that means SoT is going up against the likes of Quantum Break, Ryse, Sunset Overdrive etc.
 
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I logged in last night to collect this and then find out what happens when you sail off the map:
https://www.trueachievements.com/n3...crew-eye-of-reach-and-increases-customization

And was surprised to find an interesting metric. The achievement for buying a new eye of reach has only been completed by just over 6% of players. I find this remarkably low for a game whose entire progression system is based upon buying customizations for your characters.

Take it for what you will, it's just one data point.
 
I logged in last night to collect this and then find out what happens when you sail off the map:
https://www.trueachievements.com/n3...crew-eye-of-reach-and-increases-customization

And was surprised to find an interesting metric. The achievement for buying a new eye of reach has only been completed by just over 6% of players. I find this remarkably low for a game whose entire progression system is based upon buying customizations for your characters.

Take it for what you will, it's just one data point.
That’s a pretty low number.
 
Does that number fluctuate based on the amount of active subscriptions or subscriptions+owners in total ever that logged in?
 
The 2M players claim included game pass, but the sales did not, so the sales numbers are probably significantly lower than 2M.

SoT sold 22,695 week 1 in the UK (which is close to what Quantum Break sold week 1). After 3 weeks, SoT has sold a hair under 41K in the UK, which does not include digital sales. (edit: Also does not include PC) The US is often times roughly 10x the sales of the UK to give you some rough perspective.

Horizon Zero Dawn is the fastest selling new IP of this generation (all platforms) and it sold 2.6M in 2 weeks. For an apples to apples comparison, HZD sold over 100K week 1 in the UK, again not including digital.

Both claims from MS were made week 1, so clearly MS conveniently left out 'Microsoft' from their 'fastest selling new IP of this generation' claim. So that means SoT is going up against the likes of Quantum Break, Ryse, Sunset Overdrive etc.


As has been noted a lot though, pretty hard to judge sales numbers for this game because it's essentially free with gamespass. Take me, with a passing interest in trying out the game, figure it's worth ten bucks to try for a month, but on signing up for gamepass, everybody is automatically given a free two weeks to boot, which they can cancel before and not get charged anything. Or get 1.5 months for 10 bucks if they choose to allow the charge after 2 weeks, etc.

I bet the numbers were at least double when counting that. Of course, the revenue wont be the same as a $60 title...

If MS wants to make netflix of gaming, the point is for all these games to go into a library, not sell as a packaged good, really.

As to this actual game, I only played for maybe half hour, but it didn't grab me. Dunno if that's my fault or the games, or if I just needed to play a bit more etc. Anyways, I canceled my game pass after a month.

Looking at Twitch, the game maintains some audience (2,357 viewing as I check RIGHT THIS SECOND), but has also died off a lot since launch.

One problem with gamepass for me is being on a 250GB cap. Since most of that is eaten by normal usage, I really cant afford to start downloading games much or I start getting hit with overage charges. I'd have to spend $20 more a month to get unlimited data, PLUS the gamepass fee, effectively gamepass would then be $30/month for me.
 
likely ever logged in. Or who are eligible for it.
This. Achievement percentage is based off those who downloaded & played the game & those that got the achievement. So that includes anybody who has used Game Pass to play it.

The low percentage of the Eye of Reach purchase is mainly due to all weapons performing exactly the same but only have a different cosmetic look. Why buy a different cosmetic version if the base version performs the same? I know since that's how I got the achievement too.

Btw I got my prize this week. It shipped from the UK across the Great Pond. I was ecstatic. It was the Special Edition controller & got 2 bonuses: eye patch & tattoo sleeve.

Tommy McClain20180501_184130.jpg
 
E3 details on Cursed Sails & Forsaken Shores...

Releasing in July, Cursed Sails will bring a new threat to the seas in the form of terrifying skeleton ships. We will be introducing these to the world by way of a time-limited campaign, providing a new threat and challenge for players to take on for exclusive rewards. Beyond this, they will remain as emergent threats in the world for players to take on. We are also introducing a new ship type – the Brigantine – for up to three players to adventure on. This is the first new ship players will be able to get their hands on, and we are committed to continuing to expand the Sea of Thieves fleet.

Skeleton ships & new 3-man Brigantine.

In September, Forsaken Shores will reveal a new part of the world that will test the skill and nerve of even the most hardened crews. This is a volcanic area, and any crews setting sail into this part of the Sea of Thieves will be committing to an arduous, difficult voyage filled with danger. Rocks will rain down from the skies, the seas will be rough and every adventure will be fraught with peril. Accompanying this, we are also introducing a Row Boat for players to use, supporting them in navigating this perilous new world.

Volcano map area & row boats.

Details on weekly events that will fill gaps between big content updates.

Before all that though, we will be beginning our regular in-game events on June 12, when we introduce the time-limited Skeleton Thrones event to Sea of Thieves. The events will give players new goals and rewards on a regular basis, outside of our Content Updates and the time-limited campaigns that accompany them.

We've known about Skelton thones for a bit but sadly no news on cursed cannonballs.

Stats on the game so far.

INFOGRAPHIC_JUNE18_02.jpg


https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2018/06/10/e3-2018-sea-of-thieves-cursed-sails-forsaken-shores/


Tommy McClain
 
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