Sea of ​​Thieves gets a Battle Pass

Sea of ​​Thieves will abandon its monthly update schedule and switch to a Fortnite– seasonal style model starting next year, announced Rare Creative Director Mike Chapman in a new update to players.

“After a year of updating the game [monthly], we are moving in a new way, ”Chapman said. “So from January, the seasons come to Sea of ​​Thieves with some hacked twists. Each season will run for around three months and start with new content or activity. During these times, Rare will continue to patch the game and host live events. More importantly, there will be a premium battle pass called the Plunder Pass that players can pay for to earn additional rewards as they progress through each season.

“What’s really exciting for us is that outside of the business corporation’s progression system that already exists, you can experience that sense of progress every time you play,” Chapman said. “So even if you don’t complete the adventure you’re in or complete your travels, you still get that tangible sense of progress when you play. Sea of ​​Thieves. ”

Stimulated by the success of Fortnite, other live games like Destiny 2 and Fallout 76 have also reoriented their updates around Seasonal Battle Passes. Letting players seek out the rewards they wanted was originally an antidote to the frustration of luck-based rewards like loot boxes, but some battle passes have taken on their own boredom. Meta progression from Rank 1 to 100 can provide a satisfying excuse to keep playing. It can also be an effective way for developers to supplement thin content updates. It remains to be seen how grindy Sea of ​​Thieves“Plunder Pass ends up being.

All new content will still be available for free to players who purchased the game. It remains to be seen whether the Plunder Pass will offer anything other than cosmetics.

According to Rare, 11 million people have played the game this year, with Sea of ​​Thieves“Steam’s launch has a million new players in its first month.