While the sharks devoured Xbox Studios like Tango and Arkane Austin, one studio managed to survive this purge. That being Rare, formerly Rareware for us Nintendo fans. The studio slowly migrated into being a successful live-service studio under Xbox Game Studios with Sea of Thieves.
Recently releasing on PlayStation 5, the title topped the April PSN charts in multiple regions.
Sea of Thieves Sales Success on PS5
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, they state the following on Sea of Thieves success on PlayStation 5:
According to the official PlayStation Blog, the game was number 1 in its top 20 most downloaded PS5 games in Europe for the month, not counting free-to-play titles.
Regarding specific regions, the game has done the following across Europe, the US, and Canada;
In all, four of the top 10 games in Europe – Sea of Thieves, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Grounded and Fallout 4 – are owned by Microsoft.
In the US and Canada, Sea of Thieves charted third, behind Helldivers 2 and Stellar Blade. It was joined in the top 10 by fellow Microsoft games Modern Warfare 3 and Grounded.
Commenting on Sea of Thieves Success
One thing to keep in mind while discussing this success is the fact Sea of Thieves has been out on Xbox platforms and Steam for many years. And yet PlayStation gamers rushed to the seven seas once the ships came to shore.
Also worth noting is that this older title held its own alongside major Sony-published titles. With future content having parity with Xbox and PC versions, alongside the potential of a Switch 2 version sometime next year, the game will have lengthy sea legs.
Rare’s Future Potentially Secured
A major takeaway from all the recent Xbox news, is that Game Pass numbers aren’t the core metric anymore. Sales numbers, not unlike other publishers, are the goal now.
And moves like this ensure the future of studios like Rare. While no one can argue the studio hasn’t had success with Sea of Thieves in recent years, the game still needed PlayStation numbers. Why else would they join titles like Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment, games that struggled to find success on their home platform?
Engagement may be an important metric for Microsoft, but Hi-Fi Rush had impressive player counts after its launch. That was not enough.
Rare getting this huge influx of sales from PlayStation players, alongside any MTXs sold on the platform, ensuring lights remain on for the long-standing studio while work on Everwild continues. A title that still has no release window and no major updates since its reveal years ago.
Overall Thoughts
With this title’s overwhelming success on PlayStation, one could only hope potential future Xbox ports like Hellblade 2 and whatever gets announced at the upcoming Xbox Showcase get equal levels of success.
But have you joined the Seven Seas on PlayStation vessels? Let us know in the comments below!
