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Sea of thieves is the most successful console game port on Steam followed by Halo: The Master Chief Collection

ByWatterson

Member
Sea of Thieves success is kind of incredible - it's a very niche game that doesn't hold your hand at all. It's not a game you can just hop on, play for 10-20 minutes and do something else. It asks for a serious commitment just to achieve anything in it. That said, still one of the most important games of last gen. One of a kind.

Why I bounced off so fast. It demands so, so much. But a clear case of "not for me" instead of "not good."
 
Interesting to see the disparity between the games.

Avg Total Playtime for the games in the OP.

SoT= 50hrs.
Halo= 36hrs.
FH4= 55hrs.
It shows that players are getting their money's worth, and speaks to the quality of the games being able to keep people engaged with them for so long.

Lol at Horizon with 24 hrs. One and done confirmed.
 

j.k.2021

Banned
I remember when Sony fans were saying sea of thieves was a flop and that Xbox killed rare. Wrong and wrong
A lot of people are still stuck in 2018 when Sea of thieves had a rough launch.They don't know or don't care about the incredible resurgence it had afterwards.I remember Angryjoe refusing to play it despite all the positive stuff he heard.
 
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Havoc2049

Member
Sea of thieves was dead on arrival.It was only rewarded after it's big update a year later.Then, It started gaining momentum and became the most successful new Xbox first party ip.Also, It's steam launch was in perfect shape and that's why it has 90% user rating from over 230,000 steam reviews.

It debuted at #2 and then dropped to 18 in its second month then out of the top 20 the next, basically the same as Halo Infinite. Difference is this is a AA service game, its sales numbers are likely unimpressive but it's the type of game that if enough people play it and stay subscribed is good for a service like GP.
Sea of Thieves is a AAA game that launched at $60. Sea of Thieves having a bad launch is actually false. SoT also launched at the #1 spot on the UK sales charts. The game has been doing gang busters since day one and the first major DLC update, The Hungering Deep, was released just eight weeks after launch.

From a Rare April 1, 2018 press release:
sea-of-thieves-alpha-test-news-banner.jpg
Rare Ltd has announced that their latest multiplayer swashbucking title Sea of Thieves has sold over 2 million copies since its March 20, 2018 release.

These results were enough to make Sea of Thieves the best selling first-party title from Microsoft this generation. The 2 million sales number include both Xbox One and PC versions, but does not include players who accessed the game through Microsoft's gamepass service.
SOURCE

Rare announced they hit the 5 million player mark for Sea of Thieves in August 2018.
SOURCE
 

j.k.2021

Banned
Sea of Thieves is a AAA game that launched at $60. Sea of Thieves having a bad launch is actually false. SoT also launched at the #1 spot on the UK sales charts. The game has been doing gang busters since day one and the first major DLC update, The Hungering Deep, was released just eight weeks after launch.

From a Rare April 1, 2018 press release:
sea-of-thieves-alpha-test-news-banner.jpg
Rare Ltd has announced that their latest multiplayer swashbucking title Sea of Thieves has sold over 2 million copies since its March 20, 2018 release.

These results were enough to make Sea of Thieves the best selling first-party title from Microsoft this generation. The 2 million sales number include both Xbox One and PC versions, but does not include players who accessed the game through Microsoft's gamepass service.
SOURCE

Rare announced they hit the 5 million player mark for Sea of Thieves in August 2018.
SOURCE

In monthly NPD, Sea of thieves only did great in release month with #2 spot but was pushed to #18 in next month.I have witnessed Sea of thieves resurgence first hand and game pass, Summit1g are the biggest factors behind it followed by steam release.

 
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Roberts

Member
Nah you can absolutely get something done in that time.

If you are a pro, like I assume you are. We usually spend the first 20 minutes trying to figure out what to do on that day. And play our music instruments for no fucking reason on the top of the mast as another amazing sunset happens in front of us. Over and over again.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
I remember when Sony fans were saying sea of thieves was a flop and that Xbox killed rare. Wrong and wrong

It's so funny to look back on it now.

Still wish they would refine the sword combat and it would be up there with my favourite games.

Sea of thieves and grounded are magical, and something Microsoft does better than most of the competition.

They don't get enough props for how well they handle these types of games.
 
It's so funny to look back on it now.

Still wish they would refine the sword combat and it would be up there with my favourite games.

Sea of thieves and grounded are magical, and something Microsoft does better than most of the competition.

They don't get enough props for how well they handle these types of games.

People complain that games are too hand-holdy, then over look gems like these.
 

GymWolf

Member
I would have sunk thousands of hours in to Sea of Thieves if

A. The combat wasn’t pure jank.
B. There was a more traditional mission system (yes I played the PotC missions, no, I didn’t think they were good).
C. There should be more players in a server as the ship combat is the most exciting thing.

Such a shame as simply sailing around in that beautiful world is ace.
Yeah, from what i saw the melee combat seems uber simple and pretty meh, the naval battles are where the real fun begin.
 

Lasha

Member
Yeah, from what i saw the melee combat seems uber simple and pretty meh, the naval battles are where the real fun begin.

Naval battles go until you can successfully board the other ship. The actual melee is over quick enough not to matter.
 

octiny

Banned
It debuted at #2 and then dropped to 18 in its second month then out of the top 20 the next, basically the same as Halo Infinite. Difference is this is a AA service game, its sales numbers are likely unimpressive but it's the type of game that if enough people play it and stay subscribed is good for a service like GP.

You realize it sold another 5 million in 18 months on Steam, right? That was about 13 months ago.

No doubt it's somewhere between 10-15 million copies sold overall, possibly more.

Not what I would call "unimpressive".
 

GymWolf

Member
Naval battles go until you can successfully board the other ship. The actual melee is over quick enough not to matter.
I mean, don't you fight skeletons and shit when you are in the islands searching for treasures and shit?

You are not always on the ship.
 

GymWolf

Member
I got to pirate legend without doing a single bit of PvE. The path was longer yet much more fun.
Not to sound dismissive, but avoiding a part of the game because the melee combat is kinda shit is not the optimal solution that you think it is.

It would be better if they can actually make all the combat better in the sequel.
 

Lasha

Member
Not to sound dismissive, but avoiding a part of the game because the melee combat is kinda shit is not the optimal solution that you think it is.

It would be better if they can actually make all the combat better in the sequel.

How would you have any frame of reference since you haven't played? My path was anything but optimal considering it took significantly longer to raise factions to 50 without taking a single voyage. You have to actually understand the combat system to become pirate legend without PvE. The combat system is fine. PvE has to be basic because you can be interrupted by people at any time.
 

GymWolf

Member
How would you have any frame of reference since you haven't played? My path was anything but optimal considering it took significantly longer to raise factions to 50 without taking a single voyage. You have to actually understand the combat system to become pirate legend without PvE. The combat system is fine. PvE has to be basic because you can be interrupted by people at any time.
Do i need frame of reference to say that avoiding part of the combat because it's not that good is not an optimal solution? I have no idea what you did with the game because i didn't played it, but it sounded like you avoided the melee combat, maybe i misunderstood what you said.

I'm more of a "on foot" type of guy so if they make a sequel i need to have good, deep, satisfying melee combat other than good ship combat.

If they can't do that for whatever reason then ok, i'm gonna avoid to buy the sequel like i did with the first game.
 
I'll never understand why Sea of Thieves being such a great success is so triggering to sony warriors around here.


How do people even last that long?

I couldn't even get to 7 hours before uninstalling from pure boredom.
It's one of those games that sounds good in theory. Who wouldn't like battling robo dinos right. But in practice, it's a whole different story... literally, and not in a good way. It's far too much story, and not enough substance. And the substance that is there like mechanics and gameplay is average at best.
 

Havoc2049

Member
In monthly NPD, Sea of thieves only did great in release month with #2 spot but was pushed to #18 in next month.I have witnessed Sea of thieves resurgence first hand and game pass, Summit1g are the biggest factors behind it followed by steam release.

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So being #2 in North America and #1 in the UK on the month your game launches is a negative?? The vast majority of devs and publishers would kill for that. My point is that SoT sold 2 million copies in its first 11 days and reached 5 millions users in like 4 1/2 months. That's far from being "dead on arrival" like you stated in an earlier post and a game that needs to be resurrected. SoT has been a hit from day one and has had a steady flow of content since it launched.
 

Lasha

Member
Do i need frame of reference to say that avoiding part of the combat because it's not that good is not an optimal solution? I have no idea what you did with the game because i didn't played it, but it sounded like you avoided the melee combat, maybe i misunderstood what you said.

I'm more of a "on foot" type of guy so if they make a sequel i need to have good, deep, satisfying melee combat other than good ship combat.

If they can't do that for whatever reason then ok, i'm gonna avoid to buy the sequel like i did with the first game.

You can't avoid melee combat. It's a foundational part of the game. Melee combat is how most ship combat ends. Boarding is how you disrupt repairs and bailing. Boarding and anchoring is essential to escaping bad matchups. I avoided PvE because there is no challenge. Not because I had any issue with the combat. The game is a PvPvE sandbox with the freedom to choose what you like. I don't think a series about crewing ships and piracy is ever going to accommodate "on foot" gameplay.
 

j.k.2021

Banned
So being #2 in North America and #1 in the UK on the month your game launches is a negative?? The vast majority of devs and publishers would kill for that. My point is that SoT sold 2 million copies in its first 11 days and reached 5 millions users in like 4 1/2 months. That's far from being "dead on arrival" like you stated in an earlier post and a game that needs to be resurrected. SoT has been a hit from day one and has had a steady flow of content since it launched.
Negative thing here is that it had no legs in 2018.A AAA game needs legs to survive.Those five million users include game pass.Two million sales sounds a lot then but we are talking about combined Xbox and pc(widows store) sales for a exclusive when people were really starved for content on Xbox side.
 
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GymWolf

Member
You can't avoid melee combat. It's a foundational part of the game. Melee combat is how most ship combat ends. Boarding is how you disrupt repairs and bailing. Boarding and anchoring is essential to escaping bad matchups. I avoided PvE because there is no challenge. Not because I had any issue with the combat. The game is a PvPvE sandbox with the freedom to choose what you like. I don't think a series about crewing ships and piracy is ever going to accommodate "on foot" gameplay.
Then the game is never gonna be for me, even if in theory searching for treasures on foot in various islands and fighting mobs is a non-small part of the game (you ignored it, but many didn't).

If you watched any pirate movie or serial, going into islands on foot is not a small part of the pirate life fantasy, it's usually 50/50.

Maybe the game is just more focused on the ship part.
 
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Men_in_Boxes

Snake Oil Salesman
Sea of Thieves got big sales boosts whenever big updates dropped. Rare was pretty smart with their marketing.

Never made the game any better (Slay the Spire currently more played on Steam, lol), but $$$ is what ultimately matters.
 

Lasha

Member
Then the game is never gonna be for me, even if in theory searching for treasures on foot in various islands and fighting mobs is a non-small part of the game (you ignored it, but many didn't).

If you watched any pirate movie or serial, going into islands on foot is not a small part of the pirate life fantasy, it's usually 50/50.

Maybe the game is just more focused on the ship part.

Ya that's fine. It found its audience. I'm just telling you what it's like from somebody who has played since launch.
 

GymWolf

Member
Ya that's fine. It found its audience. I'm just telling you what it's like from somebody who has played since launch.
I always wanted to try at least the ship part, but i'm a bit shit skill wise with these type of games and i have no friends that are interested in the game.
 

j.k.2021

Banned
Telling you guys, Sea of thieves sequel will likely be the biggest launch in Xbox history.All those people who didn't give it a chance due to bad launch will jump on the boat.
 
So happy Rare is back. Super fun game that I've been school'd/captain'd by randos, my son, his friends and generally got up to no good with my own xbox buds too.

Seeing my son and his friends get up to pirate shenanigans, looting and exploring has been a nostalgia trip. I'm thankful such games exist for new and old generations alike.

Also the water, sunsets, mood and sailing is sublime. The consistent sustain has been a well oiled machine too.
 

DenchDeckard

Moderated wildly
The thing I love about Microsoft games is the staying power that titles like this have.

Sea of thieves and grounded, have that magical whimsy you want from games on occasion. That warm blanket of nostalgia and fun, even forza horizon and now hi fi rush have it.

It's not too serious and is the best kind of winter blanket. Microsoft just nails it and the longevity of their titles show this 100 percent.

This isn't games that have one months worth of mindshare and everyone moves on. They generate fanbases that play these games for years.
 
I always wanted to try at least the ship part, but i'm a bit shit skill wise with these type of games and i have no friends that are interested in the game.

Most of the game is exploration and puzzle solving.

Say, if you played for 2 hrs, and had 2 encounters with other player ships, total time you will spend in melee/ gun combat won't exceed 10-15 minutes.

Thats why it's kept simple. It's still tricky. Once you start to get hitboxes, you will be able to win a few battles as well. Remember, you are fighting other players, for loot. It's never not interesting.
 

Lasha

Member
I always wanted to try at least the ship part, but i'm a bit shit skill wise with these type of games and i have no friends that are interested in the game.

The discord is a pretty safe place to find a crew. I turn warm bodies into killers all the time. You can also try that weird Xbox overlay. There's a lot of open crews which will take new players. Break out of your shell and take what is yours.
 

Mr Moose

Member
Sea of Thieves and Halo Masterchief are ports though... Released first on Xbox consoles then ported to PC few years later.
No. Day one on PC. Thread was made by someones alt to try and shit stir, they edited the OP to fit their agenda and even now it's incorrect.
Sea of Thieves is a AAA game that launched at $60. Sea of Thieves having a bad launch is actually false. SoT also launched at the #1 spot on the UK sales charts. The game has been doing gang busters since day one and the first major DLC update, The Hungering Deep, was released just eight weeks after launch.

From a Rare April 1, 2018 press release:
sea-of-thieves-alpha-test-news-banner.jpg
Rare Ltd has announced that their latest multiplayer swashbucking title Sea of Thieves has sold over 2 million copies since its March 20, 2018 release.

These results were enough to make Sea of Thieves the best selling first-party title from Microsoft this generation. The 2 million sales number include both Xbox One and PC versions, but does not include players who accessed the game through Microsoft's gamepass service.
SOURCE

Rare announced they hit the 5 million player mark for Sea of Thieves in August 2018.
SOURCE
Slight correction, they don't say 2 million sales.
The worldwide excitement for Sea of Thieves has made it the fastest-selling first-party new IP of this generation. Having witnessed more than a million players on launch day, our community continues to grow and now has more than two million players. Alongside this, Sea of Thieves is already the best-selling Microsoft Studios first-party title on Windows 10.
 
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yurinka

Member
If we compare these two MS biggest sellers in Steam vs the Sony ones, the MS ones have been sold for a way longer period of time (which also means it had more discounted sales periods) and with a more discounted, lowest minimum price. In addition to this, it's also worth mentioning that Sea of Thieves was released day one on PC and Halo MCC is a collection with half a dozen Halos, while the two Sony best sellers are ports of 4 year old single games.

Sea of Thieves was released 2 years and almost 9 months ago and has been sold with a minimum price of $19.99 (US pricing), -50% off. Sales estimates:
image.png


Halo MCC was released 3 years and 3 months ago and has been sold with a minimum price of $15.99 (US pricing), -60% off. Sales estimates:
image.png


God of War (2018) was released on PC a year and a month ago, and has been sold with a minimum price of $29.99 (US pricing), -40% off. Sales estimations:
image.png


Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered was released 7 months ago. Lowest US pricing: $40.19, -33% off. Sales estimates:
image.png
 
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nemiroff

Gold Member
Telling you guys, Sea of thieves sequel will likely be the biggest launch in Xbox history.All those people who didn't give it a chance due to bad launch will jump on the boat.

It would especially if it got some kind of full diverse package with solo and mp variations (a la COD). It could reach the sky if MS played their cards right. But I'm kinda skeptical of how agile they are able to be.
 
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Don't think so bitches. Sony always wins

NbvzOfx.png

Really over the Sony warring shit. No need for this in a SoT thread whatsoever and wasn't part of any discussion. Literally just shitting up GAF threads up all the time and preventing members from wanting to post in such threads.

Funny how you now praise Sony buying a publisher and dev in Bungie but endlessly post MS cannot just buy great games/publishers.

Welcome to the ignore list, you and your immaturity won't be missed.
 
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