Sea of Thieves Closed Beta Set for January 24th to 29th

Rare and Microsoft announced that a Sea of Thieves Closed Beta will run from 12 p.m. GMT on January 24 to 8 a.m. GMT on January 29 (4 a.m. PST on January 24 to 12 a.m. PST on January 29), which will give players full five days of sailing. They’ve crafted a bespoke experience for Closed Beta players that offers a true taste of the pirate life and a great chance to get your sea legs ahead of March 20! They won’t be testing the full game during this Closed Beta phase: they want to keep a good selection of things up their sleeves for players to discover at launch.

Check out the gameplay trailer of Sea of Thieves, featuring some gameplay footage:

“Happy New Year, everyone! We’re back working hard on Sea of Thieves after the holidays and a December chock-full of announcements. We revealed March 20 as our launch date and made a star of an unsuspecting chicken with a swashbuckling trailer, kicked off pre-orders, revealed how you progress through the world of Sea of Thieves, and showed off our haunting Limited Edition controller. All that and we hosted our biggest ever Technical Alpha play session last month.

All hands are now back on deck here at Rare as we sail toward launch. We’ll have plenty to share, show off and celebrate before then, but we’re beginning 2018 with the announcement of our upcoming Closed Beta dates.

The Sea of Thieves Closed Beta will be accessible to anyone who joined the Sea of Thieves Insider Programme before December 1, 2017, and anyone who pre-orders the game. If you’ve already pre-ordered the game and want to find out how to download the Closed Beta client, visit our website.

One final thing: the Closed Beta will not be covered by an NDA, so players can stream, create videos, share clips, take screenshots or do anything else that their wonderful minds can come up with. Some of our favourites will no doubt be shared on Sea of Thieves’ social channels and website. I know a lot of players will be excited by this announcement – I am too! If you missed out on the Insider Programme, pre-order now to ensure access to the Closed Beta!”