The three new content updates will follow Cursed Sails in July and Forsaken Shores in September.
There are at least three more big content updates planned for Sea of Thieves this year.
The three unannounced content expansions will follow the content roadmap Rare has already projected to run through September – The Hungering Deep which was released on May 29, Cursed Sails coming some time in July, and Forsaken Shores dropping in September.
Speaking to IGN, Rare studio head Craig Duncan and Sea of Thieves design director Mike Chapman revealed the team’s new strategy for keeping a quick cadence of content creation going in the coming months and years.
“We’ve always talked about wanting to change perceptions of what multiplayer could be,” Chapman said. “One way you could look at it is we’ve done the really hard part. And now we’ve got this magical opportunity to make all the areas of the game richer. And beyond The Hungering Deep, Cursed Sails, and Forsaken Shores is coming, there’s going to be three more this year as well.”
“We’re trying to make amazing content as quick as we can,” Duncan said, “but obviously we’re prototyping new mechanics. [The Hungering Deep’s] Megalodon is very different from Forsaken Shores, very different from Cursed Sails.”
“We’ve actually organized the teams in a leapfrog fashion. So now that the Hungering Deep team are finished they’re working on the next thing.”
Now that the Hungering Deep team is finished, they’ve leapfrogged to next the update in line, the unannounced update following Forsaken Shores. And when the Cursed Sails team ships their update in July, they’ll work on the update beyond that, and so on and so forth.
“Our goal is to try and give each team more runway but keep the cadence quick,” Duncan said. “We’re actually bringing on a fourth team as well, so we’ve got more people working on Sea of Thieves now than when we shipped. I think the takeaway we want everyone to know is if you’ve got into to Sea of Thieves – we are fully committed to Sea of Thieves in the future.”
Rare has been steadily fixing major issues alongside adding new cosmetics and introducing the much-needed option for Sea of Thieves private crews. Be sure to check out our Sea of Thieves review, and visit our Sea of Thieves hub for all the latest news and information.
Brandin Tyrrel is IGN’s Xbox Editor. You can find him on Unlocked, or chat over on Twitter at @BrandinTyrrel.