Microsoft announced its plans to bring some of its exclusive first-party Xbox games to PlayStation in February. One of the titles mentioned was Sea of Thieves. With its release date onto the PlayStation 5 now on the horizon, Rare today revealed what sort of features the game will have when it comes ashore onto the PlayStation 5.
Some of the most asked questions about this release have been regarding cross-play and cross-progression support between PlayStation and Xbox. Rare has now confirmed that both features will be available from launch. Hovewer, cross-play can be disabled by players, making sure only other PS5 owners are in their servers. Further, cross-play can also be restricted to only allowing controller users.
As for progression, when connecting PlayStation and Microsoft accounts, any pirate characters players may already have created will be synced onto the PS5, including "Commendations, cosmetics, Twitch Drops and accumulated gold, Doubloons and Ancient Coins." Some platform-exclusive cosmetics, like the Duke set on Xbox, will not carry over,.
When inviting friends, Sea of Thieves on PS5 will show both Xbox and PSN Friend lists to make inviting or joining a cross-play-enabled party an easy task. Being an online game, PlayStation Plus will be required to play Sea of Thieves with others, but the Safer Seas solo mode can be accessed by those without a subscription.
Much like on the Xbox Series X|S, Sea of Thieves will offer 4K 60FPS or 1080p 120FPS gameplay modes on the PS5. Over 250 Trophies are also included, mirroring the Xbox and Steam achievements, and some progress will carry over for existing players syncing accounts.
Moreover, the PS5 DualSense controller"s unique hardware abilities have been integrated into the game, making use of its haptic feedback and adaptive triggers to offer more immersive gameplay. It"s unclear if PC players will also receive these benefits when using the DualSense.
Rare is also ready to deal with the surge of new players the PlayStation 5 launch will bring. The studio says that "the team is ready to welcome new PlayStation players to the seas and our live service capabilities have been scaled in preparation for launch."
Sea of Thieves launches on the PlayStation 5 on April 30 with a $39.99 price tag. Pre-orders are available now, with Rare offering an exclusive weapons set and a pet for early adopters. PS5 players wanting access right now can also pre-order the Deluxe $49.99 or Premium editions $59.99 to jump into the closed beta running right now on the platform, which also come with other cosmetic rewards.