Sea of Thieves first launched in 2018 as a relatively bare-bones open world pirate game experience, but Rare has consistently supported the game, releasing substantial new updates that have helped it become incredibly popular. Rare isn't slowing down its support of Sea of Thieves anytime soon, as it has previewed what fans can expect from the game in 2022. And while this year will see even more new content added to Sea of Thieves, it will also see some content removed from the game as well.
Rare has confirmed that it is shutting down the Sea of Thieves Arena mode, which is an exclusively PvP mode first introduced in the game's Anniversary update back in 2019. This mode is good for players who aren't interested in exploring the game world and simply want to fight other pirates and sink enemy ships, but it will be going away at some point during Season 6. A specific removal date wasn't mentioned by Rare, but Sea of Thieves Season 6 starts sometime in March, so time is running out for anyone that wants to play the Arena mode.
Rare described shutting down the Sea of Thieves Arena as a "difficult decision," but one that will be necessary so the studio can focus its efforts on the new Adventure content that it will be rolling out throughout the year. Rare added that Arena playtime only accounts for about 2% of total playtime in Sea of Thieves, indicating that not many players are all that interested in playing it anyway.
Regardless, the decision to remove Arena from Sea of Thieves will likely prove to be a controversial one for a couple of different reasons. For one, Arena has been a place where players can go to immediately get into some action. In the standard Sea of Thieves experience, it can take quite some time for players to encounter enemy ships, especially since Rare has reduced the number of ships per server from six to five.
The other reason why this will likely be a controversial decision in the community is because there are Sea of Thieves achievements tied to completing certain accolades in the Arena mode. When Arena shuts down, it will effectively make it impossible for new Sea of Thieves players to unlock all the achievements in the game, unless Rare has some plan to change the requirements for those achievements.
Perhaps the new Sea of Thieves Adventures content will be enough to keep fans satisfied, though it's unlikely to scratch the same itch as PvP. Sea of Thieves players can continue to enjoy Arena for now until it walks the plank in Season 6.
Sea of Thieves is out now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
