Highlights

  • Rare's Sea of Thieves will make history as the studio's first game on PlayStation with a release set for April 30.
  • The move marks a significant shift for Rare.
  • Microsoft's decision to expand Sea of Thieves to PS5 reflects the game's growth potential and desire to reach a wider audience.

Rare's Sea of Thieves will soon be the first game from the studio to release on a PlayStation console. At one point in time, Sea of Thieves developer Rare was closely associated with Nintendo, developing games almost exclusively for the company's handhelds as well as its home consoles like the NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64.

Through its partnership with Nintendo, Rare was able to produce some of the most beloved games of their generation, like the Donkey Kong Country trilogy on the Super Nintendo and Banjo-Kazooie on the Nintendo 64. Rare made just one game for the Nintendo GameCube, Star Fox Adventures, before it was acquired by Microsoft and began making games exclusively for the Xbox family of consoles.

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Thanks to its commitments to Nintendo and Microsoft, Rare has never released a game for a PlayStation console in the 39 years of its existence, a fact first pointed out by Push Square. That will all change in a couple of months when Sea of Thieves releases for PS5 on April 30. Sea of Thieves four-game initiative by Microsoft to bring some of its first-party Xbox games to competing platforms, with Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and Grounded also jumping ship to PlayStation in 2024.

When is Sea of Thieves Coming to PS5?

  • The Sea of Thieves PS5 release date is April 30, 2024

Sea of Thieves had a rough start, but Rare was able to right the ship and greatly improve its live-service pirate game over the years. However, it seems that Microsoft feels Sea of Thieves has reached its growth potential on PC and Xbox, and sees an opportunity to vastly expand the game's audience on PS5. With Sea of Thieves being a live service game, it makes sense to get it into the hands of as many gamers as possible, even if that means releasing it on a competitor's platform.

For now, Sea of Thieves is the only Rare-developed game confirmed for PS5, but it's certainly possible some of the studio's other games will eventually make the jump. While fans shouldn't hold their breath that Rare's Xbox console exclusive Everwild will ever come to PS5, it wouldn't be all that surprising if older games from Rare are at least being considered for PS5.

Time will tell if more Rare games come to PS5, but the company is going to have a major presence on competing platforms regardless. In fact, five Rare games were just added to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service, ensuring that the studio will always have significant representation on the Nintendo Switch.