Highlights

  • Sea of Thieves PS5 beta is currently experiencing longer matchmaking times due to player traffic.
  • Rare has also identified an issue that may be exacerbating the problem, but will not be able to fully resolve it by the time the beta concludes on April 15.
  • The Sea of Thieves PS5 port will be officially released on April 30.

The PlayStation 5 port of Sea of Thieves has debuted in beta to overwhelming success, to the point that its servers are presently struggling to keep up with all the traffic. The Sea of Thieves PS5 beta test is scheduled to continue until April 15.

The Sea of Thieves PS5 port was originally announced in mid-February. Rare's co-op pirate adventure is the final title from Microsoft's initial multi-platform game publishing foray that has yet to reach non-Xbox consoles. The British developer launched a closed beta test for PS5 users on Friday, April 12.

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Sea of Thieves on PS5 Has a Catch

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Sea of Thieves Devs Ask PS5 Players For Patience Over Beta Waiting Times

Just over an hour after the PlayStation beta went live, Rare took to social media to ask players for patience over potentially longer matchmaking times. The studio attributed the queues to a high influx of new players that the game is experiencing. This turn of events dovetails with the fact that Sea of Thieves PlayStation pre-orders have been doing incredibly well, with the game seizing the top spot on the PlayStation Store's list of best-selling upcoming titles across multiple markets.

Sea of Thieves PS5 Port Likely Won't Have Server Issues on Launch Day

The ongoing PS5 test isn't an open beta, but one that is only available to PlayStation users who pre-ordered the game. Given that restriction, and in light of these ongoing server issues, it would appear that Rare might have underestimated the game's PS5 prospects. But seeing how stress-testing server infrastructure is one of the main goals of holding multiplayer betas in the first place, it is likely that Rare will use this experience to make sure that its backend is ready to meet the demand of the PlayStation player base once the game officially launches on Sony's latest console come April 30.

The developer may even be able to alleviate the longer matchmaking times before the Sea of Thieves PS5 beta concludes on Monday, April 15. That's according to a recent update posted on the game's official forums, which saw a Rare representative reveal that the company has already identified an issue preventing closed beta players from "optimally" connecting to the entirety of the Sea of Thieves regional servers. The bug may be exacerbating the problem, or even causing the longer matchmaking times that PlayStation users are currently experiencing. Although Rare may partially remedy the issue over the weekend, a comprehensive fix will not be done in time to deploy before the closed beta is over.

The PS5 release of Sea of Thieves will conclude Microsoft's initial push into multi-platform game publishing. Based on some recent reports and the company's own statements, it is plausible that even more Xbox games will be going multi-platform in the foreseeable future.