To test the server capacity of Sea of Thieves, the first major stress test will take place this weekend.
You will again have the opportunity to set sail in the vast seas of Sea of Thieves starting Friday. To prepare the game for launch, a major stress test is now upcoming. The developers explained when it starts and what content will be offered in a blog post.
Sea of Thieves Stress Test on February 16
Since the closed beta in January, the “Sea of Thieves” team has been working towards a smooth launch. They want to ensure that the servers can handle the expected player count at release.
As a result of the closed beta, a few stress tests will be conducted in the upcoming weeks leading up to release.
- Start: The first stress test of Sea of Thieves will start on Friday, February 16 at 11:00 AM German time.
- End: It is expected to remain active until Sunday, February 18, at 11:00 AM German time.
The goal of this test is to assess the development of the game that was implemented after the closed beta. They also hope for a higher number of concurrent players than during the last testing phase. Although the numbers of concurrent players from the closed beta do not need to hide.
What You Can Expect: Bugs and Issues!
A stress test is not meant to show players that everything runs smoothly. During such a test, the developers anticipate problems and plan for them. After all, they want to learn from this and improve Sea of Thieves in these areas.
For this purpose, the performance of the servers will intentionally be throttled at various times during the stress test. The game will be tested in different data centers around the world, and intentional outages will be simulated.
Therefore, you can expect:
- Game sessions interrupted
- Login issues at various times
- Bugs in the ingame shop
Who Can Participate and Are There New Features?
Anyone who is an Xbox Insider and all players who already had access to the closed beta can participate. As an Xbox Insider, you simply navigate to the Insider Hub and install the Sea of Thieves test build from there.
The player experience of the stress test will be similar to that of the closed beta. As a trading company, only the Gold Hoarder and their associated voyages will be available again. In this test, the developers do not seek feedback on gameplay features, but rather server data.
Additionally, the developers announced that there will be another beta before the release on March 20. However, they do not reveal when this will take place. Why Sea of Thieves definitely needs a beta, we explain here.
