An open beta is incredibly important for Sea of Thieves. Our author Patrick believes: Players are reluctant to jump into cold water and pay a lot of money for it.
In a few weeks, on March 20th, it will be time for the release of Sea of Thieves. An adventure on the high seas where you can take on the roles of pirates alone or with friends, decipher treasure maps, sail the seas, and dig up valuable chests.
Players who were able to try the game in one of the past test phases generally had a lot of fun. However, new players might be discouraged by the high price and unfamiliar gameplay mechanics. An open beta would be a clever move.
Gameplay is new – The fun is there, but hard to explain
Sea of Thieves brings a lot of fun, especially for group players. During the last closed beta in January, many gamers entered the game for the first time. Together with friends on two- or four-person ships, players searched for treasures or engaged in explosive naval battles with other pirates. Solo players could also set sail.
Teamwork brings the fun. Among your crew members, you assign roles for steering, sails, or navigation. Others look out for enemies with binoculars while the group searches an island for the treasure chest, the location of which is only described by mysterious sentences.
With these different tasks and a voice chat, my pirate crew and I had a lot of fun on our adventures. But try explaining that to an outsider!
In the beta, players often explained that they had no idea what to expect from the game before testing it. And here lies the problem. The gameplay of Sea of Thieves is hard to compare with other games. It’s not like League of Legends, just as a shooter. It’s also not like World of Warcraft, only with ships.
Sea of Thieves is an adventure where you take control of the story (together with your opponents).
The high purchase price deters potential customers
Apart from the hard-to-explain gameplay, potential pirates have to overcome another hurdle: The purchase price of €70. Due to this high price, fewer players think, “Okay, I can’t really imagine much under the gameplay, but I’ll just give it a try.”
If the game were offered at a lower price, it could probably entice more players to try it out.
Under our articles on Sea of Thieves, we often read statements like “Looks really good, but €70 is just too much.”
On the other hand, other players say that this amount is well invested in Sea of Thieves. But these statements usually come from testers. New users remain discouraged.
An open beta for Sea of Thieves would eliminate concerns
If the developers decide on an open beta, there would be much more transparency associated with Sea of Thieves. This would eliminate concerns, which can be expressed positively and negatively.
- On one hand, players are convinced by the gameplay, experiencing funny stories that ultimately persuade them to make a purchase.
- Other players realize before buying that they do not like Sea of Thieves. They do not have to pay €70 and jump into cold water.
This kind of transparency before a launch is helpful for the community. We believe it could benefit the sales of Sea of Thieves if they open the gates before the launch and let every player into a test phase for an extended weekend.
Data miners have already found hints of a possible open beta for Sea of Thieves. On March 20th, the regular release of Sea of Thieves for PC and Xbox One
