[Game Mess Morning] Grubb: "Sea of Thieves could come to Switch and PlayStation"

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"Sea of Thieves, right---I'll say I've heard that is one that might be coming to other platforms. When I first started hearing these rumors, I was like, 'Oh this is probably about Sea of Thieves, because I've heard that could come to Switch and PlayStation.' And maybe that might be the kind of thing where like, actually all of this stuff is happening, and Microsoft is kind of trying to rejigger its strategy."

Yeah that's huge. But I don't know how Sea of Thieves gonna run on Switch though

No way they can get that running on Switch

Turkoop said:

Yeah that's huge. But I don't know how Sea of Thieves gonna run on Switch though

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IMO most of this stuff doesn't hit Nintendo until Switch 2

that can't be the one that "was in the talks for game of the year the year it released", right?

Turkoop said:

Yeah that's huge. But I don't know how Sea of Thieves gonna run on Switch though

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Unless it's a cloud version, I don't know how it will be possible

I suppose this is the first-party Microsoft game rumored to be coming to different platforms.

Yeah, seems like you can start saying this for a lot of Xbox first party soon

I'd absolutely adore this. I think this style of release is a particularly good fit for a multi-platform release so long as the technical/content pipeline elements are nicely pinned down (which SoT has since forever). Decisions like this (even if this specific one doesn't happen) feel like Microsoft being a serious/responsible "steward" of its in-house studios.

LifeInTheFactory said:

that can't be the one that "was in the talks for game of the year the year it released", right?

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no that is definitely referring to Hi-Fi Rush
but it seems it's not the only XGS title currently planned for multiplatform release

Turkoop said:

Yeah that's huge. But I don't know how Sea of Thieves gonna run on Switch though

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It is the year of the Switch 2 after all

Truno said:

No way they can get that running on Switch

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The Switch to the rest of the world:

IDontBeatGames said:

It is the year of the Switch 2 after all

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Yeah that makes sense

Yeah, I seriously doubt this, at least the Switch port. Switch is simply not powerful enough to run Sea of Thieves.

This would be great.

Makes sense to get your GaaS games on as many platforms as possible. Just like Sony is doing with Marathon

People said the same thing about no mans sky and yet it got a switch port.

Pai Pai Master said:

no that is definitely referring to Hi-Fi Rush
but it seems it's not the only XGS title currently planned for multiplatform release

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Oh.

Well, the more the merrier!

Should be Killer Instinct! It's GaaS, too

So what is Microsoft's goal here? We know that they unsuccessfully tried to get Game Pass on PS & Switch, so the new plan is just to port what would have been part of the Game Pass plans?

Then market it is as "you could buy on those platforms or get Game Pass on Xbox/PC"?

Makes sense for an ongoing game like that to go multiplat, especially if they want to develop it for another 5+ years.

Im guessing "Switch" is going to be used like "PlayStation" from here on, meaning the the latest platform of the brand. Very sure it means Switch 2

xbox probs gonna do timed exclusives and then release some games on ps5/swi2ch after a year or such. Doubt halo would come to ps5 since thats weird but who knows

Seems like a pretty good idea to me. The game is about about 6 years old by now and they've recently completed what are likely to be the last big updates on it. I think it has peaked on Xbox and there's nothing wrong in trying to give it a second wind by moving onto other platforms. Who has honestly bought SOT in the past few years instead of just playing on Game Pass? Bring in that extra revenue, move the majority of the team onto new projects, and let positive word of mouth for both the game and Xbox spread without doing much of anything.

If it's current Switch, I can see that only as a cloud version, and given the game is an always-online affair, that would make sense.

I think it's being implied here it's for the new successor platform, however.

J-Skee said:

So what is Microsoft's goal here? We know that they unsuccessfully tried to get Game Pass on PS & Switch, so the new plan is just to port what would have been part of the Game Pass plans?

Then market it is as "you could buy on those platforms or get Game Pass on Xbox/PC"?

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Service-platform games make the most sense to have as multi-plat releases, especially when they're top-shelf in terms of market response like SoT. This doesn't seem that different from a late Steam release, at least from the perspective of Rare, and this is still in line with what Microsoft has been saying about its release strategy for half a decade; Microsoft wants their games in front of the most eyes, with a secondary goal of having parts of their software portfolio as a selling point of the hardware. A late arrival of a still-thriving social/service title is basically the best of both worlds in that regard.

That'd be a great idea. I've always thought first party live service games were best suited for multi platform releases.

It's gotta be Switch 2 right? I don't imagine it will run well on the OG.

Wonder what else is in the pipeline to be ported. If State of Decay 2 port is in the works though 👀 Hot damn, day one. SoD is one of Xbox best IPs

J-Skee said:

So what is Microsoft's goal here? We know that they unsuccessfully tried to get Game Pass on PS & Switch, so the new plan is just to port what would have been part of the Game Pass plans?

Then market it is as "you could buy on those platforms or get Game Pass on Xbox/PC"?

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I think the strategy will be shown more once the games are actually revealed and we get an idea if it's older releases, or only online focused games, etc, but yeah that's probably one angle. Sea of Thieves is a live service game though that's been out on Xbox and PC for years, so why not bring it other consoles and build up the userbase and make some money.

SoT is awesome and more people that get to experience it the better.

That would be wonderful for Sea of Thieves itself, but this and more (that are probably coming) puts an even bigger question mark on Xbox hardware. lol

ratprophet said:

Seems like a pretty good idea to me. The game is about about 6 years old by now and they've recently completed what are likely to be the last big updates on it. I think it has peaked on Xbox and there's nothing wrong in trying to give it a second wind by moving onto other platforms. Who has honestly bought SOT in the past few years instead of just playing on Game Pass? Bring in that extra revenue, move the majority of the team onto new projects, and let positive word of mouth for both the game and Xbox spread without doing much of anything.

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Sea of Thieves has seasons planned for the entirety of 2024 and a big one planned for quite soon. They aren't nearly done with big updates for the game.

J-Skee said:

So what is Microsoft's goal here? We know that they unsuccessfully tried to get Game Pass on PS & Switch, so the new plan is just to port what would have been part of the Game Pass plans?

Then market it is as "you could buy on those platforms or get Game Pass on Xbox/PC"?

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Money, stronger relationship with a competitor, and good PR, prolly.

Also, yeah, if they can introduce ppl to the types of games that are on gamepass, then that'd work out well I'd imagine.

This is the beginning of the New Age of Xbox and I'm here for it.

One reason I could see this happening is the numbers are not that great anymore, at least on Steam, where the game sold very well.

Sea of Thieves has undeniably been a huge success for Rare and Xbox, but there might be a bold plan to rejuvenate the game like this.


View: https://i.imgur.com/ylx6zzV.png

I'm PS5 only but boy I'd buy so many xbox titles if they would release on PS5. So many interest me.

Sea of Thieves on Playstation would be huge. I've been trying to get my friends to play for years after my Era group pissed off, ahem bbq of doom , so this will finally get them in to it!

Makes sense

Turkoop said:

Yeah that's huge. But I don't know how Sea of Thieves gonna run on Switch though

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It's probably Switch 2. Same for Hi-Fi, but there's at least some room for debate there on if they're willing to roll with 30fps on Switch 1.

Jarod McChicken said:

One reason I could see this happening is the numbers are not that great anymore, at least on Steam, where the game sold very well.

Sea of Thieves has undeniably been a huge success for Rare and Xbox, but there might be a bold plan to rejuvenate the game like this.


View: https://i.imgur.com/ylx6zzV.png

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I find this way less surprising than something like HiFi Rush coming to Switch and/or PS. GaaS thrive the more platforms you can get them on. Marathon is GaaS, and Sony is having it release day and date on Xbox and PS. Makes sense.

J-Skee said:

So what is Microsoft's goal here? We know that they unsuccessfully tried to get Game Pass on PS & Switch, so the new plan is just to port what would have been part of the Game Pass plans?

Then market it is as "you could buy on those platforms or get Game Pass on Xbox/PC"?

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I think they want an increase in traditional game sales since so many people pass on buying since they can play them on Game Pass.

Neoxon said:

It's probably Switch 2. Same for Hi-Fi, but there's at least some room for debate there on if they're willing to roll with 30fps on Switch 1.

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yeah, very likely.

Granjinhaa said:

Sea of Thieves has seasons planned for the entirety of 2024 and a big one planned for quite soon. They aren't nearly done with big updates for the game.

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Sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant in terms of the actual guts and functionality of the game which I understand they have been working on since launch, culminating in the private servers update in September.

I also wonder if this is a signal that SOT2 is near release?

Great, hope this does great and also Marathon does great on Xbox and we can kill exclusivity bullshit.

SilverX said:

I think they want an increase in traditional game sales since so many people pass on buying since they can play them on Game Pass.

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SOT is a game where I know a lot of people who have played it, yet I don't know a single person who bought the game.

Hopefully it's crossplay. Seems like the kind of game that would benefit from an even larger player pool

CabooseMSG said:

Makes sense to get your GaaS games on as many platforms as possible. Just like Sony is doing with Marathon

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Sony didn't get to make that choice... at least not yet. That was exactly the kind of independence that Bungie had written into their purchase contract, which is now threatened by Destiny underperforming and the pile of layoffs Bungie did at their own behest to try and remain independent. Maybe its too late for Sony to put Marathon back in the bottle after its multiplat announcement, but we can't take it as a sign of Sony's overall live service strategy just yet.

Rareware back on Nintendo would make 2000s me gasp.