Rare has announced that it intends to introduce regular content updates to Sea of Thieves. In a move that will warm the salty seadog hearts of players worldwide, the developers are shifting from bug fixes to brand-new weekly content. Using a method referred to as ‘continuous delivery’ (essentially a short-term development cycle that breaks things up for teams of which you can read more on here if you want to fry your brain), Rare aims to release weekly content updates instead of larger, more intermittent updates.
Detailed in a GDC presentation (via Windows Central), Rare is splitting feature releases into smaller development teams, allowing several to be worked on at one single time.
One key takeaway from the presentation is the fact that patch sizes will be kept small. Reading between the lines, don’t expect hefty weekly updates but, instead, a steady stream of piecemeal-style additions to Sea of Thieves. While the presentation does not mention larger DLC, it is likely they will still feature prominently in 2018.
With regular updates coming to the fore in Sea of Thieves, Rare hopes that a ‘fast feedback loop’ from players will allow any mistakes at this stage of the game’s lifecycle to be rectified in lightning-fast time. On top of that, development teams will converge for ‘post-mortem’ sessions after each update.
While a cynic may feel that this move has been done to stem the oncoming tide of Sea of Thieves hemorrhaging players, it’s clear that this plan has been in the pipeline for some time. If nothing else, Rare are staying ahead of the curve by uniquely outlining the plans of continuing to support a game post-release.
