If you've had a hard time participating in Sea of Thieves' current round of beta testing, you're not alone. Developer Rare has been working to correct issues the have prevented players from being able to dive into the game, including, most prominently, an error message telling Xbox players who preordered that they were trying to play "too early." Fortunately, to make up for any missed time, Rare has opted to extend the beta a little longer than originally anticipated.
The closed beta will now end on January 31, extending testing by two days from the original January 29 end date. From Rare:
We know your gaming hours are precious and our number one goal is to get everyone with Closed Beta access into the game as soon as possible. Whilst we work on making this happen, we'd like to announce that we're extending the Sea of Thieves Closed Beta by two days. This means the Closed Beta will now end on Wednesday, January 31st at 8am GMT. We want to ensure that anyone who has missed out on any time sailing the seas still gets to enjoy the Closed Beta to its fullest.
Rare is also currently running a contest for players to design an achievement. That will also be extended to the end of the beta period, the team says.
How to play the Sea of Thieves beta on Xbox One and Windows 10
The Sea of Thieves closed beta test is open to anyone who preordered the game, as well as those who signed up to become a Sea of Thieves Insider before December 1, 2017. If you don't count yourself among either of those groups, you can get your hands on Sea of Thieves when it launches on March 20. If you're eager to get in, however, you can currently preorder Sea of Thieves for $59.99.
