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“Sea of Thieves is designed from the ground up to be a game that grows and evolves, and we will release new cosmetic options ongoing as part of that, alongside new mechanics and ways to play. Our focus for launch is on delivering a great initial experience, and as we move beyond launch we will be assessing and reacting to player feedback across all areas of the game. We have worked with our community throughout the development of Sea of Thieves, and that will continue in exactly the same manner beyond launch.”

Neate told IGN that Sea of Thieves has always been intended as "a game that grows and evolves, and we will release new cosmetic options ongoing as part of that."New Mechanics and "ways to play" will also be part of those ongoing updates, and Rare will assess player feedback going forward after addressing the game's launch and current server problems that Rare is "working 24/7" to fix His full statement reads:Original story follows:

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While Sea of Thieves has been out for a little over a day in some territories, some players are already lamenting the lack of much reason to return to the game after just a few hours of play.Players have posted to Sea of Thieves subreddit since the game's launch in Australia, frustrated that the main game's customization options feel limited to them."You have to understand I only actually would go out of my way to buy 2 of the existing options I've seen. This means I've achieved my 'ideal' character look within a couple of purchases (with little to no alternatives worth my time) and now the entire 'cosmetics' progression is finished," Reddit user magvadis wrote "I'm a big defender of the game but I too was a little disappointed with the amount of options presented. I expected there to be more than what was in the Final Beta," axisrahl responded in the same thread.Others commenting on the limited cosmetic options expressed concern that the difference between the Sea of Thieves beta and full game offerings largely appears to be a higher cost for the items in the final game, rather than more items to unlock.In a thread titled "Raising the price of cosmetics x10 is not adding content," user Petrel_ wrote "This is not adding gameplay or content, stop excusing this. This is being lazy." And while some users chimed in to echo their problems with the "gold grind" of the game, others did note the beta would of course have lower prices to let players test out more content in a short window."And remember, this game will grow over time. The content at launch is enough to start with. By the time we get through it, more will be added_gravy_train_" wrote in response to Petrel_.That idea is something Rare has addressed previously, noting plans to continue supporting the game post-launch, including with paid DLC in the form of new cosmetic items and pets IGN has reached out to Rare and Xbox for comment on plans to support the game with content in the coming months and will update this story should they respond.That grind for cosmetics is a worry to many players, who, while aware of post-game content once they achieve "Legend" status as a pirate, are afraid the time investment may not be fun in the long run to pursue those items."Getting ‘legend’ status will be extremely grindy and just not enjoyable given the repetitiveness," Sophie2772 wrote in a thread that was, more so than just the cosmetic item hunt, concerned that the game in general may not have enough variety to keep them returning to the game."We had a lot of fun in these 3 hours we all agreed that there’s nothing that will bring us back after a few days," Sophie2772 wrote."... this game needs more. I've had a good time and will keep playing for Pirate Legend status, but there needs to be more incentives than just cosmetic items," Pantsuit_Emporium wrote in another thread , offering up some ideas for that those incentives could be."It's much easier to jump into right away than a lot of games these days. Pirate up, grab a contract, and hit the seas," user Txtoker replied in a thread of many other players sharing similar sentiments.For IGN's thoughts on Sea of Thieves, its progression system, and much more, check out IGN's Sea of Thieves review in progress , which will be updated throughout the week with continued impressions. And if you're playing Sea of Thieves and looking to collect everything in the game, be sure to check out IGN's ever-growing Sea of Thieves wiki guide , including our page of known Sea of Thieves errors as the game's servers deal with the weight of the game's launch.

Jonathon Dornbush is an Associate Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter @jmdornbush