I have been playing Sea of Thieves since day one on Xbox One, so when Microsoft started opening the floodgates and letting first-party titles sail over to Steam, I was honestly a little skeptical. Back then, the idea of exclusives leaving the nest felt like a weird move, almost like giving away your secret treasure map. But after watching the concurrent player numbers climb during that first week in June 2020, I had to eat my words. Bringing Rare's pirate sandbox to Steam was not just a good call—it was an absolute belter of a decision.
The growth spurt that week was the kind of thing you would expect from a brand-new live service game, not one that had already been out for a couple of years on Xbox One and Windows 10. According to the numbers tracked by industry watchers at the time, the Steam concurrent player peak went from 41,110 on June 7 to 59,404 on June 13. That is nearly 20,000 extra pirates joining the seas in just seven days. When you see a jump like that, you know the community is not just testing the waters—they are diving in headfirst.
| Date (June 2020) | Steam concurrent player peak |
|---|---|
| June 7 | 41,110 |
| June 8 | 41,949 |
| June 9 | 46,204 |
| June 10 | 50,450 |
| June 11 | 51,980 |
| June 12 | 55,244 |
| June 13 | 59,404 |
The numbers tell a pretty simple story. Sea of Thieves had already built a loyal following through Xbox Game Pass, but Steam gave it a second wind. Suddenly, my crew was filling up with people who had never touched an Xbox in their lives. It was a proper melting pot of players, and the shared-world chaos got even better. The game also benefited from Steam's massive visibility, community features, and friend lists that made grouping up a breeze. That is not just luck—that is smart publishing.
Beyond the raw numbers, this success also changed how I thought about platform loyalty. For years, console warriors acted like sharing games was some kind of defeat. But watching Sea of Thieves blow up on Steam reminded me that a rising tide lifts all ships. More players funded more updates, more cosmetics, more adventures, and faster bug fixes. The game went from a niche pirate sim with a rocky launch to one of the most successful ongoing service games in Microsoft's portfolio. And it all started with a simple decision: let the game be played wherever people already are.
Of course, Sea of Thieves was not the first Xbox game to test these waters. Halo: The Master Chief Collection had already been making waves on Steam, selling over two million copies there by December 2019, with that number only climbing as more games in the collection rolled out. So by the time Sea of Thieves made the jump, Microsoft already had proof that PC players were hungry for their back catalog. Some purists grumbled about exclusivity losing its edge, but let's be real—those sales and players simply would not exist if the games stayed locked to one platform. Microsoft clearly would rather sell a boatload of copies across PC and Xbox than cling to some outdated console war badge.
By 2026, the strategy has aged like fine grog. Sea of Thieves eventually sailed onto PlayStation 5 in 2024, and cross-play has kept the seas fuller than a treasure galleon. The game has continued to grow with seasonal updates, new world events, Safer Seas for solo sailors, and so much quality-of-life work that it barely resembles the bare-bones launch version. I still dip in regularly with my old crew, and there is always something new on the horizon. The fact that a 2018 game is still pulling in huge numbers and staying culturally relevant eight years later is a testament to Rare's dedication and Microsoft's willingness to play the long game.
What I have learned as a player is that exclusivity is overrated when a game is designed to be a living, breathing online world. More platforms mean more ships on the horizon, more rival crews to fight, more friends to sail with, and a healthier game overall. Sea of Thieves on Steam did not just prove a point—it gave the entire industry a blueprint for how to extend the life of a live service title. And honestly, as someone who just wants more people to share sea shanties with, I could not be happier about it.