Microsoft’s multiplatform experiment seems to be bearing fruit as Sea of Thieves continues to dominate PS5 downloads. The game made a rare (no pun intended) appearance in Circana’s U.S. sales report — where Xbox games are typically nowhere to be found — thanks to its PS5 release. Now, Sony has revealed that Sea of Thieves was the most downloaded game on the PS Store in both Europe and North America during the month of May 2024.

Sea of Thieves sits atop PS5 download charts as Helldivers 2 slips

After dominating charts for several months, multiplayer game Helldivers 2 has finally started to make its way down the rankings. In the U.S., Helldivers 2 took the fourth spot and in Europe, it grabbed fifth position.

The rest of the games in the top ten are all your typical appearances, like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto V. Stellar Blade managed to stay in the top ten in both regions, settling for no. 8 in North America and no. 10 in Europe.

Microsoft’s leadership will certainly be pleased with Sea of Thieves’ performance on the PS5. The company has repeatedly said that its first four games on PlayStation will determine its future approach, and more PlayStation releases are pretty much certain at this point.

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Xbox Games Showcase 2024 took place yesterday, and as expected, quite a few games at the event are headed to the PS5 and PS4. Some of the titles in the list below may seem familiar, and that’s because they are previously revealed games, with the Xbox Showcase offering either new trailers or a new look at gameplay. All trailers are linked within.

Xbox Games Showcase 2024: Which games are coming to PS5, PS4?

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will release on PS5, PS4 on October 25
• Doom: The Dark Ages will release on PS5 in 2025
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard coming to PS5 in 2024
• Fallout 76: Skyline Valley update coming June 12
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a new turn-based RPG, coming to PS5 in 2025
• Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater got a trailer
• Sea of Thieves Season 13 is out on July 25
• Flintock: The Siege of Dawn will finally release on the PS5 on July 18
• Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred expansion will release in October 2024
• Mixtape, a new narrative game from the team behind The Artful Escape, coming to PS5 in 2025
• The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road collection will release on June 18
• Life Is Strange: Double Exposure sees the return of Max Caulfield on PS5 on October 29
• Mecha Break is a multiplayer mech game headed to PS5 in 2025
• Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is a soulslike set in the Ming Dynasty, out 2025 on PS5
• Atomfall is a survival game headed to PS5, PS4 in 2025
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows got a gameplay trailer

Which games(s) are you looking forward to the most? Share your picks with us in the comments section below.

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Xbox is testing the waters of cross-platform games, porting a handful of games to the PlayStation 5, PS4, and Switch. The experiment seems to be going well so far, with Obsidian Entertainment’s Grounded and Rare’s Sea of Thieves seeing a massive spike in popularity.

Xbox games Grounded and Sea of Thieves climb PS5 sales chart

This information comes from Mat Piscatella from the market research company Circana. “Sea of Thieves was the 4th best-selling game of April, following its launch on PlayStation platforms during the month,” said Piscatella. “The title ranked 55th on the March best-selling titles chart. Sea of Thieves was the #3 best-selling game on PlayStation platforms in April.”

Grounded didn’t break the top ten but arguably saw an even more impressive jump. Xbox’s co-op survival game climbs from #167 in March to #12 in April. Circana reports it was the 9th best-selling game on PlayStation 4 and 5.

The success of Grounded and Sea of Thieves may bode well for more Xbox Game Studios games coming to PlayStation. It was one of four Xbox games ported to Sony consoles, alongside Grounded, Hi-Fi, Rush, and Pentiment. However, a report from early April suggests that Microsoft was looking particularly closely at Sea of Thieves to gauge whether it’s worth porting more games to PlayStation and Switch.

In February, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer didn’t rule out bringing Starfield and the New Indiana Jones game to PS5. The popularity of Bethesda’s sci-fi action RPG fell off quickly post-launch, but MachineGame’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle still has a chance to impress. Halo Infinite is another Xbox game that’s not off the table for PS5.

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Rare has rolled out Sea of Thieves update 3.0.0.1 across all platforms including PS5, the patch notes for which reveal a fix for passive Megalodons. The hotfix weighs 0.56 GB on the PS5, and also includes general gameplay fixes.

Sea of Thieves PS5 update 3.0.0.1 patch notes (May 7, 2024)

Complete patch notes for all platforms are as follows:

Gameplay

• Crews engaging a Megalodon should no longer find that it suddenly becomes passive and leaves the encounter. Be prepared to fight!
• Players are no longer able to get into a state where they can rapidly throw many throwing knives faster than intended.
• Shooting a ranged weapon at a player holding a Gunpowder Barrel should now consistently hit and detonate the barrel first, rather than sometimes hitting the player behind it.

The War Chest

• Players firing a Bone Caller at Skeleton Ships should now progress the Skeleton Squared Commendation.

Pirate Emporium

• The Blow Bubbles Emote has now had its price corrected from 249 to 149 Ancient Coins. Players who purchased the emote at the incorrect price will be reimbursed 100 Ancient Coins.

Performance and Stability

• Players on Xbox attempting to play Sea of Thieves before the full game package has been installed should no longer experience instability during play.

For known issues not addressed in this patch, head over to Sea of Thieves support site.

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Last week seems to have been an outlier seeing as the list of new PS5 and PS4 games due to be released during the week beginning April 29, 2024, is much shorter. The highlights of the week include Xbox’s first-party multiplayer pirate paradise adventure Sea of Thieves, as well as the latest game in the MotoGP franchise.

All PS5 and PS4 April 29 to May 5, 2024 game release dates

Here are all of the PS5 and PS4 games currently set to be released throughout the week of April 29 to May 5, 2024.

PS5 Games

• Gordian Quest (April 30)
• Sea of Thieves (April 30)
• Tales from Candleforth (April 30)
• Space Mercenary Defense Force (May 1)
• Armed and Gelatinous: Couch Edition (May 2)
• Candle Knight (May 2)
• Jack Holmes: Master Of Puppets (May 2)
• MotoGP 24 (May 2)
• Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The princess from another world (May 3)

PS4 Games

• Gray Dawn (April 29)
• Gordian Quest (April 30)
• Tales from Candleforth (April 30)
• Space Mercenary Defense Force (May 1)
• Armed and Gelatinous: Couch Edition (May 2)
• Candle Knight (May 2)
• Full Metal Sergeant (May 2)
• MotoGP 24 (May 2)
• Truck Simulator Cargo Driver 2024 – USA (May 2)
• Cyber Citizen Shockman 3: The princess from another world (May 3)

A total of just 9 games are coming to PS5 this week, while PS4 players get a slightly longer list of 10 titles. The big attraction is the final Xbox first-party game to be confirmed for PlayStation consoles, Sea of Thieves. Reports suggest the fate of future Xbox games appearing on PS5 or PS4 rests solely on this game’s sales.

Milestone also brings the latest MotoGP game to PS5 and PS4 this week too. New for MotoGP 2024 is the Riders Market where all riders can swap teams throughout the season, creating new scenarios.

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PS5 players who pre-ordered Sea of Thieves can now access the Sea of Thieves beta ahead of the full release at the end of the month.

Sea of Thieves beta sails in

The Sea of Thieves beta will run until 9 AM UTC on April 15, 2024 and is open to anyone who pre-ordered any version of the game for PS5.

All beta participants can earn Renown, currency, and cosmetic rewards from the Season 11 seasonal progression track. This will also be carried over to the full game when it releases on April 30, 2024.

As a bonus, beta players can receive 10 Renown levels that go toward their Season 12 progression.

The beta is already proving popular, with the Sea of Thieves social media account warning of longer wait times due to the sheer number of new players.

trophies are not currently supported in the Sea of Thieves beta, but progress towards them will be counted when players play the full game.

When everyone is free to sail the seas of thieves, monsters, and more, it’ll be alongside other console and PC players. Let’s hope there are no warring factions born of this, eh?

Sea of Thieves is the latest Microsoft-owned title to rock up on other consoles after Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush. Survival game Grounded is also set to make the jump next week with a pS4 & PS5 release on April 16, 2024.

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Rare has announced the release date for Sea of Thieves‘ PS5 closed beta alongside details of the test. The beta will take place this weekend, between April 12 and 15, starting 5 a.m. ET / 2 a.m. PT. Closed beta access is available to those who pre-order any version of the game, and participants will earn the PS5 exclusive Dauntless Adventurer Sails and Title.

Sea of Thieves PS5 closed beta progress will carry over to the full game

Closed beta participants will earn Season 11 Renown, currency and cosmetic rewards — all of which they will be able to keep. These items will be immediately accessible when Sea of Thieves launches on the PS5 on April 30. In addition to this, Rare will reward beta participants with 10 levels of Renown towards their Season 12 progression track.

This closed beta is limited in that there will be no cross-play, and participants will be playing with fellow PS5 players only. Pirate Emporium will not be accessible either. As far as trophies are concerned, Rare has said that while trophies will be deactivated during the beta, the progress made towards earning them will be taken into account and will carry over to the full game.

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According to a new report, Sea of Thieves‘ sales on the PS5 may be a litmus test for other Xbox exclusives to release on PlayStation. This report comes amid another executive-level shuffle at Xbox, with 26-year veteran Kareem Choudhry departing last week. Choudhry spearheaded xCloud among other key developments at Xbox.

Microsoft keeping an eye on Sea of Thieves PS5 performance

Microsoft announced four first-party games for the PS5 this year: Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Grounded, and Pentiment. According to The Verge’s Tom Warren, it’s Rare’s Sea of Thieves that the company particularly has its eye on. The website’s sources claim that “Sea of Thieves will be a key test for whether other games might make their way to PS5 or Nintendo Switch.”

We continue to hear reports that Microsoft is already considering bringing more of its exclusives to other platforms, including rival PlayStation. Bethesda’s Starfield and Indiana Jones game are two of the titles that insiders repeatedly claim are headed to the PS5. There have also been rumblings of Microsoft bringing Gears of War to PlayStation.

Rumor has it that Microsoft will be unveiling Gears of War 6 and Call of Duty 2024 at a showcase on June 9.

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Longtime Xbox and PC exclusive Sea of Thieves finally comes to PS5 on April 30. In addition to taking advantage of the PS5’s DualSense controller, the game also has an exclusive pre-order bonus. Developer Rare also has additional rewards for participants in Sea of Thieves closed PS5 beta.

Rare explains Sea of Thieves PS5 pre-order bonus, beta rewards, and cross-play

Rare detailed Sea of Thieves’ pre-order bonus and beta rewards, among other things, in an FAQ. Players who pre-order the game have access to the exclusive Ruby Viper weapon skins, the Scarlet Storm Parakeet, and two Parakeet Costumes. It also grants access to the closed beta, and beta participants can unlock the Dauntless Adventurer Sails and an exclusive title. These cosmetics are all PS5 exclusive and non-transferable, so pre-ordering is the only way to get them. The PS5 port also offers a unique Sail as an early adopter bonus, though that item is still in development.

The FAQ also touched on things like cross-play and transferring characters between devices. Cross-play between PS5, Xbox, and PC are enabled by default. However, PS5 players can turn off cross-play or set it only to allow controller users. Additionally, Sea of Thieves will allow players to invite friends from both their PlayStation and Xbox friends list, making it easier to set up cross-play sessions.

Fans who already have Sea of Thieves on Xbox or PC can choose to transfer their characters and items to PS5. However, they will still need to buy a separate PS5 copy. Multiplayer users will also need to pay the subscription for their chosen console, PS Plus for PlayStation, and Game Pass for Xbox. Finally, as previously confirmed, PS5 players must still sign in to or create a free Microsoft account to play the game.

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The previously Xbox and PC-exclusive pirate game Sea of Thieves comes to PlayStation 5 at the end of April. Interestingly, the PS5 version will feature one thing that the Xbox releases can’t. According to developer Rare, the game’s PS5 port will take advantage of the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback.

Rare is adding DualSense support to Sea of Thieves

“[We’re giving] different identities to different objects,” Sea of Thieves director Mike Chapman told GameSpot.

Unfortunately, he didn’t provide specific examples of how the game will take advantage of the DualSense’s unique features. The interviewer also came away with the impression that these features were still works in progress. However, it’s clear Rare is trying to take advantage of a unique opportunity that bringing Sea of Thieves to PS5 offers.

While controllers have featured some degree of haptic feedback for decades, the PS5’s DualSense controller has some unique features. These include force feedback from the controller’s adaptive triggers. Meanwhile, the voice coil actuators in the palm grips allow for a broader range of physical feedback than typical controller rumble. It’s easy to see how these features could add to the immersion of a swashbuckling adventure like Sea of Thieves.

Released for PC and Xbox One in 2018, Rare’s game is one of several first-party Xbox games going multiplatform. The game’s timing also isn’t bad. Ubisoft’s pirate MMO Skull and Bones was released last month to mixed reviews and unimpressed players. While a better version of Skull and Bones could have been a real competitor, its disappointing release might push some players into Sea of Thieves’ waiting arms.

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