Rare's pirate game Sea of Thieves had somewhat of a rough launch, but it's enjoyed persistent popularity since then, with millions of players setting sail in its expansive open world. One of the reasons why Sea of Thieves has remained such a popular game is thanks to Rare's continued support of the title, and it seems as though the updates won't be slowing down this year, as Rare is saying 2022 will be "the biggest year yet for Sea of Thieves."

Rare will pull the curtain back on the new Sea of Thieves updates that fans can expect from the game in 2022 on Thursday, January 27 at 6pm GMT, which translates to 10am PT/12pm CT/1pm ET. The Sea of Thieves 2022 preview event is promised to have some "surprises" in store for fans as it shows off what's coming in the next season as well as what fans can expect from updates that are a bit further down the road.

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Rare didn't provide many clues as to what fans can expect from the 2022 preview event, so fans will just have to tune in on January 27 to see what's in store. It's possible that there will be more Sea of Thieves Tall Tales on the horizon, or maybe the 2022 updates will include even more expansive changes to the game. All will be revealed come January 27.

The Sea of Thieves 2022 preview event will likely focus on substantial new content that's in development for the game and not focus too much on under-the-hood balance changes. One important change that Sea of Thieves recently made to balance was the decision to reduce the number of ships per server. As of the latest update, Sea of Thieves has a max of five ships per server, with a cap of 16 players. Sea of Thieves experimented with having six ships per server, but Rare lowered the number after "overnight feedback."

The decision to reduce the number of ships per Sea of Thieves server proved to be somewhat controversial. Those that enjoy Sea of Thieves' PvP elements were happy with the increased number of ships as it meant more encounters with other players. However, those who don't care about PvP and want to avoid being griefed by others were happy with the reduced ship count.

Since Sea of Thieves is a live service game, there will certainly be more balance changes down the line. But in the meantime, fans can look forward to finding out about the new content coming to the game in 2022 when they tune in to the preview event on January 27.

Sea of Thieves is out now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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