Update: Sea of Thieves issues preventing Game Pass subscribers from accessing the game have been resolved as of 5:30 pm PT.

Sea of Thieves is live again after an extended server downtime wherein Rare applied its first major patch. But not all players have regained access, unfortunately. Game Pass subscribers are currently blocked from launching Sea of Thieves, with their Xbox accounts no longer acknowledging that they have access. Rare is hard at work on a fix, but no timetable for a solution has yet been revealed.

The updates provided so far include posts on official Sea of Thieves social media acknowledging the issue and stating that Rare is working to "resolve it as soon as possible." Xbox Live Services is also tracking the issue, with Xbox Support working with Rare to solve the problem quickly. That said, the servers went live over 6 hours ago and there has only been one vague update as of yet. Good news is hopefully coming soon for Game Pass subscribers.

The issue at hand is likely tied to the Sea of Thieves patch's size and scope, addressing a myriad of stability issues and bugs. The update is so pervasive, broaching into so many areas within the game's code, that players will effectively be redownloading the entire game for the update. Rare's going to have its work cut out for itself to find the issue hidden somewhere in all of those changes.

Sea of Thieves is the Game Pass subscription service's first major challenge, given the game's already apparent success. The $9.99-per-month subscription grants full access to Sea of Thieves and has so far worked perfectly. Today's hiccup shows that the subscription still has issues to work out, but will hopefully lay the groundwork for future Game Pass first-party releases like State of Decay 2 and Crackdown 3 to have smooth launches.

For the time being, Game Pass subscribers anxiously awaiting their access to Sea of Thieves to return can track progress via the Xbox Live Services website. Xbox support has already updated its tracking site with the current state of the game and has enabled users to request a text message notification once the issue has been solved. Otherwise, Game Pass subscribers can also keep checking the official Sea of Thieves Twitter account for the latest updates.

Sea of Thieves is currently available on PC and Xbox One.

Source: Sea of Thieves – Twitter