Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life is a crossover with Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise in the Sea of Thieves world, and it's going to be a central part of the game's third season. There is a new original story told through Tall Tales, new characters, and lots of new content to explore all related to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. According to a preview led by Mike Chapman and Joe Neate, the creative director and executive producer of Sea of Thieves, respectively, there's a possibility of future collaboration between Rare and Disney.
Disney owns a huge number of pirate-related movies and media, including Peter Pan, Treasure Planet, and even The Muppets Treasure Island. The universes of Pirates of the Caribbean and Sea of Thieves were perfect for each other, according to Chapman, thanks to their similar takes on the pirate fantasy. However, according to Chapman and Neate, Rare and Disney got along very well and didn't shut down the idea of bringing other Disney stories to life in-game.
A Pirate's Life Signals Communication Between Rare and Disney
When Rare first started its conversations with Disney on the possibility of a collaborative project in Sea of Thieves, it wasn't some grandiose event. According to Joe Neate, they just walked up to the Disney representatives at E3 2019 and started a conversation. Disney came back to Rare a few months later, started concept art, and gave their pitch in early 2020. Neate said the pitch was "barely changed" as the Disney team seemed eager to start.
During their initial meeting and in the years afterward, Neate said that Disney has been "very complimentary on Sea of Thieves" and has mostly let the developers do what they want with the IP, provided it doesn't go too far off-brand. "The cultural alignment and creative alignment was so strong," Neate said, comparing the two companies when work began on Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life.
If nothing else is to be learned from Neate's comments on working with the enormous media corporation, it's that he believes Rare and Disney have a lot in common and seem to be able to blend work philosophies without any issues. But what about the properties that could be brought over?
Other Disney Pirates Could Be Brought To Sea of Thieves
During the preview with Game Rant, Mike Chapman and Joe Neate fielded a number of questions related to Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life, and the possibility of crossovers with other Disney-owned properties was touched upon. A story setting like the one seen in Treasure Planet is centered around this sense of exploration and adventure typical of modern pirate stories, for example.
The now-Disney-owned LucasArts made the classic Monkey Island series, too, which revolves around adventure and mystery on the high seas. Conversely, Disney-owned properties like Peter Pan only feature pirates as a kind of secondary group.
Rare did not comment on collaboration with other well-known pirate-themed stories not made by Disney, like The Princess Bride or The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists. This is the first major collaboration that the Sea of Thieves team has tried, too, and it's unknown whether they've reached out to other companies with pitches. The main issue with other collaborations is not that they are too off-the-wall or tonally different from Sea of Thieves, though – it's that the team needs "the right story."
The Problem With Crossovers And References
During the preview event, Mike Chapman was intentionally vague about the possibility of future collaborations. However, he did lay out some factors that would influence Rare's decision to pursue another similar collaboration with Disney in Sea of Thieves' future. "The right story is the key to all of this," Chapman said. "It has to be told with incredible care to ensure that it's not just a crossover in a one-dimensional sense, it's also an interweaving of two worlds."
Chapman went on to say that he dislikes the idea of having a single event or tiny reference as a crossover, and would rather dedicate time to intertwining two narratives that work together than force one to exist in the other's universe without any kind of narrative link. For this reason, Rare has strayed away from the sort of forced crossovers that have become typical of some popular online multiplayer games.
For A Pirate's Life, Pirates of the Caribbean works so well because the movies are essentially a big-screen version of Sea of Thieves gameplay to a bit of an extreme. The two worlds just make sense being combined together in a way that most other pirate movies and media just wouldn't be able to do. There's a sure possibility of some kind of future collaboration, as Rare has signaled great relations with Disney, but it might be a while until it strikes collaborative gold again like with A Pirate's Life.
Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life will launch June 22, 2021 on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.