E3 is sometimes compared to holidays like Christmas for fans of video games. Various companies come together to reveal and discuss projects either coming soon or further on the horizon. The joint Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase Sunday led off with a trailer for the Xbox-exclusive Starfield releasing November 2022, but one announcement with a quicker turn-around is a new Sea of Thieves crossover with Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.
Rare's multiplayer pirate simulator has changed a lot since its release in 2018, with one of the most recent additions being a Season Pass system. Sea of Thieves Season 2 began April 15, but fans of Captain Jack Sparrow should be pleased to know its "A Pirate's Life" crossover will be completely free-to-play.
The Sea of Thieves trailer at Xbox's E3 2021 showcase began with a rendition of the iconic "A Pirate's Life for Me" song from Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and a group of characters discovering Sparrow, famously portrayed on-screen by Johnny Depp, locked in a cell. This crossover will include "an epic original story" in which players help Sparrow steal treasure and "stop dark forces from dominating this pirate paradise" when it launches June 22.
There will be five segments to this crossover story, including various other secrets and side-quests. Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Caribbean films will also be making an appearance in Sea of Thieves for players to take on in naval ship combat, alongside various other cursed pirate crews, mermaids, and more. Rare creative director Mike Chapman told Variety that getting to work with Disney was "one of the proper pinch-me moments" given the team was partially inspired by Pirates to create their seafaring title.
This crossover has been in development since E3 2019 according to Chapman, Rare executive producer Joe Neate, and Disney and Pixar Games vice president Luigi Priore, as that was when the British studio brought its idea to Disney. The Pirates of the Caribbean films have been a cornerstone of popular culture for decades, with even recent games like Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart including Pirates references, so it makes sense to see the two properties come together in what Neate told Variety will be "the ultimate pirate crossover."
According to the trailer's description on YouTube, this event will also coincide with the start of Sea of Thieves Season 3. For now, fans of the multiplayer title will have to wait and see what else is coming with the next season, or with Rare's other in-development title Everwild.
Sea of Thieves is available now on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Variety