No loot crates in Sea of Thieves

"What I will confirm is there are no microtransactions for launch. At all," design director Mike Chapman tells PC Gamer during a recent studio visit. "Based on us continuing to build this game, we'll probably consider some form of microtransaction. What we will say is there will never be loot crates in Sea of Thieves."

Chapman continues, suggesting he and team aim to adopt a "new take" on the idea of cosmetic microtransactions, so long as they suit the game's world and tone, and don't divide its playerbase. "There'll never be a form of gambling in Sea of Thieves, of any description," he says, while underscoring that pay-to-win mechanics are "completely out of the question". 

Chapman adds: "We'll try and do new and interesting things with it. So it won't just be like, 'oh, they've slapped microtransactions in the game, how interesting'. No, what's a Sea of Thieves way of doing it? What's going to bring value to our players? I think that's the way we'll do it".

Sea of Thieves is set to release on March 20th, 2018.