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Sea of Thieves launched in March earlier this year and has exceeded Microsoft's expectations. Rare has since run its first major post-launch event, The Hungering Deep, and just yesterday Rare started the first of what it calls "Bilge Rat Adventures," which are smaller scale events that will fill in the weeks between major content releases. Rare's firing on all cylinders, and the studio seems like it's in its best condition in a decade -- it's the perfect time to throw a celebrat

Knowing this now, it's hard not to feel as if the closure of Lionhead Studios and the cancellation of Platinum Games' Scalebound were done so with this plan in mind as Microsoft rearranged its assets, but there's no denying the immediate disappointment of it all for fans. The now cancelled Fable Legends and Scalebound could have acted as wonderful stopgaps during the wait for bigger titles. Instead, fans are left with a library that feels noticeably lighter in quality and quantity when compared to the current and impending lineup of PS4 titles. In some ways, even the Nintendo Switch has already delivered more promise in just over a year on the market than Microsoft has delivered with its Xbox One thus

This update and how transparent and honest it is great. It's the right step, and an important one we hope Rare does very frequently. Being open and addressing feedback and constructive criticisms is one of the important keys to success for online games with passionate communities - and those devs who don't communicate or offer game updates quickly are the ones that turn advocates of the game into haters. We see it all the time among some of the other popular games online - especially the ones that streamers are actively play

The setup for Sea of Thieves is that you wake up as a pirate in a tavern on an outpost in the middle of the titular sea, head to your ship, and then...um...basically proceed to just do pirate things. Because...pirates. Yeah, needless to say, a lack of detailed world-building already sticks out as one of the most notable flaws. There's no real driving force behind everything other than "go be a pirate." Sure, there are hints of something bigger in the various tribal markings and shrines you find, but they're as bare as possible and don't contribute a lot. You do have various trading companies to work for, ghost ships to sail on when you die, a vicious kraken, salty buccaneers that sell you goods...but they don't necessarily blend into a cohesive world. It feels more like someone just spread out a bunch of standard pirate cliches and just decided to roll with it.

Fortunately, Phil Spencer (Executive Vice President of Gaming at Microsoft) knows this all too well and is in the midst of turning things around. As Bloomberg reports, Spencer claims that the focus moving forward for Microsoft will be in software as it will begin to either create new studios or purchase them. He said: "We need to grow, and I look forward to doing that. Our ability to go create content has to be one of our strengths. We haven’t always invested at the same level. We’ve gone through ups and downs in the investment." Furthermore, Spencer indicated on Major Nelson's podcast that there are going to be some " positive changes " at this year's E3, presumably meaning that they are truly starting to turn things around with regard to first-party cont

Going back to the trading companies, though, the three of them basically dish out the game's main quests from various outposts. There's the Order of Souls, a group of mystics that ask you to hunt down various undead pirate captains and bring back their skulls, the Merchant Alliance, a group of professional businessmen who task you with gathering and delivering various items and animals, and the Gold Hoarders, a somewhat raggedy bunch of gold lovers who request you to find various buried treasure chests through maps and clues. Or to sum up their respective gameplay and missions, "Kill all the things," "Fetch all the things," and "Do things actually directly related to being a frigging pirate."

And what makes the wait for more first-party titles all the more troublesome is that Microsoft just released the Xbox One X - the most powerful video game console ever created - and they should be leveraging all that power by making Xbox One X exclusive games . On that note, one thing to keep in mind is that, because of those aforementioned cancellations and delays, Microsoft may be waiting to announce any new titles until they are sure those games will hit store shelves in a reasonable amount of time. Granted, they are doing exceptional work with Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Backwards Compatibility, but those aren't enough when gaming is about looking to the future as much as it is about preserving the past. Let's just hope that gamers aren't left waiting too long for new, truly worthwhile cont

With little time left in 2018, Rare is already preparing for next year, beginning with a new PVP mode called The Arena . There is no release date as of yet, but players should expect it to launch early in 2019. According to Polygon , The Arena is not a Battle Royale mode, although the strategy game news|Https://strategyreviewer.com/ mode will allow players to compete with one another quickly. The Arena will pit gamers against one another in a search for treasure. The new PVP mode will include a new tavern and a new trading company, The Sea Dogs, who will face off against the players as w