Closed Beta

The Sea of Thieves Closed Beta was an early version of Sea of Thieves that was available to select members of the community.

The Closed Beta ended on Wednesday, January 31st 2018. There are currently no plans for another Beta. Sea of Thieves will only become available for play when its full version is officially released, which was planned for March 20, 2018.

Times
The Closed Beta opened at 12pm GMT on Wednesday 24th January and ran until 8am GMT on Wednesday 31st January. For those in other time zones, this works out as:


 * Eastern Standard Time (EST): 7am on Wednesday 24 January to 3am on Wednesday 31st January
 * Central Standard Time (CST): 6am on Wednesday 24 January to 2am on Wednesday 31st January
 * Pacific Standard Time (PST): 5am on Wednesday 24 January to 12am on Wednesday 31st January
 * Central European Time (CET): 8am on Wednesday 24 January to 9am on Wednesday 31st January

The Closed Beta was originally scheduled to end on Monday, January 29th, but due to technical difficulties that prevented access for some players, the Beta was extended two days.

Access
There are two ways to gain access to the Closed Beta:
 * Be a Founder, meaning that you signed up for the Sea of Thieves Insider Program before December 1, 2017.
 * Pre-Order the Sea of Thieves game.

If you pre-ordered the game through the Xbox or Windows Store, the game will appear in your games library 24 hours before the Closed Beta begins. You will need to download and install it.

If you have pre-ordered a physical version of the game through a retailer, you will need to redeem the code for the Black Dog cosmetic pack. Once you have done this, the game will appear in your games library 24 hours before the Closed Beta begins. You will need to download and install the game.

If you haven’t pre-ordered the game and want to get into the Closed Beta, you can pre-order Sea of Thieves here: https://www.xbox.com/seaofthieves.

Content
The Closed Beta is said to present a "bespoke experience" that has been designed to give everyone a taste of the pirate life that they can expect in the full version of the game at release. The Closed Beta will not contain all aspects of the full release, as the developer wants to keep a good selection of things up their sleeves for players to discover at launch.

Streaming
The Closed Beta will not be covered by an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement), so players with access to the Beta may stream, capture, clip, and screenshot to their heart’s content. If you do create content, make sure you tag it “Sea of Thieves” so the developer can see it too. They will be sharing their favorites on their social channels and website.