Manchester-based publisher, Steamforged Games has hoisted the sails on a tabletop adaptation of Rare’s pirate video game, Sea of Thieves.
The original Sea of Thieves game – released on PC and Xbox in 2018 – allows players to live out their innermost pirate fantasies by crewing a roving pirate ship as they explore a vibrant open world full of discovery.
In June 2022, the game celebrated a milestone 30 million players.
Steamforged Games’ adaptation – Sea of Thieves: Voyage of Legends – will launch in the summer and will see players competing for the title of ‘Pirate Legend’ by completing various quests and objectives to gain reputation.
The partnership was brokered by Rare’s brand extension licensing agency, Tinderbox (the digital arm of Beanstalk).
Steamforged Games has a successful history of adapting video game titles for the tabletop including Resident Evil, Dark Souls and Horizon: Zero Dawn to name a few.
“It’s a privilege to bring Rare’s vivid pirate world to life as a board game for the first time,” commented Mat Hart, co-founder and chief creative officer at Steamforged Games. “From a creative perspective, Sea of Thieves’ distinctive art style has been a real pleasure to work with and looks just as evocative on tiles as it does on screen. Rare captured pirate magic with their compelling gameplay loop, and that’s something we’ve strived to bring to the board game too.”
Adam Park, head of brand and licensing, and Peter Hentze, brand and licensing art director, at Rare, continued: “We know our fans have a real passion for gaming of all kinds, so it’s been great to work with Steamforged and create something that plays to the strength of the board game experience while remaining authentic to Sea of Thieves, its world and its characters. Even from the early play tests we knew we were onto something special, and we can’t wait for players to get together and enjoy the game for themselves.”
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