Sea of Thieves download size to shrink by roughly 50 percent on Xbox One and PC

Sea of Thieves
Sea of Thieves (Image credit: Microsoft)

Sea of Thieves is an exploration-based pirate game that features great sailing mechanics, and as the team has added more features, the file size has bloated to put it plainly. What started off as a roughly 10 GB game is now almost 50 GB on Xbox One X. This is concerning because it's an ever-evolving experience and file size will keep on growing.

Luckily, Rare is aware of this issue and Executive Producer Joe Neate just said that the team would deploy a new version of the game on February 6, 2019. While this "update" requires you to redownload the entire game, it dramatically reduces the file size which should free up a lot of space on your hard drive. It might also improve performance in certain areas due to its small footprint. The Xbox One X is seeing the biggest different because the file size will go from 47 GB to 25 GB. You can read the complete list below.

  • Xbox One: From 35 GB to 10 GB
  • Xbox One X: From 47 GB to 25 GB
  • Windows 10: From 47 GB to 27 GB

It's great to see that unlike certain games that keep on growing and devouring hard drive space like ravenous beasts, Sea of Thieves is taking this important aspect of modern gaming into account.

Do you still play Sea of Thieves? Let us know. The game is currently available for $59.99 through various retailers, but it's free for Xbox Game Pass subscribers. The title runs at native 4K resolution on Xbox One X. The game started off as a rather barebones experience when it first launch, but due to excellent post-launch support, Rare has managed to turn it around.

Asher Madan

Asher Madan handles gaming news for Windows Central. Before joining Windows Central in 2017, Asher worked for a number of different gaming outlets. He has a background in medical science and is passionate about all forms of entertainment, cooking, and antiquing.