SoT and Game Pass

@ziabr Whether this information is accurate or not, when I spoke to Xbox Support a few days ago, they claimed it would not be available for pre-download as it won't actually be accessible until the 20th. Essentially, SoT will be no different from every other Game Pass title that can only be accessed on the day it's added to the library.

That said, given that SoT is the first exclusive to be added to the Game Pass library, it's possible that Microsoft handles SoT's release differently.

Ultimately, I'm not sure what to expect. I spoke with two different people from Xbox Support, and a rep with Microsoft, regarding SoT's future on Game Pass (i.e. how long it will be available before being rotated out) and here are the results of those conversations:

• Xbox Support, one in Billing and one in Games & Apps, is seemingly unaware of SoT's existence. Billing rep didn't know anything about SoT, while the rep in Games & Apps misquoted the price at $30, wasn't aware it would be available through Game Pass, and thought it is releasing later this Fall.
• Microsoft's billing rep was just as clueless as Xbox Support. The guy I spoke with had no clue Sea of Thieves would even be available on PC.

Take what you will from all of this but personally, I'm concerned about release day for those of us choosing Game Pass over a preorder. Microsoft/Xbox and Larry Hyrb have been hyping this title for months and yet, their support teams are completely oblivious.

@orbit-storm
I can put your mind at ease in relation to one of your points. As soon as the games pass was announced, one of the first questions to Phil and Larry was "how long will a game be on games pass before it is taken off it?". It was confirmed on more than one occasion that once a game enters games pass it will NEVER be removed from it.

So dont worry about a game being rotated out, that is not going to happen.

My only concern about games pass is for the release date of SoT. I will most likely have to get up at 2am, kick off the download and go back to bed. That way the game should be ready when I wake.

Almost all games on Xbox have been available to download a coupe of days at least before they release. It then just unlocks itself at release so you can play.

file size is not confirmed but expect around 40GB for standard xbox and double it for xbox one x.

'Ahoy OP,

the thing is, this exact topic is appearing about twice a day since last sunday. Nobody knows for sure.

What we know, is that Rare doesnt like dataminers and wont give access to the download "longer" in advance, well, we guess that.

Further, all beta downloads were open a day prior to server opening, we can just hope that the final client will be handed the same way but again, no one knows.