Fire is coming to Sea of Thieves, but we weren't supposed to know that yet

(Image credit: Xbox Game Studios)

Fire is officially coming to Sea of Thieves. In an incredibly funny slip-up during Rare's weekly Sea of Thieves live stream, lead engineer James Thomas mentioned, in a rather offhand manner, that the team was working on adding fire to the game. His statement initially seems like an innocuous one, it's said almost as an afterthought after a long conversation amongst the streamers about the Reaper's Chest treasure. "I think the biggest thing we've announced that we have coming soon is fire, so hopefully there'll be something for you-" he says before senior designer Andrew Preston interrupts him, asking if that was officially announced yet. 

Hilarity ensues (live streams aren't easy, guys), Thomas reacts to Preston with an incredulous, "don't you dare" warning, and the stream temporarily dissolves into giggles. "Is that in the video?" Thomas asks, as they all crack up. "You're on another six-month ban, mate," Preston laughs. He's referring to the last time Thomas accidentally leaked something on a live stream back in January - he mentioned parrots before pets were confirmed, resulting in a six-month ban from the weekly streams. The foul-up happens around the 1:04:14 mark in the video, if you'd like to see it for yourself.

 

Whether or not Thomas will be around for next week's Sea of Thieves stream is up in the air, but it seems like the addition of fire is set in stone. What could this mean for a game that's mastered the look and feel of water? Will your ship catch fire? Can you use fire to deter enemy ships? The options are endless.

Sea of Thieves is already an incredibly fun open-world game, and the addition of fire is going to make it even more interesting.

You can play Sea of Thieves on Xbox One and PC. 

Speaking of pets, check out our Sea of Thieves animal location guide

Alyssa Mercante

Alyssa Mercante is an editor and features writer at GamesRadar based out of Brooklyn, NY. Prior to entering the industry, she got her Masters's degree in Modern and Contemporary Literature at Newcastle University with a dissertation focusing on contemporary indie games. She spends most of her time playing competitive shooters and in-depth RPGs and was recently on a PAX Panel about the best bars in video games. In her spare time Alyssa rescues cats, practices her Italian, and plays soccer.