Sea of Thieves Live-Action Movie in Development, Microsoft Confirms

Microsoft is developing a live-action movie adaptation of Rare's evergreen pirate adventure Sea of Thieves.

Xbox head of content Matt Booty confirmed the news to Entertainment Weekly, and revealed that the project was being produced by Destin Daniel Cretton, the director of Marvel blockbusters such as the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day, as well as Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Cretton seemingly won't direct the film himself, however.

"The main character of a Sea of Thieves game is actually the player and the community," Booty said, discussing the film's potential plot. "So if you sit down to think about Sea of Thieves, it's not, 'Who are the main characters? What's the plot?' It's a super social game, but there's a tone to Sea of Thieves. It's built on a very cooperative community, so you can start to sense what that's going to be like."

Originally launched for PC and Xbox One back in 2018, Sea of Thieves has proved continually popular, eventually gaining a current-gen console launch in 2024, when it also went multi-platform and also arrived for PlayStation 5.

Over the years, British developer Rare has expanded Sea of Thieves' sandbox-y open world with new areas, gameplay types, story quests and more — there was even a crossover with Disney's own Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as something for fans of beloved adventure game series Monkey Island.

Despite the threat of layoffs now looming over Xbox, Rare has previously suggested it plans to support Sea of Thieves for years to come, though this is the first word of a movie adaptation for the game.

On the topic of those layoffs — with multiple studios reportedly now set for closure or divestment — Entertainment Weekly mentioned in its reporting that restructuring plans were still being finalized and that Xbox leadership wanted to "exhaust all other options before making these decisions". Microsoft has to date not commented officially on the subject.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social