1000 Days of Sea of Thieves!

That's right, after roaring into year two with the massive Anniversary Update and year three with monthly content drops, new Tall Tales and a Steam launch, Sea of Thieves still hasn't lost any of its momentum. So as we barrel into the 2020 holiday season, we're doubling down on the festivities by celebrating 1000 days since that maiden voyage back in March 2018! And by Flameheart's fiery eyeholes, there really was a lot packed into those 1000 days. Just invest the next three minutes into our nostalgic video tour for proof:

2020 has been a tough year for... well, the entire world. So while there are plenty of merry challenges and freebies to enjoy during December's Festival of Giving content update, we thought it wouldn't hurt to throw a little extra goodness into the mix while celebrating a milestone that still seems astonishing. After all, how many other games can not only claim to be bigger and better than ever this far into their lifespan with more than 15 million players to date, but can also tell you the number of players who used a bucketful of their own vomit to impair an enemy's eyesight? That's right: NOT MANY.

So, first up to mark today's big 1000th day, there's a commemorative classic pirate cosmetic for everyone who logs in and plays the game – although rather than expecting everyone to drop everything and play right now, we've extended the eligibility window to cover December 13th-16th (10:00am UTC). Log in during that time to earn the official 1000 Days Eyepatch marked with a smart Latin 'M' for 1000, and if you've been sailing the Sea of Thieves since launch, you can claim a classy golden version too! Just play during the eligibility window, then allow 72 hours to receive the red version and roughly a week for us to verify all those veterans who qualify for the golden bonus.

If you're a fan of Sea of Thieves' lore you'll also be well-served by today's audio book announcement, with Proper Actor Toby Stephens of Black Sails fame lending his velvety tones to a full reading of the Sea of Thieves novel, Athena's Fortune. Recorded just last month, you'll be able to stream or download this in full early next year, free of charge on some services. For now, increase your frothing demand by admiring the audio book artwork from Iolanda Zanfardino that heads up this very page. The Pirate Lord! Larinna! What larks!

That's not the only noteworthy development in Sea of Thieves' plan for world domination in handsome packages: much to the joy of all here at Rare, you can now pre-order an honest-to-goodness official version of Sea of Thieves Monopoly. As if the Top Trumps weren't enough! You'll find stacks of other new stuff in the official Rare Store too, as diverse as Christmas cards and jumpers, aggressively happy Youtooz figures, jigsaws and antique gold ship plaques.

Everything we've mentioned in this article, of course, joins everything already going on in our latest free content update, Festival of Giving. There are goodies aplenty to be earned in the 12 Deeds of Giving Event (which even has its own song), one-off Gilded Voyages offering a big old payout, Black Powder Stashes leading to explosive caches that'll serve you well in the Grogmanay Event at the end of the month, even more freebies easily obtained from Twitch Drops – and there's a free Frozen Horizon Tankard in the Pirate Emporium during December, so if you haven't played for a while you can grab that too when you take to the seas for your 1000 Days Eyepatch. (And don't forget you can still grab the Fightin' Frogs Ship Set by completing Act I of Battletoads, and the Duke Ship Set just by playing Sea of Thieves on an Xbox Series X or Series S!)

So there you go. Not a bad end-of-year haul for any merry mariner, blithe buccaneer or convivial corsair. Enjoy the 2020 holiday season however you choose to celebrate it, see out the rest of the year in style and join us in January to embark on 2021's adventures together when Seasons come to Sea of Thieves!