“Something that we’ve always been passionate about is the idea that we should remove barriers that prevent players from playing together,” says creative director Mike Chapman.

True to leaks, Microsoft recently announced that Rare’s multiplayer pirate game Sea of Thieves is indeed headed to PS5. The game will launch for Sony’s platform on April 30 as one of four first-party Xbox exclusives to get multiplatform releases, and will release with full cross-play support.

Given its nature as a live service, multiplayer-focused game, being available to the entire PlayStation userbase is obviously going to be a huge boost for Sea of Thieves, and its developers at Rare have spoken about the same in a video shared after the game’s announcement for PS5.

“Something that we’ve always been passionate about is the idea that we should remove barriers that prevent players from playing together,” said creative director Mike Chapman. “The fact that players on PlayStation can step into that world and you can cross-play with all of those other platforms just means that it’s such an exciting time for Sea of Thieves. The chance to bring that game to a completely new audience, it’s monumental, it’s this surreal moment to us.”

Executive producer Joe Nate spoke further about Sea of Thieves’ shared world setting and how it thrives on being a dynamic, ever-changing experience- something that he says is driven by the diversity of its community, something that’s bound to receive an even bigger boost with the game’s PS5 launch.

“Sea of Thieves has always been this shared world where the stories you have are enriched by the variety of people that you can encounter,” he said, “and so, for us to be able to open it up to so many more people just means that the type of memories, the type of things you’re going to have happen out on the seas are just going to be so much richer now.”

Associate design director Shelley Preston added, “Seeing new players discover Sea of Thieves has always been a truly magical experience, so I’m so excited to see a whole new community of players come and join us on this adventure.”

Sea of Thieves is set to launch for PlayStation 5 on April 30. It’s one of four first-party Microsoft games getting multiplatform releases, alongside Grounded, Pentiment, and Hi-Fi Rush.