If you own Sea of Thieves, you can get your friends in free for the next week

Sea of Thieves has been enjoying a bit of a second wind lately, and Microsoft and Rare are looking to bring more players into their pirate-y survival game through a new promotional program called Friends Play Free. This allows existing Sea of Thieves owners to gift up to three friends a free temporary copy of the game. The offer is now live and will be available through Wednesday, February 13. 

To invite your friends, just log into the Sea of Thieves website and you'll receive three codes you can share around. If you only just purchased the game yourself, you may have to wait up to 24 hours for your friend codes to become available. Xbox One codes can be redeemed through the Xbox Live store, whereas Windows 10 codes must be activated via the official Xbox website. Again, these codes will only be valid through February 13. If your friends decide they like the game, they'll have to buy it for themselves after that. 

To celebrate the friendly event, Sea of Thieves is giving all players - including those who start playing using a friend code - a mercenary ship unlocked by a new voyage. You can start the voyage by speaking to the Bilge Rat NPC Duke, who can be found in your local tavern. Duke will also sell mercenary cosmetics after you complete the voyage. 

From ship maintenance to treasure signs to weaponized vomit, here are 25 Sea of Thieves tips that'll help you and your friends get off to a strong start on the high seas.  

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.