Xbox's big multiplatform olive branch Sea of Thieves was last month's most-downloaded PS5 game

Former Xbox exclusive pirateventure Sea of Thieves was, funnily enough, last month's most popular game on PS5 in both Europe and North America. 

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that its hefty lineup of first-party exclusives would start to cross the console divide and release on PlayStation, which is now simultaneously the company's rival and partner. Medieval whodunnit Pentiment, rhythmic whack 'em up Hi-Fi Rush, bug-sized survival game Grounded, and multiplayer pirate sim Sea of Thieves were first in line - and the latter seems to have made a massive splash. 

The PlayStation Blog's official charts ranked Sea of Thieves as the most downloaded game on PS5 in May across both the EU and US/Canada. Xbox also managed to place both Fallout 4 and Grounded on the list, which ranked at number 9 and 12 respectively. The PS4's most-downloaded games list didn't include the high seas romp since Sea of Thieves only came to Sony's next-gen box, but Minecraft, another Xbox-owned game, did top the European and North American charts. 

Latest Videos From

With blockbuster game budgets ballooning wildly, several publishers have welcomed an increasingly open multiplatform push. Square Enix pledged it was ending its exclusive-first approach that locked multiple Final Fantasy games to PlayStation for many years. Sony itself is releasing Lego Horizon Adventures on a non-PlayStation platform, the first time it's done so in 26 years. And Microsoft's Doom: The Dark Ages is also coming to PS5 in addition to PC and Xbox Series X|S.

Sea of Thieves speedrunning is in shambles due to a throwing knife glitch that kills one of the game’s toughest bosses in seconds.