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Rare is bringing back a Sea of Thieves fan-favorite feature because the game's leads came across an online petition with just 70 signatures at the time of writing.
I mention the amount of signatures because, compared to other fan petitions demanding features be added to games, this one's pretty slim, although it seems like it was just started today. And yet, as soon as Sea of Thieves executive producer Joe Neate caught wind of it, he flagged it with the game's creative director, Mike Chapman, who very quickly gave it his personal seal of approval.
"One of my mods made this petition," said streamer Captain Falcore on Twitter. "And if you care about explosions, and also the gifting of explosions. Then you will sign it, and retweet this."
Captain Falcore is referring to Sea of Thieves' long-running Black Powder Stashes Voyages, which were first added in 2019 and were great for farming Commendations until they were removed at the start of season 11 in January.
"These voyages were great for commendations, content and fun. We miss them. Please may we have them back," reads the petition.
While the petition is still attracting signatures, it sounds like it won't be needed for much longer.
"One day... What do you reckon [Chapman]?" said Neate in a reply. Minutes later, Chapman replied, "I think we can sort that out.. (signed, fellow Black Powder Stashes fan!)"
I think we can sort that out.. (signed, fellow Black Powder Stashes fan!)April 18, 2024
Of course, this isn't quite hard confirmation that Black Powder Stashes are coming back to Sea of Thieves, but it's a pretty damn good sign. Considering they were in the game already, the process of reintroducing them should be fairly straightforward, but we'll have to wait for an official announcement from Rare before we get too excited.
Regardless, publicly committing to re-adding a scrapped feature in response to a relatively quiet chorus of demand is applaudable, and the level of prompt and direct engagement with its community is yet another reason Rare is held to such high regard among big triple-A developers.
