Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 exceeded internal sales expectations at Microsoft, even though both are available on the subscription service Xbox Game Pass.
Xbox head Phil Spencer discussed their success on Giant Bomb, stating that Sea of Thieves sold “significantly more” than Microsoft projected. “On those two games
, we sold more copies of those games than we expected,” Spencer said in the interview.
Rare producer Joe Neate shared similar information about Sea of Thieves with US Gamer as well. “… We had a target to hit by the end of June, which we hit in day one of sales,” he said. Neate believes Game Pass and Mixer contributed to the success of the multiplayer-centric game.
Source: IGN.com Sea of Thieves Sold More Than Microsoft Expected