Now that's rare: A single fan petition with just 70 signatures prompted Sea of Thieves' director to bring back a fan-favorite feature that was removed this year

Apr. 18, 2024

It sounds like Black Powder Stashes Voyages are making an explosive return

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Rare is bringing back a Sea of Thieves fan-favorite feature because the game’s leads came across anonline petitionwith just 70 signatures at the time of writing.

I mention the amount of signatures because, compared toother fan petitionsdemanding 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 onTwitter. “And if you care about explosions, and also the gifting of explosions. Then you will sign it, and retweet this.”

“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!)”

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.

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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.

After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.

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