At this point, Xbox Game Pass can be a hard sell. Over in Xbox Land, there's been a huge swath of changes in the past six months, and Game Pass as a whole is too expensive for a lot of people.
That's why this promotion is going to be such a big deal. As announced by the Xbox Wire blog, another open-world game is completely free to play until March 24, and you don't need an Xbox Game Pass to partake.
Microsoft has announced that Sea of Thieves will be free for everyone (regardless of Xbox Game Pass subscription tier) until March 24 at 20:00 UTC. Debuting in 2018 and still chugging, this open-world pirate adventure was crafted by Rare and is still getting updates. It's also hosted several expansions to date and still has a fairly active player base. It's about to get a lot more active following this promo, too.
Here are the full terms, so you know exactly when the trial ends: "Calling all Xbox players – everyone’s invited to Sea of Thieves’ eighth birthday party! From Thursday, March 19, 2026 at 15:00 UTC until Tuesday, March 24, 2026 at 20:00 UTC, the game will...
