Rare and Microsoft have announced that from January 24th to January 29th, Sea of Thieves is going to have a closed beta, to further test the games online infrastructure, prior to the March 20th release.

The Sea of Thieves Closed Beta will be accessible to anyone who joined the Sea of Thieves Insider Programme before December 1, 2017, and anyone who pre-orders the game. If you’ve already pre-ordered the game and want to find out how to download the Closed Beta client, visit the games website.

In case you were thinking you could complete the game in the beta period, Rare have thought of that:

We’ve crafted a bespoke experience for Closed Beta players that offers a true taste of the pirate life and a great chance to get your sea legs ahead of March 20! We won’t be testing the full game during this Closed Beta phase: we want to keep a good selection of things up our sleeves for players to discover at launch.

No word on the chance of any invites being sent out to people to join, but be sure to follow along, just incase they are announced.