Sea of Thieves Cuts Death Tax After Player Uproar

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The planned "Death Tax" feature in Sea of Thieves has been axed according to Rare executive producer Joe Neate in a Twitter update apologizing for the messaging around the unpopular, planned update.

In a tweet this morning Neate wrote, "Letting everyone know we've heard the feedback and the proposed 'Death Cost' in #SeaOfThieves is, well, dead. We messed up with the messaging around this, and it's now gone."

Over the weekend, Rare teased an upcoming feature to Sea of Thieves coming alongside a later update called the "Death Cost." The update was going to add a feature where players will be asked to front a fee for dying. The cost of that fee will depend on the nature of how the player died, with a suggestion that the cost will be higher for clumsy deaths.

Players reacted overwhelmingly negatively to the announcement of the death fee considering that players would have been asked to pay with gold, the in-game currency for Sea of Thieves. Some players complained that buying anything with gold in Sea of Thieves was already prohibitively expensive, and that punishing players for dying would only keep them further away from purchasing cool loot.

The news of the Death Cost removal has been greeted with huge fanfare as fans learn that they will be able to keep their gold upon death. Frankly, the gameplay feature isn't too dissimilar from a Mario game where coins are taken away from the player upon death. However, since Sea of Thieves also requires players to purchase loot, I can see how they'd be less inclined to part with their booty.

Sea of Thieves has proven to be popular among gamers, with our own Sea of Thieves review rewarding the game a 3/5, praising its co-op gameplay, but criticizing the way the game feels confusing for players who might not understand how to play the game fully.