Rare has been slow to show off their upcoming pirate simulator, Sea of Thieves.

The game received highlighted showcases during Microsoft’s E3 events in both last year and in 2016, however, the idea of what it is that the player will actually be doing has remained a mystery.

What we do know that Sea of Thieves is a massively multi-player online celebration of the pirate life that represents a return to prominence by one of the most storied developers in the world.

We also know that Sea of Thieves focuses on bringing people together naturally, creating a world where people instinctively band together as a crew to do things, such as run their sea vessels, as was shown in various gameplay demos coming out of E3 2016.

Since it’s reveal last year, a number of assumptions have been made. One of which, is that Sea of Thieves would be modeled as a free-to-play game, much in the same vein as Bungie’s MMO shooter, Destiny.

That assumption might be off base.

Sitting down at E3 2016 with Eurogamer, Sea of Thieves design director, Gregg Mayles refuted those free-to-play claims.

“We’ve done a lot of thinking around the business model – one thing I can tell you is it’s not free-to-play. We didn’t say anything last year and then some people made stuff up, y’know, ‘it looks free-to-play!’ But we can clear that up – we will not be free-to-play.”

Mayles went on the interview to say that the game is not intended to be a “single-shot” release, and that if they are still expanding upon and adding new content to Sea of Thieves in five years, “I’ll be very happy“.

So there you have it. Now that the free-to-play assumptions have been shout down, the new assumption that Sea of Thieves will require some form of a subscription to play.

You’ll be able to join the Sea of Thieves crew in early 2017 on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.