'Sea of Thieves' news: Pirate game launches elaborate marketing stunt contest with a prize worth £80,000

Promotional image for "Sea of Thieves'" golden bananas contestXbox

Players of "Sea of Thieves" are not getting gold doubloons as their reward in-game, but rather a banana for a treasure hunt, as the developers have launched a digital treasure hunt in-game with rewards to boot.

The said banana booty will then yield as much as £80,000, that is of course if players manage to find the hidden treasure. The reward involves actual golden bananas worth £80,000 to be given by Microsoft, to be sent to the contest winners. The contest then involves gathering together the answers to 15 cryptic clues, with the first being revealed 8 a.m. GMT on Monday, Mar. 19, at the competition website.

The said remaining clues will then be revealed every three to four hours over the course of three days following Mar. 19. It is worth noting that these clues are more like riddles, which are difficult of course since a lot of players will be competing against one another for the coveted golden bananas. As such, it will be a battle of wits to see who solves all the riddles first.

Only one crew will come out as the winner, meaning players must choose wisely who they want to help, or if they want to help anyone at all. It also seems that there are no safety rules for the contest meaning some of the more dirty pirates can opt to mislead others, though that may be too extreme for a golden banana.

Sadly, there are only specific countries and nationalities that are qualified and these are the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, France, Germany and Canada. Those outside are not eligible for the golden banana and the contest, though that does not prevent them from helping their friends in said countries.

Those who are not able to win but came close to the golden banana need not worry as consolation prizes will also be given out in the form of limited edition "Sea of Thieves" engraved golden "doubloons" valued at over £300 each.