Sea of Thieves is adding pets and premium currency this week

The Pirate Emporium that has haunted the main menu of Sea of Thieves is finally about to open. A new premium currency, called Ancient Coins, will be added this Wednesday to Rare's open-world pirate game, and these coins can be purchased with your real-world cash. Ancient Coins can be spent in the Pirate Emporium, both in the game's menu and at outposts, to buy new emotes, cosmetics, and something Sea of Thieves fans have been wanting for ages: pets.

The initial launch of the Pirate Emporium will let you purchase two types of pets:  monkeys and parrots. You'll be able to name your pets, plop them down at various "hangout spots" on your ship—perching by the wheel, sleeping in bed in the captain's quarters, sitting in a cage, or chilling in the crow's nest—and you can also bring them with you out into the world. The stream showed the monkey running around on an island and even perching on a pirate's arm as they swam underwater. 

Pets will also react to your emotes: if you play an instrument, for example, they'll dance to the tune. They'll also respond to events in the world. If a Kraken attacks your ship, your monkey will find a spot to hide, such as under a table, until the danger has passed. And yes, you can pet your pets, too.

You can watch the full announcement stream below, which includes a real live spider monkey vomiting all over community manager Jon McFarlane at about 27 minutes in. There's no word if your in-game pets will be able to barf on you, but this is Sea of Thieves—I wouldn't be surprised if monkey puking was a feature.

There will be two types of birds available when the Emporium launches—the Macaw and the Parakeet. Monkey types are the Capuchin and the larger Barbary Macaque. Each has its own cosmetic outfit, and there are plans to add more pets and outfits to the Pirate Emporium in the future.

Pets aren't the only items to spend your Ancient Coins on. There will be new pirate emotes for sale, including a new dance, a coin-flipping emote, a thumbs-up and thumbs-down gesture, and an emote that lets you blow kisses. A Banjo Kazooie cosmetic set featuring a bear and bird theme for your pirate ship will also be for sale.

We don't yet have the complete pricing for the new premium items, but here's a look at how much Ancient Coins will cost you:

The Capuchin monkey and Macaw bundles, which come with an outfit for your pets, are shown priced at 649 coins, while the pirate emote bundle is priced at 999 coins (about $10).

And if you're not interested in spending real money, you may be able to find some Ancient Coins just by playing Sea of Thieves. There's a "small chance" of finding special, rare skeletons out in the world who carry a sack of coins on their backs, and if you manage to kill one, you and your crew will collect some Ancient Coins—though the stream did not specify how many coins you get from killing these rare skellies.

The Pirate Emporium and the premium currency will arrive in the Sea of Thieves update on Wednesday, September 11.