Sea of Thieves News

[p]Alongside things like angry cannons and boxes of bones, Season 16 has introduced the spike-fanatic skeletons known as the Order of Bone and Blade, who are surprisingly helpful despite their getups resembling medieval torture devices. Yes, they are a bit one-note in the clothing department, so now it’s time for you lot to show them that fashion options do extend beyond red and metal for those willing to shop around. To be fair, being buried for an indeterminate amount of time probably isn’t the most lucrative position to be in, and maybe they’d pop a nice hat on if a pirate would just offer them a few coins and a lift to the Outpost…[/p][p]Anyway, forget that as it’s not those skeletons doing any dressing up, that duty falls to you when Season 16’s #StyleOfThieves contest takes place from July 21st–24th 2025! Will you walk away with one of the 16 pairs of Fashionista’s Finery Gloves up for grabs? Potentially! If you enter, that is. If you don’t enter then it’s a no, but you’re planning to enter, right? Okay good, just checking.[/p][p]
[/p][p]The format of the contest remains unchanged for now: posts relating to this Season’s themes will appear on Sea of Thieves social media channels around 10am UTC on the dates specified below, signalling that the entry period for that day’s contest is open. Your task is then to rummage through your equipment chest and grab a stylish screenshot of your pirate dressed in gear relating to that day’s prompt, trying to stand out from the crowd in the process (that’s the hardest part). To enter, simply take a screenshot or two showing your full outfit (including your boots) and share your entry on your social media channel of choice, stating the name of the theme in your post to help with our team’s judging.[/p][p]Each theme will be open to entries for 24 hours, after which time our team will create a shortlist of their top entries, carve them into a chocolate mould and use this to create a single bar. Said confectionery directory will then be positioned in direct sunlight before the Art team are told its location, putting them in a race against heat to reach the cocoa catalogue before it melts into a delicious pool of chic corsairs’ broken dreams. Should they get to the list in time, they’ll be able to choose their 16 overall winners for us to reveal on July 31st.[/p][p]Before we reveal the themes, we’d just like to reiterate that even if you don’t win Style of Thieves, as with all our social media contests, we hope everyone who takes part simply has a good time exploring the fun of fashion within Sea of Thieves. It’s really just a pirate dress-up game when we boil it down, right? So embrace it!

Image credit: banhosabado on X/Twitter [/p][p]
And now, without any more re-re-re-tweaked preamble, here are Season 16’s #StyleOfThieves themes:
[/p][h3]The Themes[/h3][p]Each theme will start at 10am UTC on the dates detailed below, with entries accepted via a variety of social media channels for a full 24 hours.[/p][p]Apocalyptic
Imagine the world has come to an end and, in fiction-established fashion, nobody is making new clothes that don’t come pre-ripped, accessorised with metal or both.
Entry date: July 21st[/p][p]Debonair
However you said ‘Debonair’ in your head just then, translate that instinctively suave pronunciation into fashion form.
Entry date: July 22nd[/p][p]Magical
From wizards and witches to beings made of magic, put a spell on us with some enchanting attire that says “I could distract you with a card trick while my crewmate nicks your Chest of Legends”.
Entry date: July 23rd[/p][p]Vibrant
Go against Season 16’s dour style by putting on the brightest colours you can find! Making them match is optional, but encouraged.
Entry date: July 24th[/p][p][/p][p]Image credit: nexusgamingv1 on X/Twitter [/p][h3]
How to Enter[/h3][p]There are of course rules to follow if you want to create a valid contest entry. For a refresher on these, and how to enter via any of the applicable channels, please navigate back to last Season’s Style of Thieves article – remembering of course that Season 16’s themes are all new! Regardless of where you’re sharing your entry, be sure to include the name of the theme you’re entering in your post, along with any extra info called for by the theme.[/p][p]As an additional stipulation to ensure a level playing field, entries may only use the retail version of Sea of Thieves and not the Insider build, following the lifting of the Insider Programme NDA (see our 2025 Community Direct for more on that).[/p][p]Bang! And the article’s done. Well, done aside from this rambling final bit. Imagine if we had just ended it on ‘done’, we bet you’d have felt slighted. Not that this paragraph is adding any helpful information to the article. If anything, it’s adding unnecessary fluff, but if there’s anywhere aside from a winter duvet where unnecessary fluff is acceptable, it’s in the final part of a pirate game fashion contest theme announcement article that very few people will read.[/p][p]If you’re one of the few, we hope this is on the endearing side of things, but only you can be the judge of that. Unlike #StyleOfThieves, which we’ll be the judges of from July 21st–24th! Bosh, effortlessly back on track. See you on the social catwalks![/p]

[h3][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]Reapers Rising[/h3][p]Set sail on Voyages for The Reaper’s Bones, roll out the Cannon of Rage and enlist Captain Flameheart’s Order of Bone and Blade! To learn more about this Season’s headline features, head over to our dedicated Season 16 page.[/p][p]Followers of the Flame Voyage[/p]

• [p]The Reaper’s Bones offer a new on-demand Voyage: Followers of the Flame.[/p]
• [p]This Voyage tasks crews with using the Follower’s Flame Lantern to find and resurrect the Order of Bone and Blade and perform a dark ritual to create the new Chest of Bones.[/p]
• [p]Embarking on all Voyages for The Reaper’s Bones will automatically raise a Reaper’s Mark Flag on the ship, announcing your location to other crews via their Map Table.[/p]

[p]Chest of Bones[/p]

• [p]Once recovered from the ritual, the Chest of Bones can also be unsealed to release waves of Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons to aid the crew.[/p]
• [p]The Chest of Bones will release fewer skeletons than its more powerful Reaper’s Chest counterpart, and does not contain Skeleton Captains.[/p]

[p]Ashen Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage[/p]

• [p]The Reaper’s Bones Voyages have now expanded into The Devil’s Roar, introducing an Ashen Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage that offers higher-value rewards for venturing into the flames.[/p]
• [p]The Order of Bone and Blade are now helpfully immune to damage from geysers.[/p]

[p]Reaper’s Chest Balancing[/p]

• [p]The skeleton waves released when unsealing a Reaper’s Chest on a rival ship now dynamically scale to the size of the ship. A Sloop will be limited to two skeletons, three on a Brigantine and four on a Galleon.[/p]
• [p]A Reaper’s Chest unsealed in any other location or when used defensively on a player’s own ship will use the existing limit of six.[/p]
• [p]The appearance of Skeleton Captains has also been limited, with a total of four now able to be released from a single Reaper’s Chest. When a Skeleton Captain has appeared, no further Captains can be summoned until it has been dispatched.[/p]

[p]Stealing the Search for Ancient Secrets[/p]

• [p]It is now possible for rival crews to steal the Skull of the Banished during the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage.[/p]
• [p]Once the sarcophagus has been discovered by the crew on the Voyage, rival crews can now continue digging, open the sarcophagus and take the skull for themselves. This promptly ends the Voyage for the starting crew and grants their rivals progress towards the Reaper Rivals Commendation.[/p]

[p]Skeleton Mercenary Improvements[/p]

• [p]Order of Bone and Blade Skeleton Mercenaries now show a status tag next to their name, visually showing what they are doing when viewed at a distance. Players can now also see clearly when a Skeleton Mercenary has been downed and needs reviving.[/p]
• [p]When a buried Skeleton Mercenary is uncovered by a pirate, the other members of the crew will now be notified of the discovery.[/p]

[p]Reapers Rising Commendations and Rewards[/p]

• [p]New Reapers Rising Commendations have been added within the Reputation tab, tasking players with taking on the Followers of the Flame Voyage. Crews who brave this challenge can unlock access to a set of Reaper’s Bones Masks.
  [/p]

[h3]Gameplay Improvements[/h3][p]The Devil’s Roar Rebalancing[/p]

• [p]The Devil’s Roar has been rebalanced to reduce frustration while adventuring in this region, but still retains the atmosphere and risk that comes from sailing in such a dangerous part of the seas.[/p]
• [p]Geysers that appear on islands should no longer directly target players, and the number of them that surface is now scaled to the size of the crew exploring the island.[/p]
• [p]Volcanoes now signal their eruption for a longer time, allowing players more time to react.[/p]
• [p]A live volcano now erupts for a shorter time before subsiding, and while erupting the chance that nearby ships will be hit with volcanic rocks has been reduced.[/p]

[p]Responsive Health Bar Improvements[/p]

• [p]The UI health bar has been improved to be more responsive during combat. Players taking damage and healing will now see the health bar move to the new health value much more quickly.[/p]
• [p]Players with critically low health will now consistently see their health bar switch to green when they gain enough health to move out of the critical zone.[/p]
• [p]After healing fully, a player’s health bar now remains visible for a longer period before being hidden.[/p]

[p]Kraken Encounter Balancing[/p]

• [p]Kraken encounters can now occur on a server alongside some other World Events such as Skeleton Forts. While the frequency of Kraken encounters will remain the same following this change, it allows other World Events to cycle more frequently.[/p]

[p]Performance Improvements[/p]

• [p]This update includes a system-level optimisation to CPU performance across the broad experience, to reduce the frequency of framerate drops and provide a smoother framerate during gameplay.
  [/p]

[h3]Pirate Emporium[/h3][p]Show off your personal style with purchases from the Pirate Emporium! Pick up exclusive cosmetics such as ship liveries, costumes, weapons, pets and emotes using your Ancient Coins, purchasable with real money. Head to the Pirate Emporium to browse and buy the latest additions![/p][p]New Items – Now in Stock![/p]

• [p]Bosun Brewmaster Ship Collection and Ship’s Crest[/p]
• [p]Bosun Brewmaster Weapon Bundle[/p]
• [p]Bosun Brewmaster Costume[/p]
• [p]Bosun Brewmaster Tankard[/p]
• [p]Touring Tavern Emote Bundle[/p]
• [p]Ashen Curse Toucan Collector’s Pet[/p]
• [p]Sting Tide Weapon Bundle
  [/p]

[h3]Outpost Cosmetics[/h3][p]New Outpost Stock![/p]

• [p]The Outpost shops now stock the Golden Chaser equipment and instruments.[/p]
• [p]The shipwrights have also restocked with the new Green Resolute Hull, Sails and Flag.
  [/p]

[h3]Events[/h3][p]Legends Unleashed (July 17th–31st)[/p]

• [p]This lengthy Event sees the Pirate Lord rally his Pirate Legends against the growing Reaper threat, with a comeback by The Reaper’s Bones in the second week. Increased loot payouts, special Event Goals and unlockable rewards are all available. Visit the dedicated Legends Unleashed page to find out more.[/p]
• [p]In addition to the time-limited aspects of this Event, Athena’s Fortune now offer three new Legendary searches which will remain as permanent additions to the Quest Table. These are A Legendary Treasure Map Search, A Legendary Riddle Quest Search and A Legendary Skeleton Bounty Search.[/p]
• [p]These Voyages provide a shorter experience and therefore less risk than the existing Athena’s Fortune Voyages, providing reduced rewards in comparison to their more perilous counterparts.[/p]
• [p]Athena’s Fortune Letters of Recommendation can now be purchased from Larinna, providing a boost to reputation each month. These will remain a permanent addition after this Event.
  [/p]

[h3]Fixed Issues[/h3][p]Gameplay[/p]

• [p]Storage Crates found through Skeleton’s Orders can now be sold to the Merchant Alliance as intended.[/p]
• [p]Players stowing a throwing knife while charging a stab attack will find the stab is now cancelled.[/p]
• [p]Treasure harpooned from the water can now be consistently picked up from the deck.[/p]
• [p]Improvements have been made to the Ashen Executive’s Lost Shipment Voyage, addressing issues where the location of the shipwreck, Captain’s Key and Manifest were appearing inconsistently during the Voyage, halting progress.[/p]
• [p]A Grapple Gun can no longer be used to drag the Key or Chest of Siren Song into The Reaper’s Hideout.[/p]
• [p]Restoring a ship at the shipwright should no longer cause the ship’s wheel to spin rapidly.[/p]
• [p]Players attempting to grab on to a ladder while using a spyglass should no longer find the vignette effect lingers.[/p]
• [p]Players are now prevented from selling a hunting spear while attempting to throw it.[/p]
• [p]Attempting to throw a hunting spear and crouching should no longer cause controller vibration effects to persist.[/p]
• [p]Attempting to grapple the Key or Chest of Siren Song while standing inside an Outpost tavern no longer causes the Grapple Gun to become stuck while firing.[/p]
• [p]‘The Revenge of the Morningstar’ – Items dropped on Graymarrow’s altar during this Tall Tale will no longer vanish unexpectedly.[/p]

[p]Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage[/p]

• [p]Ancient Phantoms no longer flicker into view when moving through other enemies.[/p]
• [p]Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons should now move correctly when digging out the Ancient Pillars.[/p]
• [p]Players should consistently be provided with the Skull of the Banished when retrieving it from the sarcophagus.[/p]
• [p]The fog effects visible on this Voyage now appear correctly for other crews observing at a distance.[/p]

[p]Cannon of Rage[/p]

• [p]A player loaded into a Cannon of Rage will now be removed if it is retracted by another player.[/p]
• [p]Players will now be prevented from climbing into a Cannon of Rage while it is being deployed.[/p]
• [p]A retracted Cannon of Rage will no longer block cannonball damage when fired upon.[/p]
• [p]The Cannon of Rage no longer consumes loaded cannonballs when being retracted.[/p]
• [p]Cannons of Rage now consistently display the fuse after being buried and dug up.[/p]
• [p]The overheating effect on Cannons of Rage now transitions more smoothly between stages.[/p]
• [p]A damaged Cannon of Rage will now visibly swell while overheating, even after being retracted.[/p]

[p]Reaper’s Chests Unsealed[/p]

• [p]Skeletons released from a Reaper’s Chest at an Outpost now move consistently to keep up with their crew.[/p]
• [p]Skeletons emerging from Reaper’s Chests will now consistently show their nameplates.[/p]
• [p]Reaper’s Chests now emit a bone-rattling sound when sealed.[/p]
• [p]Leaving the area of an unsealed Reaper’s Chest and returning no longer causes the lid to reappear.[/p]
• [p]The red glow inside the enhanced Reaper’s Chest now displays properly when other players are holding it.[/p]
• [p]Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons released at The Reaper’s Hideout will now be able to descend into the lower areas if the chest is taken down on the lift.[/p]

[p]Skeleton Mercenaries[/p]

• [p]Order of Bone and Blade Skeleton Mercenaries now thank players when revived from their bone piles.[/p]
• [p]Skeleton Mercenaries engaging in combat should no longer drop items into areas they cannot reach themselves.[/p]
• [p]Skeleton Mercenaries now appear closer to their bone piles when revived.[/p]
• [p]Skeletons now appear to move correctly after dropping an item.[/p]
• [p]Long grass should no longer cover bone piles, hiding Skeleton Mercenaries.[/p]

[p]Environment[/p]

• [p]Improvements have been made to the environment at Port Merrick, Dagger Tooth Outpost and Shark Bait Cove to address crews using these locations to hide their ship and shelter from attacks during Faction battles.[/p]
• [p]Improvements have been made to the environment during the ‘The Lair of LeChuck’, ‘Shores of Gold’ and ‘A Pirate’s Life’ Tall Tales to prevent players from using a Grapple Gun to leave the designated areas.[/p]
• [p]Players can no longer use the Cannon of Rage to bypass the doors to Skeleton Forts, the Fort of the Damned or Glitterbeard’s Cave.[/p]
• [p]Players should no longer be able to retrieve items from the Fort of the Damned using a Grapple Gun without first unlocking the Vault.[/p]
• [p]Players can no longer fall out of the environment by using the Grapple Gun to navigate within Ancient Vaults.[/p]
• [p]Players can no longer pass through Royal Crest Fortress’ ceiling by interacting with the Map Table on a different floor.[/p]

[p]Visual and Audio[/p]

• [p]Several shovels that were missing dig visual effects now show the correct effects.[/p]
• [p]Players carrying Mermaid Gems in various lighting conditions will now find their glare has been reduced.[/p]
• [p]Players wearing the Spinal Costume should no longer find it intersects with various disguises.[/p]
• [p]The Gilded Phoenix Hurdy-Gurdy now has the instrument’s keys in the correct location.[/p]
• [p]Using a disguise while wearing the Regal Fortune Boots should now correctly show the player’s feet.[/p]
• [p]Female pirates equipping the Skeleton Curse and Reaper’s Bones Skull will now retain their skull shape.[/p]
• [p]Players wearing the Veil of the Ancients Costume should no longer find the gems react too brightly to sunlight.[/p]
• [p]Performing a stab with a throwing knife should now consistently show the knife at the correct orientation.[/p]
• [p]The Dashing Duellist Banjo and Blowpipe now fit correctly in a pirate’s hands when wielded.[/p]
• [p]The Lamplighter Pistol now fits correctly in a pirate’s hands when wielded.[/p]
• [p]‘A Pirate's Life’ – Ghost pirates now appear as intended at key parts of the Tall Tale.[/p]

[p]User Interface[/p]

• [p]The front-end intro video now appears correctly when playing without visible black borders.[/p]
• [p]Event times shown on the Quest Table are now shown in players’ local time instead of UTC.[/p]
• [p]Players using a Trident of Dark Tides for the first time will no longer see a ‘Refill Ammo’ notification after firing.[/p]
• [p]Maps shown in the Quest Radial will now consistently show their icon in the even if the map owner dies and returns from the Ferry of the Damned.[/p]
• [p]Attempting to sell a Bounty Skull to Flameheart now correctly guides players to the right hand-in location.[/p]
• [p]Players navigating between the title screen and front-end menu should now hear music at a consistent volume.[/p]

[p]Performance and Stability[/p]

• [p]Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.
  [/p]

[h3]Known Issues[/h3][p]To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our Known Issues support site article.[/p]

[p]The sweltering press of July is upon us, which means we have one last thing to do before we let June pass over the horizon: round up everything you might have missed! But this time we’re doing a little streamlining to your regular round-up, focusing on just the best bits and taking up no more of your time than we need to. So with that in mind, please take your seat, prepare your eyes and get reading…
[/p][h3]Content Update[/h3][p]June’s free monthly content update (following a cheeky hotfix) introduced another mix of features, Events, fixes and cosmetics, most notably enabling players to unseal Reaper’s Chests for the very first time. Just as everyone was adapting to the new friends they gained as a result, our Events team sailed in with a Gold & Glory Weekend and a full week’s worth of Fight Nights! Once again, pirates across the seas would battle to the death to win increased Allegiance, exclusive Trinkets and that all-important glory.[/p][p]And of course June was Pride Month, always an important time for Sea of Thieves, and our latest updates reflected that: we were thrilled to be able to introduce the Progress Pride Flag to the seas for broader player representation, while real-world Pride-themed items made a time-limited return to the Xbox Gear Shop![/p][p] [/p][h3]News and Features[/h3][p]We started the month, as always, with a preview of everything that players could expect in June, followed a week later by something we hadn’t mentioned: a sneak peek at Season 17 during the Xbox Games Showcase. Before we get to August and the arrival of Smugglers’ Tide, however, there’s plenty to be getting on with – including the reopening of Affiliate Alliance applications. If you think your Sea of Thieves community could benefit from becoming part of the programme, give the guidelines a read![/p][p]June’s Community Spotlight zeroed in on singing completionist EliEelEye, while two rounds of Community Hub entries and two #SoTShot categories – Chaotic Captures and Stunning Skeletons – saw community creatives claiming some coveted cosmetics. And we couldn’t end June without one last salute to Pride Month 2025, guest-written by one of our new Affiliate Alliance communities, The Pride Brigade.[/p][p]We were also lucky enough to land a couple of wins for Sea of Thieves at the MCV Develop Awards in London later in the month, for Ongoing Innovation of the Year and Accessibility Innovation of the Year. An honour! Now, back to keeping that ongoing content coming as we set up those highly explosive new barrels the Smugglers may have mentioned…[/p][p][/p][h3]Videos and Streams[/h3][p]The reveal of Season 17 wouldn’t have been much fun without a trailer, and that was by no means June’s only trailer: a new monthly content update necessitated its own Update Trailer, as well as a showcase of the latest Pirate Emporium stock. Trailer fans must surely have been beside themselves.[/p][p]But there were still some of the usual suspects to unveil: Sea of Thieves News laid out what to expect from the June update while divulging details of the upcoming Pirate Profiles, and a few days later, June’s Developer Update shared some of our behind-the-scenes thinking and priorities moving forwards. And finally, we couldn’t let the masterful musical melodies of Season 16 go underappreciated, so ‘The Ancient Pillars’ made its streaming soundtrack debut for pirates to enjoy to their hearts’ content![/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink]And as promised, that’s your trimmed-down round-up. There’ll be plenty more to talk about throughout July, so be sure to keep an eye on all our usual social channels – Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Twitch, as well as the official Forums and Discord – and drop any thoughts and feedback there. Until we see you again, happy sailing and don’t forget to have fun!
[/p][h3]Previously in 2025:[/h3][p]Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2025[/p][p]Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2025[/p][p]Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2025[/p][p]Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2025[/p][p]Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2025[/p]

Big piratey thing Sea of Thieves will be getting custom servers as part of a paid subscription service in "early 2026", developers Rare have announced during a first-ever community direct for the game. That's far from all of the studio's plans, with wider shakeups also in the pipeline.

This outlining of plans to make sure the good ship SOT is not only seaworthy, but can successfully broadside the many other vessels competing for its players' attention comes with some depressing and un-piratey context. It follows Rare being one of the studios affected by Microsoft's mass layoffs earlier this month, with Everwild being among the number of in-development games cancelled as part of the cuts.

Read more

[p]Today saw the broadcast of our very first Community Direct, a long-form sit down with key crew members to discuss all things Sea of Thieves over the next six months or so. Covering game health, upcoming changes to the Insider Programme, our evolving approach to Seasons and more, it was also an opportunity to reveal an incredibly exciting premium feature coming to Sea of Thieves’ shores in early 2026: custom servers.[/p][p]Your host, Head of Video Production John McMurtrie, was joined by Head of Community and Communications Christina McFairholme, Associate Design Director Shelley Preston, Creative Director Mike Chapman and Production Director Drew Stevens to talk through all of the above and more. If you’ve got 51 minutes to spare, you can watch the Direct in full below. But if you can’t watch right now, we’ve compiled the key takeaways right here in this handy article!
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Looking Back[/h3][p]Before the gang got into what to expect from Sea of Thieves moving forward, there was some reflection on the last few Seasons. Our last major content releases brought a significant focus on enriching the sandbox; player feedback we’d received last year pointed to the sandbox being perhaps in need of reinvigoration with new tools and opportunities, and the last few Seasons of content worked towards this with a plethora of new ways to play.[/p][p]We’ve also been making a concerted effort to provide more detail and context to our players via the reintroduction of the Developer Update, a video series now fronted by Production Director Drew Stevens. This has proved a great vehicle for us to talk about things in a more transparent and reactive manner, and we’ve been heartened by the response. We’re also planning to deliver a Community Direct every six months as part of this openness with our community – so expect another sit-down with the crew early next year.[/p][p]That’s not to say there hasn’t been room for improvement; we know we haven’t hit the mark our players were hoping for in terms of game health and performance, especially when it comes to being reactive to cheating and the game experience on PC. We’re also cognisant that we could be more attuned to the desires and experiences of our player base, and we’ll be working hard to remedy this in future. We’ve learned a lot from the past year, and we’re ready to put those insights into action.
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Looking Forward[/h3][p]The partnership we have with our players is incredibly important to us, as is taking on board feedback that doesn’t just help us shape a feature but define it in the first instance. This is why we’re taking the bold step to lift the NDA from the Sea of Thieves Insider Programme. We want to inspire more conversation at scale about what we’re up to and how we can improve the experience. This means that while players will still have to register to be an Insider, they will be able to talk openly about the Insider build – as well as stream and capture it.[/p][p]This is only the first step in opening us up to more community input, as starting from next Season we’re also planning a Seasonal Big Listen with our Insider Programme members. We’ll be asking how you found the content we’ve recently released, and more broadly how you’re finding the whole package: performance, cheaters, bugs, enjoyability and more. This will allow us to better track sentiment over time and identify gaps for content that addresses a desire or opportunity within our current feature set. And, of course, in line with this focus on transparency, we’ll share the results of these surveys with you, our players.[/p][p]We’re also working on relaunching the Insider Programme in 2026 to make it more engaging and rewarding for participants. This reboot will fold in a number of different community programmes and make the Insider Programme a home and a hub for our most engaged players to get the most out of their playtime.[/p][p]Another thing that we’ve heard our players are missing is consistency in our worldbuilding endeavours, and we’ll be striving to renew our focus on the story of the Sea of Thieves to satisfy different player motivations. We appreciate that we’ve allowed the momentum of the story to slow down as we focused on the sandbox, but looking ahead, we plan on having a much better balance of narrative and features – as well as including story beats within a Season, rather than just at the start. [/p][h3]New Team Setup and Seasonal Approach[/h3][p]We’re crafting a new structure for the team to allow us to deliver across all these areas. While dedicated teams already exist for Seasons, Pirate Emporium and Game Health, we've committed to expanding our Game Health team to ensure we continue improving the core playability and stability of the main game, alongside introducing new experiences. These teams are now set up and ready to go, with some improvements already in the bag and being enjoyed by our players.[/p][p]We’re also changing the way think about our Seasonal content, as well as how we deliver it through a three-month period. We want players to always have something new to look forward to throughout a Season – and when we've released the majority of the content at the beginning of the Season, that hasn’t always been the case. So we’re committing to a clearer structure that means there will be a predictable rhythm of play to each Season, that looks a little like this:[/p][p]Month 1: more sandbox features and worldbuilding setup[/p][p]Month 2: headline live Event, upscaled and expanded with lore elements[/p][p]Month 3: ‘call to action’ moment for players, revisiting and revitalising sandbox content[/p][p]This comes on top of our existing live Events: we will now always run a Community Weekend in the first month of a Season, and a Gold & Glory in the last month to ensure players have an opportunity to catch up if they’ve struggled to find game time.[/p][p]This shift does require a transitionary period to put into practice though, and as a result we will not be running a Community Weekend for Season 16. However, Season 17’s Community Weekend will land early in August to ensure you don’t go too long without that Community Emissary Grade multiplier goodness!
[/p][h3] Season 17[/h3][p]Those of you who caught the Xbox Games Showcase trailer will have learned that the upcoming Season is all about The Smugglers’ League, a band of pirates new to the Sea of Thieves’ shores. The first month of the Season will introduce this ragtag bunch and key features like smugglers’ hideouts, new loot types and Smugglers’ Runs.[/p][p]Month 2 will bring a headline live Event in the form of a heist, while Month 3 refreshes the Skeleton Fort experience – a feature that’s remained unchanged for some time. A Community Weekend celebrating Rare’s 40th anniversary will land at the very beginning of the Season, and Gold & Glory near the end will offer that all-important catch-up moment before Season 18 kicks off. You can also expect all the usual Seasonal rewards, Twitch Drops, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks and more as we roll out a suite of cool stuff to get involved in.[/p][p]We can’t wait to show you more of what to expect of Season 17, so stay tuned for more details on what players will be facing from August onwards!
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Season 18[/h3][p]It wouldn’t be a Sea of Thieves broadcast without a little bit of Sea of Tease – and so our Community Direct took a quick dip into what players can expect from Season 18. With a focus on The Devil’s Roar, this Season promises to boost Emissary play along with general activity in the region. New Ancient Shrines and expanded Smugglers’ League gameplay will form part of this, as well as a thrilling headline Event…[/p][p]But more on that later – for now, it’s time to talk about the much-requested community feature we’ve been working on behind the scenes.[/p][p][/p][h3]Custom Servers[/h3][p]We recognise that Sea of Thieves, at its heart, is about player storytelling – and so over the past year we have been developing a brand new toolset designed to unleash community creativity. These Custom Server features will be available to players in early 2026 as part of a new subscription model, and will come with a whole host of other benefits as part of the premium package.[/p][p]Custom Servers will offer a range of different features, including a private customisable sandbox. With switches, toggles and commands to curate the server experience, subscribers will be able to do things such as spawn enemies and loot on command, turn off AI enemies and ensure that the environment is fit for whatever shenanigans they want to set up.[/p][p]They’ll also be able to run Safer Seas Fleets, filling a server full of friends and larking about to their heart’s content, all while earning rewards at the same levels available in the solo version of Safer Seas. And finally, a cinematic camera will offer players a toolset similar to that used by our very own Video team when they’re putting together those beautiful gameplay trailers.[/p][p]Although this subscription service is landing next year, we’ve taken the decision to announce it nice and early so that our Partners and creative communities can start making plans sooner rather than later. We want to build this toolset in partnership with the community, and running it as a subscription model means that we can ensure ongoing investment into and development of Custom Servers as a platform.[/p][p]We can’t wait to get this feature into players’ hands and build a toolset that empowers all facets of Sea of Thieves’ player base – creative, competitive or otherwise – to craft even more amazing experiences that they can share with their communities.

[/p][h3]Beyond Seasons[/h3][p]Custom Servers will of course fall outside the Seasonal team’s delivery of regular in-game content, and that’s an area of focus for us moving forward too. There’s a dedicated team looking at bigger projects and opportunities beyond Seasons, and how we can deliver these features alongside our Seasonal releases. This resource will look at things like our core progression system, the Pirate Legend experience, community storytelling, ship overhauls, world updates and other areas of this scale and ambition.[/p][p]We’ll share more about our focuses in this space when we’re ready, but we’ve set up our team structure in a way that now allows us to more elegantly deliver different types of content alongside one another, rather than having to sacrifice something in one area for the sake of another. We think this is the best way to keep Sea of Thieves feeling fresh and giving players lots of different things to look forward to.[/p][p][/p][h3]Thanks for Reading[/h3][p]If you got this far through the article, congratulations! It’s been quite the whirlwind of information, so thanks for staying with us. We’d love to hear what you think of our plans for the months ahead, so please head over to our social channels or our Discord server to share your thoughts – we try our best to read all your comments, and we want to make sure that we keep an open dialogue on how our designs are landing with players.[/p][p]We hope you’re as excited as we are about what’s to come for Sea of Thieves, and we’re looking forward to sharing more detail on what we’ve discussed as these features get closer to release. And, of course, we’ll see you in around six months’ time for another Community Direct to dive deep into the next wave of exciting plans![/p]