Sea of Thieves News

Everything is IP, all of the time, everywhere you look now, because big wigs in suits have got it in their heads that original, uniquely appealing content just can't win over a combination of pixels that resemble something someone already likes. Sea of Thieves is no stranger to crossovers, with big, thematically relevant ones like Monkey Island and Pirates of the Caribbean, as well as some smaller ones like Halo and Banjo Kazooie. Today's crossover is one of the smaller ones, this time with, uh… Destiny. The sci-fi, first-person shooter. Huh.

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[h3]Wild Seas[/h3]
Heed the call in Season 15, which brings a wealth of new incentives to The Hunter’s Call while introducing new wildlife both harmless and hostile. For an overview of the fierce features due to roll out over the course of this Season, head to our dedicated Season 15 page!

Hunting Spear

• Players can now wield trusty hunting spears which can be aimed and thrown, dealing damage to roaming wildlife and other players alike. Spears can also be retrieved when embedded in a solid surface and thrown again.
  
• Hunting spears can even be loaded into a ship’s cannons for extra power and fired at players or other ships. When fired into a ship, the spear will lodge in the hull, causing a small damage hole. Removing it will increase the hole size, so be prepared to repair!
  
• Hunting parties looking to stock up their ship should visit The Hunter’s Call representatives, who will sell hunting spears up to a limit of five. Hunting spears can also be discovered washed up on shores, within shipwrecks and among the rewards earned when defeating Skeleton Ships.

Ambient Wildlife

• While sailing the open seas, crews may now find they are joined by seagulls who fly alongside the ship as it sails. These birds will disperse if they sense danger!
  
• While out exploring islands, players may now stumble upon small lizards basking in the daytime sun.
  
• Crews creeping into a dark cave may disturb a flock of bats, who will promptly flee from their hiding spot.
  
• Players exploring the shallows near islands may now come face to face with a smack of jellyfish. While these floating jellies may seem threatening, fear not, they’re harmless!

Wild Seas Commendations and Rewards

• With the introduction of the hunting spear, new Commendations have been added within the Reputation tab to challenge aspiring hunters. Explore the new challenges under Wild Seas to unlock exotic wildlife-themed weapons.

Fishing Voyage Improvements

• The Fishing Maps provided on Captain’s Fishing Voyages now provide crews with only a partial piece of the island near the fishing location, making it more of a challenge to locate the fishing spots.
  
• Crews on a Fishing Voyage will no longer find they are attacked by emergent threats on the island with the fishing spots.

Ancient Megalodon Balancing

• The Feared Redmaw and Barnacled Dread now take reduced damage from a blowpipe’s Poison Dart.

[h3]Gameplay Improvements[/h3]
Performance Improvements

• The Sloop, Brigantine and Galleon have been rebuilt behind the scenes, breaking up each ship into smaller parts, allowing them to be loaded in sections by the server. This work will provide server performance improvements when ships are created at the start of a session, in addition to ships arriving on a server after diving or naturally through server migration.
  
• Performance optimisations have been made to Storage Crates and Resource Barrels, addressing spikes in framerate when repeatedly interacting with their inventories over longer sessions.
  
• Performance improvements have been made to the way treasure items floating in water are managed across the server.
  
• Further performance improvements have been made to how Trinkets are loaded when approaching Captained ships. Trinkets are now gradually loaded in over time and will only fully load when much closer to the ship, further reducing the performance impact when approaching ships at sea.
  
• A new management system is now in operation on the server, controlling the activation of certain events and encounters to ensure that the server has the necessary resources to safely operate the activity. Encounters with an emergent Megalodon are now controlled by this system, with further events to follow in future updates.
  
• In addition to the above areas, this update includes a range of smaller optimisations to game performance that provide improvements across the broader experience.
  
• Players navigating to Frame Rate Lock within the Video settings will now find supporting information clearly advising them to lock their frame rate for a more consistent experience.

Lifting Outpost Trap Restrictions

• Traps can now be placed in and around the Outpost taverns, allowing crews to lie in wait for unsuspecting players.
  
• Players triggering a nearby trap when arriving in the tavern at the start of their game session will remain unharmed and not suffer damage while ‘waking up’.

Grapple Gun Animations

• Players grappling to a location will now have a unique animation, showing their pirate flailing as they’re pulled through the air.

[h3]Pirate Emporium[/h3]
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!

New Items – Now in Stock!

• Lightbearer Ship Collection and Ship’s Crest
  
• Lightbearer Weapon Bundle
  
• Lightbearer Costume Set
  
• Mighty Lightbearer Flag, Hull, Collector’s Figurehead and Collector’s Sails
  
• Silent Lightbearer Flag, Hull, Collector’s Figurehead and Collector’s Sails
  
• Wise Lightbearer Flag, Hull, Collector’s Figurehead and Collector’s Sails
  
• Gold Curse Toucan
  
• Dire Dark Warsmith Weapons: Double Barrel Pistol, Throwing Knives, Grapple Gun and Blowpipe
  
• Pet Pig Outfits: Sovereign, Bilge Rat, Sea Dog, Pirate Legend and Ghost
  
• Over Here! Emote (free!)

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

• The Outposts now stock equipment, instruments and a range of weapons from the Azure Scout set, available for purchase at their respective shops.
  
• The Legendary Heavy Sword and Rapier are now available for Legends to purchase from the Pirate Legend Hideout.

[h3]Updates[/h3]
Pirate Emporium Browsing

• When browsing bundles within the Pirate Emporium, players can now navigate directly to the ‘Browse All’ menu from a shortcut at the bottom of the screen.

[h3]Accessibility [/h3]
Emetophobia Support

• Players who suffer from emetophobia (fear of vomit/vomiting) can now turn off all vomit-related audio effects from the Audio settings, including sounds made by players and pets.

[h3]Fixed Issues[/h3]
Gameplay

• Players grappling to a ship’s ladder should no longer find themselves temporarily appearing in a different location.
  
• Items dropped in various areas of Siren Shrines and Treasuries will no longer float up to unreachable locations.
  
• Items dropped into shallow pools on islands will now float properly instead of hovering high above the surface.
  
• Reaper’s Chests hidden within shipwrecks will once again show their tell-tale beacon from across the seas, and no longer require a crew to approach before they become visible.
  
• All blowpipes have been reviewed and their aiming improved to ensure shots now align with the tip of the blowpipe when fired.
  
• Players can no longer grapple treasure through the open storeroom windows of Sea Forts.
  
• Tall Tale items from locations within the Sea of the Damned can no longer be brought back to the Sea of Thieves.
  
• Melee attacks from a throwing knife below the deck of the ship should no longer appear to hit an invisible surface in various locations.
  
• The Dance Off Danger Commendation will now progress when players use a Bone Caller to target Obsidian Skeletons.

The Hunter’s Call Trading Company

• Captains can now place up to five Banner of the Hunter and Merrick Shipmate Trinkets on their ship once unlocked.
  
• The Orb of Secrets can now be sold to The Hunter’s Call for the same price as other Trading Companies.
  
• Hunter’s Call treasure sold to The Reaper’s Bones no longer increases progress towards Call of the Hunter Commendations.

Fishing Voyages

• Treasured Fish can now be grappled out of other players’ hands.
  
• Players with a Treasured Fish on their line should no longer see the fish reappear in the water when crouching or swapping items before retrieving it.
  
• The fishing spots at Isle of Last Words have been moved further away from the shore to ensure crews can fish successfully.
  
• Treasured Fish now move naturally when swimming towards the fishing float.
  
• Frenzied fishing spots now fade away once all fish are caught and a Voyage is completed.
  
• Fishing spot visual effects no longer appear inside the ship’s hull if the ship stops on the fishing spot.

Ancient Megalodons

• Commendation progress for defeating Ancient Megalodons is now awarded to all crews participating in the encounter by dealing damage, not just the crew that lands the final hit.
  
• While attacks by Ancient Megalodons can occasionally overturn a ship, the frequency of this occurrence has now been reduced.
  
• Ancient Megalodons should now be able to navigate smoothly around the Fort of the Dammed.
  
• Defeating an Ancient Megalodon will now be recorded in the Captain’s Logbook.
  
• Firing a Grapple Gun at the Barnacled Dread will no longer cause the tether to attach to a distant location.
  
• Crews can now progress the Who Needs a Bigger Boat? Commendation when attacking an Ancient Megalodon with a Cannon Rowboat.
  
• Captains defeating an Ancient Megalodon will now progress The Feared Pirate Milestones and Ship Milestones.
  
• Crews defeating an Ancient Megalodon should now consistently find the Hunter of the Feared Redmaw and Hunter of the Barnacled Dread Commendations progress correctly.

Pet Pigs

• Players stroking a pig while jumping will now appear to stroke the pig correctly after landing and the pig will remain in the correct position.
  
• The nameplate for a pet pig will now be shown above the pig.
  
• A pet pig’s shadow will now be shown when holding it.

Performance and Stability

• Crews performing multiple server migrations during a single session should no longer experience rubberbanding and server desync.
  
• Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

User Interface

• Players who were previously unable to save changes to their game settings should now find that these are saved consistently when leaving a session, and no longer need to be changed at the start of a new session.
  
• Players attempting to open their game settings and the Quest Table at the same time should no longer become stuck.
  
• Using the back button while navigating the Pet Chest with a virtual keyboard on consoles will no longer cause the menu to become stuck, preventing further input.
  
• Browsing many pages of the spotlighted sections in the Pirate Emporium will no longer cause the menu to become unresponsive.
  
• In multiple areas of the experience where a player’s gamertag is shown within a menu, a shortcut button can now be used to summon the player profile on supported platforms.
  
• Switching pirates within the pirate selection screen on the front end should no longer cause the lighting to flicker.

Visual and Audio

• Players using the ship’s wheel on a Brigantine will no longer have their game chat muffled when speaking.
  
• Multiple crews gathering to join the Legend of Glitterbeard will now find the visual effects light consistently with the music.
  
• Players using a disguise while wearing a Curse with visual effects will no longer find those effects give away their disguise by appearing briefly when other players approach.
  
• Players wearing a Stately Shirt should now find that all hairstyles appear correctly.
  
• Players with tattoos wearing a Stately Shirt should now find the tattoos appear correctly.
  
• Previewing a disguise within the Vanity Chest now correctly shows the pirate inside the disguise.
  
• The Dreamers’ Dust Costume has regained its visual effects.
  
• The Hidden in Plain Sight and Be Alluring to Get Ahead Trophies are now correctly sized and positioned when previewed in the shipwright’s shop or a player’s Trinket collection.
  
• Switching from crouching to standing while holding a fishing rod will no longer cause the rod to momentarily appear in the middle of the screen.
  
• The Baleful Bloom Costume now fits correctly on pirates of all body sizes.
  
• The belt of the Dark Adventurers Jacket no longer merges through the pirate when performing emotes.
  
• Players performing the Swashbuckling Story Emote should now correctly see the sword.
  
• Further improvements have been made to a range of existing hairstyles, ensuring they remain visible when wearing certain costumes.
  
• The Party Boat Jacket and Gloves now appear correctly on pirates of all body sizes.
  
• Players wearing Carla’s Costume should now find the medallion appears correctly on pirates of all body sizes.
  
• During the Ritual of the Flame sequence, the liquid in the chalice will now drain correctly.
  
• During the Ritual of the Flame sequence, glowing eyes will no longer be visible on the skeleton during the transition.
  
• The Pirate Lord now displays the correct visual effects when banging his staff during tutorial sequences.
  
• The lower jaw of the Obsidian Ashen Winds Skull now shows the correct material when being fired.
  
• Players using a disguise while wearing the Burning Eyepatch of the Ashen Dragon should no longer see visual effects floating above the disguise when moving.
  
• Glint effects on nearby treasure now appear consistently when moving in and out of range.
  
• After a Skeleton Fort Key is inserted into the Vault door, it will no longer appear to float in the air.
  
• Players wearing the Intrepid Explorer Jacket now appear correctly when performing a range of emotes.
  
• Crews equipping the Fog-Piercing Frog Lantern will now find the visual effects appear correctly after diving.
  
• Performing the Scrappy Weapon Pose or Menacing Weapon Pose Emote with a blowpipe should now trigger the correct emote.
  
• The flowers on Forest’s Blessing Costumes are no longer affected by nearby storms.
  
• The Ghost Ship’s Crest now appears correctly in the Ship Customisation Chest preview.

Environment

• All Skeleton Vaults have received a polish pass, ensuring their contents are completely hidden from the outside and the cracks in the flooring blend with the environment.
  
• Mercy’s End Fortress now has an Armoury for players to change their loadout.
  
• Players making their way onto a Skeleton Sloop will now find they can safely navigate the ship without hitting invisible surfaces.
  
• Walking into skeletons found deep within The Reaper’s Lair should no longer cause the player’s camera to stutter.
  
• When descending to the Shrine of Flooded Embrace, players should no longer find they can pass through certain doors before they are unlocked.

Text and Localisation

• After players dive to and complete a Raid Voyage for The Hunter’s Call, the Captain’s Logbook will now correctly record the arrival location instead of always displaying Discovery Ridge.

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
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.

[h3]Download and Installation[/h3]
Download Size:

• Steam: 2.9 GB

Roll up, roll up, another Community Weekend has appeared on the horizon! Season 15’s will be a special anniversary affair, acting as the final fanfare of activities and celebrations for Sea of Thieves’ seventh circling of the sun.

Did you know the first of these Community Events was 10 whole Seasons ago, with Season Five’s Community Day? We’ve come a long way since then, with more reward boosts, Pop-Up Plunder maps, special Voyages and Community Goals than you can shake a stick at! But one thing’s remained, and that’s our aim of using these Events to show our appreciation for all the ways that you, our wonderful community, breathe life into the Sea of Thieves.

So as our twelfth Community celebration approaches, we’re all incredibly excited about the features, freebies and fun on offer during this period. And as is now customary, we’re writing an article about it so we can provide all the hot info on what to expect. Let’s get into it…

[h3]Cake By the Ocean[/h3]
…but just before we do, it would be remiss of us not to mention that this Community Weekend begins immediately after our Seventh Anniversary Celebration Event – which, if you missed the memo, is a bumper celebration of memorable moments that began on Friday, March 14th. Act fast and you can still dive in to claim your Voyages of Luck and cosmetic rewards from completed Community Goals.

One more note on these anniversary celebrations: you might’ve seen some surprising sweet treats slink their way onto the Sea of Thieves servers of late. These particular patisserie-pioneered items will be sticking around until Monday, March 24th. You’ve still got time to seek them and see what secret they unveil…


[h3]Community Weekend Commencement[/h3]
Hot on the heels of the Anniversary Celebration Event, Community Weekend kicks off from Saturday, March 22nd (11am UTC), running for a full 48 hours and finishing on Monday, March 24th (11am UTC).

Your login bonuses this time around are the Golden Sailor Hull and the blue-and-yellow Season 15 Community Weekend Flag, which pair very nicely together – and yes, we did plan that on purpose, you’re welcome. The flag will also be present on our themed Picture Walls present at the Outposts. However, this time out, there will also be another Picture Wall on the map – not at an Outpost, but another hand-in hotspot – and it won’t quite look the same as the others, given who’s architected it…

We'll also be sweetening the pot for players with this particular Community Weekend, given the occasion: any rewards unlocked during the Anniversary Celebration Event will also be available to pirates diving into Sea of Thieves during Community Weekend, who will have them added to their inventories when they log in. In short, that means there are stonks of sweet items up for grabs! Which would make you a fool not to swing by for some seafaring shenanigans.


[h3]Stream of Consciousness [/h3]
To raise the Community Emissary Grade during Community Weekend, pirates are once again tasked with watching Twitch to multiply the in-game generosity, with total watch time powering Grade progress. All you need to do to help raise the Grade – and thus increase in-game rewards – is watch any of your favourite content creators in the Sea of Thieves category on Twitch between Saturday, March 22nd and Monday, March 24th (11am UTC).

We’ll also be hosting a special Saturday stream on the Sea of Thieves Twitch channel, and every minute watched there will also contribute to the Community Emissary Grade! So make sure you tune in, if you can – we’ll be taking the Compass of Chaos for a spin, and who knows where it might take us.

Every time the Community Emissary Grade levels up, so does the boost to gold, reputation, Seasonal Renown, Allegiance and Guild Reputation for everyone – with the top Grade offering two-and-a-half times the rewards for your work. These multipliers affect High Seas sailors only, so make sure you plan accordingly!


[h3]Drops Shipped[/h3]
Although merely watching Sea of Thieves creators do what they do best is a reward in itself, we also have a range of Twitch Drops for folks tuning in, with the Seasoned Sailor Heavy Sword, Seasoned Sailor Eye of Reach, Eastern Winds Ruby Pegleg and Eastern Winds Ruby Trousers all on offer to those who spend a chunk of time watching Sea of Thieves creators over the weekend.

Not only that, but if a special cumulative Community Goal is met during Community Weekend – an ambitious total number of World Events dived to and completed – then from Monday, March 24th to Monday, March 31st (10am UTC), players will be able to score not one, but two precious Obsidian items as further Twitch Drops!

If unlocked, the Obsidian Captain’s Chair will be the brand new Drop on offer that week, and given the extra-special nature of our anniversary activities we’d bring back the Obsidian Ship’s Crest as a bonus Drop running alongside it. Just as long as you smash that all-important shared Community Goal, of course…


[h3]Pop-Up Plunder Prevails[/h3]
Our quizzical, time-limited, social media-based loot roulette shenanigans are back for Season 15 Community Weekend! We’ve picked some significant islands in tribute to our seven years of history, but stay tuned to our social channels for clues on where exactly we’ve buried these tantalising treasures on the High Seas. Each dig spot will be live for one hour only, so you’ll be racing against time – and other crews – to make sure you’re first to the loot location. Good luck, pirates!

[h3]Hat to Go![/h3]
As is customary on Community Weekend, we’ll be bestowing both love and rewards upon some unsung heroes of our player base. These fine folks will be honoured with the Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame – a rare, funny hat worn by the cream of our pirate crop.

Whether you’ve performed an astonishing feat on the seas and would like us to tip the Hat in your direction, or you’d like to shout out a crewmate or friend who embodies the Be More Pirate mantra for less specific but no less worthy reasons, we’ll take nominations all the way up to, and during, the weekend. So, if there’s something or someone you’d like to draw our attention to, tell us about it on Sea of Thieves social channels such as Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram with the #BeMorePirate tag.

As we confirmed last time out, we’re taking submissions on Bluesky too – so if you’re over there and would like to suggest a Hat recipient, please do so with the #BeMorePirate hashtag and aim it at the @seaofthieves.com account.

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[h3]Seas the Moment[/h3]
There’s no better time to jump into (or back into) Sea of Thieves than a good-vibes, big-gains event like Community Weekend, so make sure you seize the day – or the weekend – and hit the waves for a whole lot of fun. We’ll see you then!

Mark seven years on the seas with Community Goals charting Sea of Thieves' history, free Voyages of Luck, cosmetics to earn including the High-Spirited Spin Emote and Golden Sailor Cannon Flare, and more! Navigate to the Events Page in the Pirate Log tab to learn more.

As it always does, February raced past in a whirlwind, but that didn’t keep us from loading it with goodies and making the most of the time available. With events and updates and hardly a moment to breathe in between, it was a packed few weeks – so rather than leave you in suspense, let’s skip right to the rundown…

[h3]Content Update[/h3]
First up in February’s activities: strange disturbances at the Sea Forts. Ghostly ships were spotted circling the area, and any sailors who got close found themselves fending off Phantom fighters with spectral blades at the ready. These Dark Fortress Raids offered no easy battle, but pirates who emerged victorious could sail away from the time-limited Voyage with two tasty Vaults’ worth of loot.

Right after that, The Hunter’s Call decided it was time to make their move and declared the start of Season 15! Alongside a major expansion to everyone’s favourite fishing Company – including new Distinctions, rewards, piscine prey and, for the first time, Hunter’s Call Voyages – two Ancient Megalodons emerged from the depths to terrorise those on the waves with their unexpected abilities. Want all the info? Hit the release notes! And the additional notes for a quick hotfix (but don’t worry, we were back up and running in no time).

A fresh Season of course also meant an influx of fine fashions for players to get their hands on, whether they could be earned by raising your Renown or trading your hard-earned Ancient Coins in the Pirate Emporium. Most exciting of all perhaps was the latest expansion to the Pet Chest: pigs! Who could say no to their little faces?

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[h3]News and Features[/h3]
We started February with a few things that needed tying up before Season 14 ended, in particular the latest Style of Thieves contest! To give everyone time to get their outfits together, we revealed the themes as early in the month as possible – even before we’d had a chance to get our February forecast of activities out.

That wasn’t the only focus on community efforts in our News pages either, as we made sure there was time to fit in a new Creator Spotlight. This time we were chatting with FluffyEdge, Stream Team sailor and cat enthusiast, to find out all about her adventures with Captain Tigerpants.

In the run-up to Season 15’s launch, we wanted to set expectations for how this Season’s features would be arriving in phases to keep things spicy – cue a Forum post from Production Director Drew with the lowdown. From there it was onto our classic Season launch article and, a little while later, another check-in from Drew discussing the hotfix. What else could anyone possibly want to know about Season 15?


[h3]Videos and Streams[/h3]
The approach to a Season launch is always packed with videos teasing what’s to come, whether it’s a simple title screen reveal or a Sea of Thieves News episode focusing on some imminent features. This time around, there was also a fresh Developer Update going deeper into the Season’s staggered release and highlighting the performance improvements about to arrive, as well as some eye-opening Megalodon found footage…

Once Season 15 was securely pulling into port, we expanded the roster with the time-honoured offerings of a content update video and launch trailer to show off all the new things joining the queue for you to sink your teeth into (or vice versa). The Pirate Emporium team also got in on things with an oh-so-refined spotlight on their suave Rococo merchandise.

It wasn’t all about Season 15 this month though – some of our other teams had things to share! First up, our talented musicians had a fresh version of ‘Ballad of the Mer’ to add to the usual streaming platforms, giving a dramatic orchestral twist to the familiar tune. Later in the month, the Community team and our lovely streaming supporters once again assembled for a GameBlast stream, helping to spread awareness and raise money for the important work of SpecialEffect, culminating in over £25,000 donated!

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[h3]Social Channels[/h3]
Our social channels in February were awash with competitions and challenges. Alongside eight new entries in the Community Hub and a #SoTShot round focusing on some of the most spectacular loot hauls ever seen, we could also be found handing out magnificent mittens to the latest Style of Thieves victors – plus a few extra once we realised we had some repeat winners!

There was also a romantic February occasion to be marked by, naturally, Valentine’s Day-themed Compass of Chaos challenges, but in the end we spent most of the month trying to find a missing pirate. It took days to track them down. If only we’d had Captain Flameheart’s powers of observation.

The final part of the month was, pretty unsurprisingly, taken up with celebrating some of the new additions to Sea of Thieves – or at least, all the important bits. Including a lot of pigs. It was mostly pigs, in fact. Oh, and baby Merrick.


Well, there you go: as promised last month, despite being naturally disadvantaged in terms of length, February more than pulled its weight when it came to Sea of Thieves goodness. We’ll be back with the next round-up when March is over to see how you’re getting on with Season 15’s latest features, but until then you can hunt us down on Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, the official Forums and Discord. And don’t stop sending us your pet pig pictures! Obviously.
[hr][/hr][h3]Previously in 2025:[/h3]
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2025