Sea of Thieves News

As Sea of Thieves storms into its third year on the seas with the wind fully in its sails, now feels like the perfect moment to celebrate the many tales of bravery, boldness and… bananas that have come about since its launch back in March 2018. From epic adventures and colourful encounters to surprising secrets, life on the Sea of Thieves has inspired countless stories and provided a beautifully rich backdrop for our community to forge lifelong friendships.

That’s why today we’re launching our brand new competition – ‘The Greatest Tales Never Told’ – to encourage pirates everywhere to recreate their own favourite tale of time well spent on the Sea of Thieves. All you need to do to participate is this: record the telling of your most memorable adventure in a way that makes best use of your own creativity and the tools offered below, and share it with us using #SoTTalesContest on Instagram, Twitter or YouTube! Some serious treasure is up for grabs for the production boasting the most wit, suspense and surprise, with the top storytelling submission winning:

• An MSI Trident X Plus 9SF-488EU Gaming PC
• Your pirate featured in an upcoming Sea of Thieves publication

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To help you craft your chronicle, we’ve scoured our archives to offer you a wealth of Sea of Thieves supporting assets including a wide range of in-game artwork – available to download now from the official competition page. And don’t worry if you don’t necessarily have the knowhow to put together a full production, as we’ve created a very special Sea of Thieves Instagram filter that you’re also free to use. Remember, if you use the filter, be sure to use the #SoTTalesContest hashtag on your Instagram story to make it count as an entry.

So there you have it: the challenge to tell your greatest Sea of Thieves tale has been set! When it’s ready, share it using the #SoTTalesContest tag on Instagram, Twitter or YouTube, and enjoy a barrelful of fantastical piratical adventures from your fellow players while you wait to see if you’re a winner. The competition runs from June 22nd to July 3rd – for more FAQs on entry and eligibility, see the official competition page.

[h2]Sea of Thieves Store Now Open for Business
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If this competition has whetted your appetite for representing the pirate life on social media, why not carry that into the real world with some Sea of Thieves merchandise? The new and official online store launches today, so head over to seaofthieves.store to browse the very latest in piratical fashions and accessories. As it arrives with the introductory discount code WELCOME (valid until July 7th 2020), all quick-off-the-mark Sea of Thieves fans will be able to bag their swag with 15% off.



Enjoy your shopping trip, start thinking about your competition entry and we’ll see you on the seas!

New to Sea of Thieves? Join the fun with our Maiden Voyage, a narrative-driven tutorial experience separate from Adventure and Arena modes. New Sea of Thieves players will begin their travels within this scenario, which provides guidance and information to fledgling sailors. Learn more about Sea of Thieves at www.xbox.com/seaofthieves and our Steam page, or join the ongoing adventure at www.seaofthieves.com where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

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Prepare for a supernatural encounter on the Sea of Thieves this month as that re-emerging tyrant, Captain Flameheart, makes a new bid for control of the waves! June’s free monthly update Haunted Shores is available now for all Sea of Thieves players on Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and Xbox Game Pass, bringing with it an armada of spectral surprises.

[h2]Ghost Ships Rise to Seek Vengeance [/h2]

We’re pleased to unleash a whole new type of encounter this month and look forward to seeing how well our players react and adapt. Captain Flameheart’s spirit, recently released from captivity, continues to grow in power and has now found a way to rally supernatural support from the Sea of the Damned! His Ghost Ships are the latest threat to reach these seas, and though their phantom forms may be easier to destroy than more earthly ships, they’re fearsomely armed and sure to outnumber living pirates.



Crewed by lost souls, these swift fleets provide a twist on the usual challenges of ship combat as they attack with otherworldly weaponry and drop mines to catch out the unwary. As danger lies in all directions and the ships themselves prove perilous to the touch, agility and crew communication will be just as important as combat skill!

[h2]Flameheart’s Flagship [/h2]

The centerpiece of this update is an emergent event featuring Captain Flameheart’s own ship, the Burning Blade. With the arrival of Haunted Shores, Flameheart’s looming skull will now manifest over islands like the clouds that represent Skeleton Forts or Skeleton Ship battles. However, this particular sign means that the Burning Blade and an armada of Ghost Ships has appeared around an island, as if searching the Sea of Thieves for something…



These will prove to be tough encounters, with Flameheart’s floating skull not just acting as a beacon but giving orders to his ships and berating meddlesome pirates. The Phantom and Wraith Cannonballs fired by the Ghost Ships are as unnerving as they are powerful, but supplies can be claimed by players for their own use after defeating the Burning Blade. There are valuable Damned
treasures to be looted too, plus unique sails to be unlocked by fearless pirates who send enough of these Ghost Ships back to the Sea of the Damned.

[h2]Expanding the Adventure [/h2]

Ghost Ships won’t be fading away after this month’s big event – they’re a permanent addition to the game, providing a new way for pirates to gain gold and reputation with the Order of Souls alongside their usual Skeleton Bounties. Players can accept these Voyages right now from Order of Souls representatives or from Duke in the nearest tavern.

There’s even more to do this month thanks to a refresh of Daily Bounties and other events, all trackable via the Events Hub. Expect a new playlist of Bounties offering bonus gold and Doubloons for completing in-game tasks, plus special time-limited events: The Hunter’s Call, for example, will be boosting rewards for deliveries of cooked meat from sharks and Megalodons, so if anyone falls overboard during a battle with the phantom fleets, they might consider pulling their weight in the shark-hunting stakes instead.



The shanty system also gets a boost in Haunted Shores as instrument-wielding pirates can now use the menus to jump straight to a favourite tune. Better yet, the range of shanties has grown with several new songs for you and your crew to belt out on deck, on shore or in the tavern, including fan favorites such as ‘Maiden Voyage’ and ‘We Shall Sail Together’!

Last but not least, the Pirate Emporium enjoys its usual monthly update, ushering in the appropriately undead-themed Blighted Ship Set for fans of State of Decay. You’ll also find some pets that have been transformed into living treasures by the Gold Curse, a range of new outfits for your furry or feathery sidekicks and even animal-themed pirate dance emotes for players who want to laugh in the face of Flameheart’s threats.

Enjoy exploring all these additions alongside this month’s hair-raising headline challenge – one that’s sure to create some surprises between players once they pick up some of those hard-hitting supernatural cannonballs!

[h2]Find Out More [/h2]

For more information on the Haunted Shores update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. The update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Xbox One, on Windows 10 PC or via Steam, or players who have access to it with Xbox Game Pass. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access.

New to Sea of Thieves? Join the fun with our Maiden Voyage, a narrative-driven tutorial experience separate from Adventure and Arena modes. New Sea of Thieves players will begin their travels within this scenario, which provides guidance and information to fledgling sailors. Learn more about Sea of Thieves at www.xbox.com/seaofthieves, or join the ongoing adventure at www.seaofthieves.com where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

Just over a week ago, Sea of Thieves set sail on Steam, welcoming a whole new community of pirates onto the waves to seek adventure and the chance to become a Pirate Legend.

It’s been wonderful to see the reaction to the game from the Steam community, and we were thrilled to see Sea of Thieves become the number one bestselling game on its day of release. That positivity has continued, with all those Steam players spending more than 3.5 million hours in the game by the end of its first week, helping Sea of Thieves break into the top 20 most played games by concurrent player count.

Our new Steam community joins us from all over the world, representing 149 different countries as of June 11th. These multinational pirates become part of an already diverse and vibrant community, playing both alongside and against players coming in from Xbox One, Game Pass and the Windows 10 Store. The barrier to adventuring with your friends has never been lower.

On behalf of everyone at Rare, I’d like to welcome all our new players to the community and wish them many happy hours of sailing and adventuring.

[h2]A Little Help Finding Your Sea Legs[/h2]

With so many new crews taking their maiden voyage on the Sea of Thieves, we’ve recently dedicated some time to creating a new resource that’ll help first-time or lapsed players get up to speed with the ways of pirating.

Our Sea of Thieves New Player Guide is designed to give you a great grounding in the game, letting you know what to expect and offering tips on how to get the most from your Voyages. Covering everything from the bare-bones basics to great ways of finding new crewmates, it’s an essential tool for anyone taking their first steps on the path to Pirate Legend! Download the PDF for free here.

Thanks again for playing, newcomers and seasoned sailors alike, and we’ll see you all on the seas!

Today’s the day – Sea of Thieves is available to play on Steam! This is an amazing moment for the 10 million plus pirates who’ve already joined us on the seas, as we welcome a whole new bunch of bright-eyed buccaneers into the fold. Going live at 6PM BST/10AM PT, the game will be available for all Steam players to download and play today, allowing them to set sail alongside their Xbox One and Windows 10 counterparts for the very first time.

[h2]Ever-Evolving Pirate Fantasy
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Through our commitment to regular free content updates, Sea of Thieves has grown and evolved at a scale that few other service-based games can match – and the best news is that we still have huge plans on the horizon. The Steam version of Sea of Thieves will arrive with everything introduced to the game since its March 2018 debut, offering full parity with the Xbox One and Windows 10 versions, while all free content updates still to come will also be brought to Steam.

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That means our new pirates will be able to enjoy all the original launch content, explore everything added in 2019’s huge Anniversary Update, take on the Emissary system and Reaper’s Bones Trading Company introduced by Ships of Fortune in April, and dive straight into Sea of Thieves’ latest update Lost Treasures – which introduced a whole host of regular and time-limited live events alongside checkpoints for our narrative-driven Tall Tales. In fact, anyone unfamiliar with the array of features, functions and content filling out Sea of Thieves since launch should read this handy article covering 38 (38!) of the biggest additions since our shared world pirate adventure first set sail!

[h2]Steam Sailors Share Servers with All Players
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The Steam version of Sea of Thieves will also be included in cross play, meaning players can crew up together regardless of which platform they’re on – so if you’re an existing player, you can look forward to adventures with pirate pals on different platforms. And if you’re a returning player looking to set sail on our newest platform, the Steam version also enables cross progression, allowing you to bring your pirate and your progress along on your latest journey. For more on this and other tips on setup and compatibility, see our dedicated Steam launch FAQ!

[h2]Find Out More
[/h2]
For extensive coverage of all content updates, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. These monthly updates are available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and Steam, or players who have access to it with Xbox Game Pass. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access.

New to Sea of Thieves? Join the fun with our Maiden Voyage, a narrative-driven tutorial experience separate from Adventure and Arena modes. New Sea of Thieves players will begin their travels within this scenario, which provides guidance and information to fledgling sailors. Learn more about Sea of Thieves at www.xbox.com/seaofthieves, or join the ongoing adventure at www.seaofthieves.com where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

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The Sea of Thieves is a place full of tales to be told and challenges to be faced, never more so than in May’s free monthly update Lost Treasures – available now for all Sea of Thieves players on Xbox One, Windows 10 PC and Xbox Game Pass! With a brand new checkpoint system to help all pirates progress through our Tall Tales, plus Daily Bounties and events to rally the most resourceful crews on the seas, there’s a packed month of activity ahead.

[h2]Take Up the Tall Tales[/h2]
Tall Tales in Sea of Thieves are exciting narrative-driven adventures that delve into the stories behind some of its prominent people and places. Nine of these Tales make up the Shores of Gold sequence, while another two arrived in recent monthly content updates The Seabound Soul and Heart of Fire.

Tall Tales can be played at any time, and this month’s update introduces new features to make them easier than ever to seek out and enjoy: tooltips on the map now show you where to begin and help set the scene for each Tale, while newly implemented checkpoints mean you can play through at your own pace and never have to worry about starting from scratch! As a bonus, take part in our Tall Tales Retold time-limited events in June and there may be new rewards for travelers who thought they’d earned everything…

[h2]Get Rich with Daily Bounties[/h2]
Expect something new to do on every day of the Lost Treasures update as our Daily Bounties come into effect. Check the What’s New messages when you jump into the game to see what challenge awaits you that day, and tackle it head-on to keep this new income stream of gold and Doubloons flowing.
These Daily Bounties don’t just involve taking down named targets – they’re mini-objectives that cover goals as diverse as handing in specific types of treasure, finding your way to a far-flung location or disposing of enemy mobs with a particular flourish. Get ready to flex a whole range of Sea of Thieves skills!



[h2]Fill Your Pirate Event Planner[/h2]
If daily commitments are too rich for your blood or, conversely, you want more activities to keep you on the seas, Lost Treasures backs up the Bounties with additional weekly and one-off events. Every Friday during this update, players are invited to end the working week with a boost from the Fort Night event, which increases the returns on all Stronghold treasure taken from Skeleton Forts.

Meanwhile, the Reaper’s Rewards event offers prizes of new emotes to pirates who double down on their Reaper duties – all you have to do is fill quotas of Reaper’s Chests, Reaper’s Bounties and Reaper’s Bones Emissary Flags delivered to The Reaper’s Hideout. Or go darker still and give your ship an undead makeover when the Blighted Bonus breaks cover: a promotion that brings some State of Decay sensibilities to Sea of Thieves’ world, tempting pirates to take possession of the Blighted Flag, Sails, Hull and Figurehead!

The Hunter’s Haul fishing event will also make a return during the Lost Treasures update, so make sure your rod and line skills are on point as there are Ancient Coins up for grabs to spend in the Pirate Emporium. What wonders can be found in the Emporium this month? A full Ruby Splashtail Ship Set and Splashtail Monarch cosmetics! Perfect.



You can even capitalize on your extra earnings by cashing in during the fixed Gold Rush windows each day, two separate hour-long slots that ensure even more bang for your booty. So whether you’ll be gathering goods from Tall Tales, picking apart Forts for profit or filling your boots with the spoils of Daily Bounties, get this latest free Sea of Thieves update and claim your share of Lost Treasures!

[h2]Find Out More[/h2]
For more information on the Lost Treasures update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. The update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Xbox One or on Windows 10 PC, or players who have access to it with Xbox Game Pass. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access.

New to Sea of Thieves? Join the fun with our Maiden Voyage, a narrative-driven tutorial experience separate from Adventure and Arena modes. New Sea of Thieves players will begin their travels within this scenario, which provides guidance and information to fledgling sailors. What’s more, we’re officially coming to Steam in June! Learn more about Sea of Thieves at www.xbox.com/seaofthieves, or join the ongoing adventure at www.seaofthieves.com where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!