Sea of Thieves News

Following a recent revisit to Sea of Thieves’ Captaincy system and changes made to streamline player progression (which we encourage you to read about in more detail), we thought it’d be well worth recapping the reasons why you might want to buy your own ship and set sail as a Captain in the first place. So here’s a handy reminder of the perks available to our Captains of Adventure!

[h3]A Home on the Seas[/h3]
Say goodbye to rentals – your ship is now your own, purchased with hard-earned gold and gaining its own history and reputation as you sail upon it. There’s a certain amount of pride that comes with adventuring on something that’s been by your side through naval battles and Kraken attacks, rather than something you set foot on for the very first time that day.

Conversely, the sweet sorrow of sinking is so much more painful when it’s your own vessel descending into the murky depths, the battle scars that persist across your ship’s hull when it’s hauled back to the surface serving as a sharp reminder of your defeat. However…

[h3]Battle Scars, Begone[/h3]
If the hull of your ship looks like a slice of Swiss cheese and you’d rather it was as smooth as the skin of a freshly picked banana, being a Captain can help with that too. Visit a shipwright at any Outpost and they’ll be able to make your ship look box-fresh and beautiful again!

[h3]A Ship By Any Other Name…[/h3]
“A good name is rather to be chosen than riches,” as they say, and as Captain you get to bestow the name of your choice upon your ship. Provided it meets the criteria, the Pirate Lord himself will officially recognise your chosen name, engraving it on the Ship’s Crest and stern the first time you set foot on deck.

Even better, other pirates who spy your ship from across the sea will be presented with a Ship’s Banner letting them know your ship’s name, and the name of the Captain at its helm. Will you choose a name that strikes fear into the heart of all who see it? One that taunts other pirates into attack? Or will you take the opportunity to make a joke so daft that those who see it are rendered helpless with laughter? That’s the great thing about being a Captain – the choice is yours.


[h3]Deck-orate Your Own Ship[/h3]
Speaking of choice, Captain status also brings far greater control over how your ship looks. Channel your inner designer as you customise your chair, bed, table and more to create the Captain’s cabin of your dreams. Then you can further decorate your ship with Trinkets, be they knick-knacks purchased from the shipwright or Trophies unlocked via your daring deeds.

So that you don’t have to spend your precious plunder procurement time fiddling around in the Ship Customisation Chest, you can save the inner and outer customisations so that your ship looks ship-shape, shiny and ready to go at the start of each and every session.

[h3]Say Ahoy to the Sovereigns[/h3]
Being a Captain comes with a certain amount of prestige, and you may find that people who ignored you before are now very interested in hearing what you have to say – and sell. The Sovereigns have set up their fancy marquees at every Outpost, and they’re so keen to make friends with pirate Captains that they’ll deliver your treasure to the Trading Companies on your behalf. They’ve even installed Rowboat docks and harpoons to make unloading treasure easy for anyone sailing on a Captained ship.

No more separating your Castaway’s Chests from your Coral Skulls and Cannonball Crates – hand it all in to your local Sovereign, then kick back and enjoy the view as the gold and reputation come rolling in.

[h3]Oar-inspiring Perks[/h3]
It’s not just the Sovereigns, though. Being a Captain unlocks other bonus services that were previously unavailable to you. Instead of having to scour an Outpost’s barrels for supplies and lug anything you find across the island, onto your ship and below deck for storage, a quick visit to the shipwright’s shop (and a palm full of gold to sweeten the deal, of course) can see your barrels stocked up with cannonballs, meat, fruit, wood, bait and even throwables like firebombs and blunderbombs.

The shipwrights also sell special Captain’s Voyages to keep on the bookcase on your ship ¬– these span a variety of Trading Companies and give you more control over what your Voyage will entail and how long it will take you to complete.



And that wraps up our whistle-stop tour of Captaincy benefits! We hope it was enlightening to all those fresh-faced pirates who’ve taken their maiden voyage since Captaincy arrived back in Season Seven, and reinvigorating to any Captains who’ve already dabbled but still have much more to explore. As recent changes have made the rewards more achievable than ever, now’s the perfect time to do it!

Season Nine soldiers on and brings action aplenty over the weeks ahead! The Captain’s Week Event rolls out the recently promised Captaincy changes, and hot on its heels comes the latest time-limited trip through another story-driven Adventure. It’s also a particularly fine month for Pirate Emporium variety, and a fresh collection of fixes and balances rounds out June’s offerings!

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Last month’s release notes are still available for recent content reference, or going further back to the start of Season Nine, the release notes from launch and the trailer above will get you up to speed on all its primary features. Right now though, the itemised breakdown of a brand new monthly update awaits. Ready... and away!

[h3]Adventures[/h3]
While the Sea of Thieves’ most curious crews have recently been chasing down Mystery clues, we’re now firmly back in story-driven territory for our next outing. A familiar face seeks assistance to recover a missing artefact as this twelfth time-limited Adventure begins!

Adventure 12 (June 22nd – July 6th)

• To start the Adventure, talk to Larinna to hear of a prominent figure in the affairs of pirates seeking help to hunt down a stolen treasure.
  
• Follow Larinna’s directions to the meeting point, find out what’s at stake and pledge to help recover the artefact before its power ends up in the wrong hands.
  
• This Adventure will take you through twists and tricky decisions, and you’re encouraged to stay on your guard for signs of the treachery that its name suggests...
  
• Pirates who fully complete this Adventure will earn an exclusive Title and a cosmetic reward to serve as a Memento of their quest.

[h3]Pirate Emporium[/h3]
Something for pirates of all persuasions this month! Brand new Ship’s Banners and a brooding Ship’s Crest, sweet pets for the treat lovers and Brawler Emotes for the bruisers, Big Bundles weighing down the shelves and the Beachcomber’s Bounty ship set back with weapons to match.

Season Nine Plunder Pass

• Anyone wishing to take full advantage of Season Nine rewards can still buy the Plunder Pass. Any rewards unlocked will become available upon purchase, so players who have raised their Renown throughout Season Nine can instantly see their hard work rewarded before the Season ends.
  
• This Season’s Plunder Pass offers early access to the complete Sting Tide Ship Collection and evolving Sting Tide Costume, and can be purchased at any time through the Pirate Log, Pirate Emporium or Steam Item Store.

Chocolatier’s Companion Pets

• Two strange new beasts have arrived on the Sea of Thieves for pet-loving pirates to adopt. Choose between a Parakeet or Alsatian and try to avoid leaving them out in the sun for too long!

Beachcomber’s Bounty Weapons

• A rugged survivalist managed to cobble together these four weapons in a cave, with nothing but the scraps of their smashed-up ship.

Beachcomber’s Bounty Ship Collection

• Previously featured in the Season Seven Plunder Pass, all parts of the Beachcomber Bounty Ship Collection are now available to purchase from the Pirate Emporium.

Ship’s Banners

• The Emporium now offers a selection of exclusive Ship’s Banners for Captains. Choose from the Royal Coronet, Reaver and Forgotten Temple designs to help your ship stand out when spied from afar!

Dark Warsmith Ship’s Crest

• Any ship’s name that evokes dread in all who read it is worthy of a Ship’s Crest to match.

Brawler Emote Bundle

• Even without a weapon at hand, a pirate should always be ready for some fisticuffs to defend their loot.

Lodestar Big Bundle

• Wreath yourself in skies and stars with this expansive Lodestar bundle. Includes the full ship collection, costume, weapons and spyglass, plus cat and parrot pets.

Dark Warsmith Big Bundle

• Join some of the Sea of Thieves’ most fearsome pirates with this heavy-duty Dark Warsmith bundle. Includes the full ship collection, costume and weapons.

Freebie Pail Percussion Emote

• Even when you have an actual drum tucked away, sometimes you just like to use what’s at hand.

Solid Gold Bundle (Store Only)

• Want to dazzle in any company? A pirate of true opulence should hoard this Solid Gold Bundle, which contains two Collector’s Pets: the Gold Curse Wildcat and Gold Curse Parakeet. Also includes 1000 Ancient Coins to spend in the Pirate Emporium and a free bonus of 25,000 gold. Head to the Steam Item Store to find out more.

[h3]Gameplay Improvements[/h3]
Reduced Cannonball Knockback

• Players sailing a Galleon or Brigantine will find that the knockback from cannonball splash damage no longer propels them so far into the air, preventing them from being so easily sent overboard. However, they will still be knocked back and disorientated by the blast. This change makes the knockback experience consistent across all ship sizes.

Captains of Adventure Balancing

• A large number of Pirate and Ship Milestones have been rebalanced to make gaining Classes easier, and any progress already made will automatically be converted, potentially boosting players to higher Classes.
  
• The number of Classes required to buy the four tiers of Trinkets has been significantly reduced.
  
• The cost for saving cosmetics to a Captained ship has been removed, and this function is now free.
  
• The gold cost for purchasing ship decorations and Trinkets has been significantly reduced.
  
• Any Captain’s Beds that unlock through Milestones will now unlock at Class 2 instead of Class 5.

[h3]Updates[/h3]
Video Support

• Players logging in to Sea of Thieves will find that the front end menu now has the ability to display video content. This will serve the latest trailers and content directly in-game, and once watched or skipped will return to the beloved Map Table animation.
  
• Players will now also find video content within the What’s New section of the front end menu, which can be browsed and rewatched on demand.

[h3]Outpost Cosmetics [/h3]
Aristocrat Hairstyles

• The urge to style yourself exquisitely needn’t stop when you reach the top of your head, as these additional hairstyles become available from Outpost shops.

[h3]Events[/h3]
Captain’s Week (June 15th – June 22nd)

• To encourage pirates to test the waters of Captaincy and explore the permanent improvements introduced this month, the Captain’s Week Event comes with a whole package of perks!
  
• Enjoy heavy discounts on ship purchases, boosted rewards when sailing on a Captained ship, new weapons to earn by using the Sovereigns’ services and a Pirate Emporium sale full of bargains for keen Captains.
  
• Visit the Captain’s Week Event page for more, and discover details on the permanent Captaincy changes in the dedicated news article.

Twitch Drops

• Continue to unlock cosmetics throughout Season Nine with Twitch Drops! Stay tuned to Sea of Thieves social channels to find out when Twitch Drops will be active for Partnered streamers, allowing players to earn a selection of items from the Eastern Winds Sapphire set.
  
• Find out how to link your accounts and more on our dedicated Twitch Drops page.

[h3]Fixed Issues[/h3]
Gameplay

• Seagulls above barrels no longer prevent Megalodons from appearing across the seas, bringing the frequency of Megalodon encounters back to intended levels.
  
• Letters of Recommendation and Ritual Skull Voyages from Larinna have now been refreshed, and players can purchase twice the usual amount to cover those missed last month.

Battle for the Sea of Thieves

• The Hourglass is no longer interactable after a ship has been sunk, or scuttled by the crew.
  
• Crews losing a battle should now consistently be sent to the sinking wreck sequence and moved to a new location.

Captains of Adventure

• Rowboats that become damaged while docked to a ship will now visually show the damage prior to being undocked.
  
• The Pirate Milestone for Rowboats Docked will now increase when a Rowboat is docked to your ship by any player.

Pirate Emporium

• The icon for the Night Wulf Eye of Reach is now centered.
  
• The Crab Dab Emote and Monkey Dance Emote are no longer showing their sale prices.
  
• The Cutler Beckett Costume Set has now been updated to show the correct description of the item.

Visual and Audio

• When fishing, the names of fish that surface will now be shown consistently.
  
• The Flag of the Bristling Barnacle can now be equipped on a Brigantine.
  
• Pirates’ hands no longer intersect with the Order of Souls and Merchant Alliance Shovels.
  
• When approaching the location of an active Bounty Quest, the music will now consistently switch to the appropriate theme.

Text and Localisation

• The action of delivering, giving and selling items is now more clearly translated when playing in the Korean language.
  
• ‘The Legendary Storyteller’ – The Quest Book now correctly references Port Merrick.
  
• ‘Dark Brethren’ – A typo in the initial notification when starting the Tale from a checkpoint has been corrected.

Performance and Stability

• Improved server performance when large numbers of floating items are left at sea.
  
• Improved server stability to avoid instances of players being disconnected from their session.
  
• Steam players encountering a file corruption issue will now be shown an error message on launch rather than becoming stuck in a loop.

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
Reduced Server Performance

• Players may experience scenarios where they encounter ping spikes at random while playing, resulting in rubberbanding or client stutters. While improvements were most recently released in update 2.7.3, the team continue to work on further improvements for future updates.

Ranged and Melee Weapon Hit Detection

• In areas of intense action, players may find themselves firing shots or landing strikes that do not cause damage to their targets. While small improvements continue to be delivered during our regular updates, we are continuing to investigate and identify further improvements to the player combat experience.

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: 5.84 GB

Sea of Thieves fans hoping for a glimpse at what's coming their way over the next few months were in for a treat at this year's Xbox Games Showcase event, held on June 11th. Last year, the same event saw the wraps come off Season Seven's packed Captaincy feature set, while back in 2021 our Showcase included the reveal of Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life. It's a high standard of announcement to measure up to, but we hope you'll be pleased with what we've unveiled for 2023...

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After expressing our team's fondness for the Monkey Island franchise via the Easter eggs left for players to find in Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life, the integration is finally coming your way! We've worked closely with Lucasfilm Games to bring Monkey Island to Sea of Thieves, resulting in an experience that's expansive, exciting and entertaining.

Over the course of three brand new Tall Tales, you'll be invited to tour and explore beloved locations beginning with Mêlée Island, and interact with iconic characters including Guybrush Threepwood himself. Throughout The Legend of Monkey Island you'll solve puzzles, tussle with adversaries and tackle unexpected trials as you strive to put right situations that have gone bizarrely wrong and confront a looming peril born of powers from both worlds.

Players can expect to learn more about how these places are connected through an experience underscored by a rich seam of comedy, but right now we want to leave as much as possible to be discovered as you go. Whether this is your dream crossover as a long-term fan or fated to be your first foray onto the shores of Monkey Island, we hope you'll feel the love that's gone into this collaboration and find plenty to love in return.

The Legend of Monkey Island is coming free to all Sea of Thieves players, beginning with the first of three new Tall Tales on July 20th. Bring your wits, your finest hat and a talking skull, and we'll see you mighty pirates there.

Oh yes friends, it’s that time once again. May might have breezed past in the blink of an eye, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t do our best to absolutely cram it with all kinds of content for you to enjoy. And as always, we wanted to provide you with a full round-up of everything that you might have missed, so let’s just get right to it…

[h3]Content Update[/h3]
The beginning of May was shrouded in Mystery. After an initial heads-up that something strange was afoot, the first of several letters from the shadowy ‘H’ was delivered to the Gold Hoarders. Filled with riddles, the note – and those that followed – led pirates down a twisting path to uncover a series of codes and in-game Voyages. Though three keys have been found at the time of writing, The Hoarder’s Hunt is not yet over…

Something that came with far less uncertainty attached was the May content update! We were so keen for you to know all the details, in fact, that we ensured the traditional set of release notes was ready to go alongside the usual curated collection of fixes and improvements, new player reporting tools and some efficient new Merchant Alliance gear at the Outposts.

The Pirate Emporium saw a fresh wave of cosmetics in May’s update too, bringing a range of new costumes, pets and Trinkets straight out of classic crossover Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life. This stock refresh also saw the return of Season Six’s Plunder Pass set, the Spring Blossom collection, now with additional weapons and a fishing rod to round out the look. A new Mystery also meant new merch, with a range of Hoarder’s Hunt designs popping up in the Rare store through the month.

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[h3]News and Features[/h3]
We went into the month of May thinking about June, strangely. Specifically, we’d turned our attention to the upcoming Captain’s Week Event and with it an overhaul to the existing Milestone progression system. To fill you in on all the coming changes and to make sure you had an opportunity to prepare, we made sure to run you through all the details early in the month.

With everyone suitably set for the future, it was time for a fashion show! May heralded the latest round of the prestigious Style of Thieves competition, where pirates show off their best looks in the hopes of snagging a pair of the exclusive Fashionista’s Finery Gloves. We revealed Season Nine’s themes early on to ensure everyone had time to put together the perfect outfit, along with outlining the corresponding entry deadlines. More on that later.

‘Dark Descent’ was May’s addition to the streamable Sea of Thieves soundtrack, while we also took a moment to celebrate the classic ‘We Shall Sail Together’ passing a mighty 10 million plays on Spotify! Over in community news, we weren’t about to leave you without some new Spotlights to explore: famed creator LDSylvr spoke about his experiences organising community events, then we checked in with avian enthusiast and relentless bird requester Owlet for a conversation that was mostly not about owls. Mostly.


[h3]Videos and Streams[/h3]
With The Hoarder’s Hunt taking place over the month, we were far from short of videos to share with you. At the very start of May we dropped a short teaser, then followed it up with a more in-depth look at how the Mystery would actually work.

When the first letter from ‘H’ arrived, we added a launch trailer to the mix, before later kicking off Stage 2 with one of the strangest livestreams we’ve ever had the pleasure of hosting. Even then, we still weren’t done! As we moved into Stage 3, we hopped back in to catch you up on the Mystery so far and possibly sprinkle in a few clues for the most observant pirates.

And, just in case all of that wasn’t enough to keep you going, the last weekend of the month allowed Twitch viewers to bag the first batch of items from the Eastern Winds Ruby collection to fill out their Equipment Chests – and we even managed to find time to bring you two entire episodes of Sea of Thieves News. Honestly, you’d think we never let the Video team go home or something.

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[h3]Social Channels[/h3]
After the theme reveal earlier in the month, it was little surprise that one of the biggest social media events of May was the Style of Thieves contest. With four themes to get through – RPG Classes, Romantic, Spring Style and The Elements – we spent several days mid-month being inundated with some of the finest fashions the seas have ever seen. Ultimately though, winners had to be found, and as May drew to a close we picked out a handful of entries that stood out from the crowd.

With the weather warming, this month’s #SoTShot competition set our minds to summer holidays and sunshine with a delightfully whimsical Travel Poster theme. And at the same time, the Community Hub granted eight artistic members of the community their very own Hats of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame for some exceptional creations.

After so many competitions and giveaways, we took a five-minute breather with a trip to a coffee shop, before jumping right back into the thick of it with weekly #TriviaTuesday posts and an illustrated look at a selection of Season Nine stats so far. We briefly returned to the world of fashion for a discussion of favourite clothing sets, then moved on to acknowledging adventures in another kingdom and comparing good luck rituals. Do you have one? Will it help us to not fall off the dock every time we try to get on our ship? The mysteries never cease.


Well, seeing as we need to recover from another ignominious dunk in the sea, that’s all we have time for today! There were a lot of moving parts to manage throughout May, largely thanks to The Hoarder’s Hunt – which were your favourite bits? You can let us know and keep up with all Sea of Thieves news via our social channels on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or Twitch, or by joining the official Forums or Discord. In the meantime, we’ll be back next month with another round-up. Of the previous month, obviously. See you then!

[hr][/hr][h3]Previously in 2023: [/h3]
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2023 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2023 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2023 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2023

When we took a deep breath and released Sea of Thieves’ second trailer into the online currents back in 2016, backed by the atmospheric arrangement and vocals of ‘We Shall Sail Together’, any dream of numbers in the millions seemed too distant to even consider.

Seven years later, including five since launch, we’ve watched well over 30 million players set sail - but we’ve never lost track of the song that accompanied our early cinematic showing. The full-length version of ‘We Shall Sail Together’ with an additional verse was released shortly after its truncated trailer debut, and it’s since resurfaced in numerous other ways and places including, as Robin mentions in the celebratory video below, unlocking the in-game Pirate Legend Hideout. It’s also a staple of our ever-growing official downloadable soundtrack, where crucially it’s just passed the milestone of being streamed 10 million times on Spotify alone.

To mark this occasion, we descended on the in-house audio department and encouraged the Sea of Thieves soundtrack maestro himself, Rare’s Music Director Robin Beanland, to chat about how the track came to life and break down the component parts to show how it all fits together.

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Writer Chris Allcock, who still works on Sea of Thieves and authored the official novels Athena's Fortune and Heart of Fire, provided ‘We Shall Sail Together’ lyrics for Anna Hon to sing back in those mist-wreathed pre-launch days. He retains strong memories of what the song was striving to embody:

“We knew that the first time the world was going to be hearing this song was during the Xbox presentation as a game trailer – and traditionally in trailers, if there’s a narrator or similar character talking, their purpose is to get across what the core of what the game is about.

“In our case, the lyrics needed to do something similar, so with the visuals taking care of conveying gameplay moments like fighting a Kraken and battling skeletons, we decided to really focus on the idea of the crew bond being a key part of the game and that if you do ‘sail together’ and work as a group, you’ll ultimately succeed.

“I think it also helped to deal with any misconceptions that playing as a pirate meant you’d eventually stab your crewmates in the back and take all the treasure, which obviously was not how the game was going to work – likewise, the phrase ‘sons and daughters’ was placed early on to let players know that everyone was going to be welcome on the waves.”

As we continue to welcome pirates of all stripes and stances into our sandbox, we’d like to once again thank all those bold souls who sail with us as we hit these heartwarming heights together. Hold your course, there’s still so much more to be seen and heard...