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We can scarcely believe that we’re already into the warm tides of June, but even as we turn our attention to the upcoming delights of the month ahead, we still have one more task to complete before we fully say farewell to May: the regular round-up. So please take a moment to join us in celebrating everything that happened last month in the world of Sea of Thieves…

Content Update After the major updates in April, it was a relatively quiet monthly update this time around. Following a {LINK REMOVED}small hotfix at the beginning of the month, May’s main update introduced numerous tweaks and improvements to recently implemented {LINK REMOVED}... Read more

It’s been just over a month since Sea of Thieves launched globally on PlayStation®5 – and wow, what a rollercoaster it’s been. We’ve been inspired, entertained and truly heartwarmed by the way our community has embraced the new, blue pirates who’ve set sail on our waters of late. Thank you to everyone who’s been a part of Sea of Thieves’ journey since Season 12 kicked off – it’s been such a special time here in the studio, and we can’t wait to continue this wild ride with such a spirited and united community on board.

A New Dawn And unite, you all did – we can’t quite believe how many of you have come together to indulge in the camaraderie of crossplay. Since we launched on PS5®, a whopping 1,797,963 crossplay crew sessions have taken place, adding up to an outrageous amount of seafaring shenanigans – with 7,283,307 hours of playtime covered in these sessions. That’s the equivalent of 831 years – you could only just finish all of G... Read more

Well, it’s been a while since we last sat down to put together a Spotlight Showcase! Worry not though, we haven’t forgotten anyone during the intervening months, and now we’re here to bring you a bumper crop of all the Spotlights you might have missed since we last checked in. Let’s go!


First on our list from back in the mists of July is a Community Spotlight with renowned sail scrapbooker {LINK REMOVED}Captain Butterfinger! Alongside his efforts to catalogue the wonderful and varied sails of the Sea of Thieves, he took the opportunity to tell us about his favourite moments from playing the game and his excursions into a certain series of simian... Read more

As spring progresses ever onward outside the windows, things haven’t slowed down for a moment inside Rare HQ! April was absolutely jam-packed with news and updates, including a PlayStation®5 launch for the very first time in our studio history, so let’s not waste time with any more preamble. From the top, here’s everything you might have missed last month!

Content Update Our main update wasn’t due until the very end of April, so we aimed to tide everyone over in the meantime with a Gold & Glory Weekend. What better way to make sure you all had a chance to get your hands on those ... Read more

Sea of Thieves’ Seasons keep on turning, and the arrival of Season 12 on April 30th is a real milestone, coinciding with a huge wave of players sailing in on PlayStation®5 for the first time. This alone would mix up the everyday interactions that take place out there on the waves, but we haven’t even begun to describe the game-changing features delivered by Season 12 itself!


Go on the Attack… Every pirate’s choice of arms to carry into battle is about to be expanded, as the Double Barrel Pistol and throwing knives become available to drop into weapon slots. The Double Barrel Pistol requires a closer range and deals less damage per shot than the standard pistol, but makes up for it with rate of fire and the ability to charge and unleash both shots at once.

Throwing knives, meanwhile, offer even more options: q... Read more

The War Chest New weapons waiting to be mastered and tools to take your tactics to the next level! Try your luck with fresh loadouts and feel the rush while riding the ziplines. To learn more about this new Season’s headline features, head over to our {LINK REMOVED}dedicated Season 12 page.

Throwing Knives

• These new weapons in the pirate armoury come as a set of five, which are wielded one at a time when equipped and can be restocked from any Ammo Chest.
  
• Wielding a throwing knife allows players to stab enemies with a quick melee attack or charge for a devastat...

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This 2.10.3 update lays the groundwork for the full Season 12 launch coming up on April 30th, while also introducing the first pirates on PlayStation®5 to the world of Sea of Thieves during an Early Access period. Be sure to extend a warm welcome if you meet them on the seas!

Fates of Fortune Chest of Fortune

• The Chest of Fortune has been returned to the locked Vault of the formidable Fort of Fortune. Keep a keen eye on the horizon for the ominous red skull cloud in the sky when it becomes active.
  
• Crews who retrieve Chests of Fortune can now earn the next Grade of the Fortune’s Favour Commendation, unlocking access to the Fates of Fortune Lantern, Spyglass, Compass and Bucket.

Reaper’s Chests

• Crews chasing down the tell-tale beacon of...

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As I’m sure you can imagine, when it comes to Sea of Thieves my days are full of numbers. Development costs, active servers, days until the next update… Sometimes, though, a truly extraordinary number stands out – a number like 40 million, which I’m incredibly pleased to say is the number of pirates who’ve now set sail in Sea of Thieves!

40 million players across Xbox, Windows 10 and Steam is an amazing milestone to be able to talk about, and of course it wouldn’t have happened without you – our brilliant, positive and welcoming community, who continue to surprise and impress us with your creativity and antics out on the waves.

That said, I also want to take this opportunity to offer heartfelt thanks to the team, who’ve worked so hard to deliver over a hundred free updates since launch and have plenty more excitement and innovation on the horizon. Season 12 is almost here, and the new additions like throwing knives and the Bone Caller are going to trans... Read more

Our From Concept to Cosmetic series has a somewhat storied history when it comes to talking about lanterns that capture the imagination of players. Indeed, the very first instalment covered the creation of the original lantern MVP: {LINK REMOVED}the mighty Orb. Since that first step into the world of cosmetic design, we’ve branched out into all kinds of wonders, from {LINK REMOVED}punk fashion and {LINK REMOVED}... Read more

As April showers clamour to make themselves known, we’ve realised it’s probably time to tick the Round-Up off our monthly to-do list and catch you up on all the major happenings of the last month. And thus, here we are! Settle in, obtain a beverage of your choosing and let’s get to it.

Content Update As always, a new month meant a new content update, complete with handy {LINK REMOVED}release notes containing all the details. This one was headlined by the arrival of the much-anticipated anti-cheat system, the ability for players with no live se... Read more

Six years! Who’d have thought it? It was on this day in 2018 that Sea of Thieves came crashing into the world and we’re still here cooking up new features, you’re still here playing them and we love you for that, and the seas are about to get busier than ever when PlayStation®5 players join in with our ungovernable shenanigans next month.

So how are we marking the anniversary this year? Mainly by letting you in on a whole treasure trove of secrets. We’ve got plenty planned for the next few Seasons and thought you might enjoy a taster of what’s on the horizon, which you can get simply by tuning in to the special 2024 Preview Event video on our ... Read more

As Season 11 bobs along, occasionally dipping below the waves so it can crash back above them in dramatic fashion, we’re slowly ticking off the usual Seasonal activities. But if there’s one thing that players keep asking about in our social replies that’s yet to make its debut, it’s Anti-Cheat. Good news you lot, that’s just arrived in the March update!

If there’s another thing we see the odd mention of (not so many it’s annoying, but just enough that it causes a little irritation right on the small of the back where you just can’t scratch no mat... Read more

Game Improvements Easy Anti-Cheat

• Sea of Thieves is now protected by Easy Anti-Cheat, the industry-leading anti-cheat solution designed by Epic Games to identify and address instances of hacking and cheating in multiplayer games.
  
• This anti-cheat solution will be updated outside of Sea of Thieves’ regular update schedule to keep in sync with cheat developers.

Updates Virtual Keyboard Support

• Players summoning the Virtual Keyboard inside the game will now find that a range of new languages are supported: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean and Russian.

Message of the Day

• Players will now experience a Message of the Day when arriving in the front end menu, highlighting curr...

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Spring is just starting to bloom here at Rare HQ, which means it’s time we got around to the brisk business of rounding up February’s developments! It was a briskly busy month that boasted some extremely exciting announcements, so let’s jump right into the recap…

Content Update As always, we had a monthly update ready to go, this time integrating Sea of Thieves with the latest Xbox Game Development Kit, making some visual and technical tweaks to various systems – and, most importantly, introducing the first Collector’s Pet fox as the Reaper’s Heart set expanded again in the month of love. For a full rundown of all February’s changes and additions, or just to find out what on earth GDK integration actually means, stop by the relevant {LINK REMOVED}releas... Read more

Game Improvements GDK Integration

• Sea of Thieves now operates on the latest Xbox GDK (Game Development Kit). Players on PC are encouraged to update to the latest graphics drivers to ensure the best compatibility and performance.
  
• Sea of Thieves now supports DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 where supported by the hardware. While the title will now auto-detect and optimise the experience, players can also choose within the game settings.
  
• General client performance improvements should be seen throughout the experience, with PC players seeing the largest improvements.

Updates Improved Athena’s Fortune Voyages

• The Voyage of Legends and Ashen Voyage of Legends have now been refreshed, providing a shorter session experience and c...

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The first month of 2024 is officially over, which means it’s once again time for us to huddle close around our lanterns and rake over the latest gossip on what’s been happening across the seas. Settle in and brace yourselves…

Content Update After the back-to-back content updates of Season Ten throughout the tail end of 2023, you might have expected a quiet few months while we recovered. But no! It was back into the fray upon our return to the office, hustling to deliver an entirely new Season straight out of the gate.

{LINK REMOVED}Season 11 swept in with a complete overhaul to how you choose your adventures, complementing the new Quest Table with a rework of reputation and loot across the game. Trying to break down all the changes involved would ... Read more

Hello sailors! With a new Season comes a new Community Weekend – and February’s event is jam-packed, ready to entertain you with lots of in-game and stream-based antics across the world wide web. If that sounds good to you, then congratulations, you are correct: it’s excellent news, and we’re here to tell you exactly what to expect from the latest 48-hour shindig we’re throwing in honour of you, our wonderful community.

But before we get into everything involved with this Season’s community-oriented shenanigans, we need to share the most crucial bit: the date and times of proceedings! Season 11’s Community Weekend will start on Saturday, February 24th 2024 at 11am UTC and will finish at the same time on Monday, February 26th – giving you two full days to collect your Twitch Drops, maximise your gold, rep and Renown gains and swipe some shiny treasures via Pop-Up Plunder.

The event also conveniently falls across {LINK REMOVED}... Read more

A new Season arrives on the shores of the Sea of Thieves! On January 23rd, Season 11 introduces
some exciting changes and improvements to how you sail the seas, enabling you to dive into adventure faster than ever before while vastly expanding the rewards and progression pathways on offer.

In this latest free update, multiple systems have been refreshed to streamline your experience as you sail or dive swiftly from one Voyage, Event or Tall Tale to the next. Onboarding has also been expanded with new in-game tutorials featuring the Pirate Lord, removing some of the hurdles for newer players seeking to get to grips with life on the seas!

Fundamental Improvements The primary feature of Season 11 is the revamp of the traditional Voyage loop, and that starts with the Quest Table. Rather than having to return to an Outpost to buy new Voyages from the Trading Companies, you’ll now be able to access all available Voyages and Tall Tales directly from your ship. Using th... Read more

Sea of Thieves on Demand Access all the adventure you crave more quickly than ever before with Season 11’s overhaul of Voyages and encounters! Explore a redesigned Quest system, major expansions to most Trading Companies and new rewards and Distinctions to earn as you progress.

On Demand

• With a Quest Table on board each ship now providing the ability to choose from all available outings and dive directly to the scene of a Voyage, Tall Tale or new Raid Voyage, players have unprecedented freedom to explore everything the seas can offer. The refreshed Discover Tab is also on hand with tailored suggestions!
  
• Raid Voyages are new Trading Company-themed versions of World Events with unique treasure types on offer, unlocked from the Quest Table as players climb the Company ra...

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Oh yes, that’s right, we’re not quite ready to be finished with 2023 just yet. Still one last round-up to squeeze in! Now, we might have been winding down for the end of the year in December, but that didn’t stop us from delivering a Community Weekend, two in-game Events and a monthly content update, did it? Of course not. So let’s take a look at everything you might have missed…

Content Update We wasted no time in kicking off the December excitements by hosting {LINK REMOVED}... Read more