Sea of Thieves

Sea of Thieves · Thursday at 11:05 AM

Smugglers’ Tide: Act 3

New blood brings new opportunities as The Smugglers’ League settle into the shadows of the Sea of Thieves! To learn more about this Season’s headline features, head over to our dedicated Season 17 page.

Reaper Fortresses

Skeleton Forts across the seas have been upgraded to Reaper Fortresses with devilish traps and reinforced defences. These new encounters will be signalled by a menacing new Skull Cloud visible across the waves.
With these Fortresses now an active battleground between The Reaper’s Bones and the Dark Brethren, players looking for loot must battle through the surrounding Ghost Ships before making landfall and taking on both Phantoms and Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons.
During the siege, defeating the Master of Arms will award players with the Skull of Arms. This serves as the key to a nearby Weapons Cache, providing useful munitions and supplies to help turn the tide.
Crews will encounter these new Reaper Fortresses emergently in the form of regular World Events. Pirate Legends can also begin a Legendary Raid for Athena’s Fortune from the Quest Table.
For the duration of Act 3, Reaper Fortresses have a chance for their Vaults to be boosted by a Mega Stash, replacing the contents with an immense treasure pile of significantly higher-value rewards.
Both emergent Reaper Fortresses and on-demand Athena’s Fortune Raid Voyages on High Seas can award a Mega Stash. However, the chance of this boost is much higher when encountering an emergent Reaper Fortress in the world.

Smugglers’ Tide: Act 3 Commendations and Rewards

Act 3 introduces new Adventures At Sea Commendations, challenging crews to take on the deadly Reaper Fortresses. Completing these Commendations unlocks access to items in the Brethren’s Masquerade ship set, along with the ‘Brethren of Shadow’ and ‘Gaunt and Gnarled’ Trinkets.
Crews completing Act 3’s Deeds can also earn the ‘Banner of Bone and Blade’ Ornament to commemorate their feats.

Chest of Fortune

During Act 3, the Chest of Fortune will reside in the Vaults of Reaper Fortresses and can only be obtained by overcoming these newly contested battlegrounds.

Pirate Emporium

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!

Alter Ego Ship Collection and Ship’s Crest
Alter Ego Weapon Bundle
Alter Ego Costume Set
Alter Ego Concertina
Skeleton Toucan
Crimson Crypt Cabin Bundle
Expanded Jack O’ Looter Collection: Collector’s Figurehead, Collector’s Sails, Ship’s Crest, Trinket and Lantern
Expanded Silver Sepulchre Collection: Double Barrel Pistol and Throwing Knives
Pocket Bat Emote
See No Evil Emote (free!)

Outpost Cosmetics

New Outpost Stock!

The shipwrights have restocked with the new Orange Resolute Hull, Sails and Flag.
The Outpost weaponsmiths now offer the Lucky Rover Pistol, Cutlass, Blunderbuss, Eye of Reach, Heavy Sword and Rapier.

Gameplay Improvements

Retrieving Items from Skeletons

Players can now retrieve items being held by allied skeletons more easily. Hitting the skeleton anywhere with a Grapple Gun or harpoon will retrieve the item, even if the skeleton is facing away from the player.

Performance Improvements

This update includes a system-level optimisation to CPU performance across the whole experience, to reduce the frequency of framerate drops and provide a smoother framerate during gameplay.
Further optimisations have been made to the way treasure items floating in water are managed, to improve performance on the server.

Updates

Second Chance Policy

Following the recent enforcement policy update, Sea of Thieves will now offer some players who were banned for lesser infringements under our old enforcement policy a second chance to sail the seas.
This new policy is designed as a balance between giving some players another chance and ensuring we continue to protect all players from malicious acts and the bad actors who conduct them. For more details on why we’ve introduced this new policy and how the behaviour of returning players will be managed, see this new article on our Second Chance Policy.

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

Further improvements have been made to the display of a Captained ship’s name on the Ship’s Crest, Captain’s Logbook and Banners after a crew migrates across servers.
Players should no longer be able to throw a blunderbomb or other throwable item instantly after firing a ranged weapon.
Throwables such as blunderbombs targeting the rear hull of a Galleon will now consistently impact the hull’s surface and not pass through certain areas to land inside the ship.
The Legendary Guild Emissary Ledger reward for Season 17 has been updated to ‘The Unseen Deal’, and players who have unlocked this reward already will find that the correct item has been provided to them.
Ships diving beneath the waves with skeletons on board will now cause them to gracefully be destroyed.
Skeleton Lords no longer take knockback or become stunned when hit with Ashen Winds Skulls, Obsidian Ashen Winds Skulls or the Horn of Fair Winds.
The Cannon of Rage now always sets Sloops on fire when it explodes.
Deploying a Cannon of Rage on a burning deck will now cause it to begin overheating.
Jumping while retracting a Cannon of Rage now interrupts the action.
Moving too far away when reviving an allied Order of Bone and Blade Skeleton now interrupts the action.
Treasure on board the Burning Blade will now be released after returning the ship to Captain Flameheart.

Smugglers’ Tide

Players can now consistently unlock the Captain of Smugglers’ Tides Commendation when meeting the required criteria across both Safer Seas and High Seas.
Black Powder Barrels from Voyages now consistently progress the ‘Treasures Sold’ Pirate Milestone.
Rum Crates found within Smugglers’ Caches can now be damaged by player-instigated explosives. However, they will remain undamaged by volcanic activity until collected by players.
Traps within the Smugglers’ Hideouts will now consistently trigger when players trip the pressure plates.
‘The Smugglers’ Run’ painting can now be found in the shipwright’s shop for players eligible to purchase it.

Environment

Further improvements have been made to the environment in ‘A Pirate’s Life’, ‘The Journey to Mêlée Island’ and ‘The Quest for Guybrush’ Tall Tales and within Skeleton Camps to prevent players from using a Grapple Gun to leave the designated areas.
Players can no longer cause themselves to instantly return to their ship at some locations on Shark Bait Cove.
Allied skeletons carrying a Reaper’s Chest should no longer become stuck when navigating a Galleon staircase.
Players firing themselves from cannons at Hidden Spring Keep will no longer collide with the tower’s pillar.

Visual and Audio

Players wearing the Master of the High Seas Shirt alongside a jacket should now find their pirate appears as intended.
Players interacting with a Captain’s Logbook should now find they consistently hold the book at their intended field of view.
During the Captaincy onboarding, the Pirate Lord now looks at the player.
The pillar in the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage now rises smoothly from the ground.
Players performing emotes while wielding the Stalwart Sea Dog Cutlass should no longer find their camera stutters.
A thrown Throwing Knife of Faraway Shores now retains the correct model after being picked up.
Standing behind Aifrick no longer causes her head to turn at an unnatural angle.
‘Heart of Fire’ – Flameheart’s voiceover can now be heard consistently during the Tall Tale.

User Interface

Guild Members will no longer appear as ‘Anonymous’ on the list.
Players using Swap Back and Select actions should now be able to accept crew invite and controller disconnected notifications.

Text and Localisation

Skeletons summoned by a Reaper’s Chest will no longer display duplicate names.

Performance and Stability

Game stability has been improved while navigating the front-end menu on Steam Deck.
Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

Known Issues

Smugglers’ Tide: Act 3 Commendations and Rewards

Players may have found their Reaper Fortress Commendation completion inaccurately reflected with today's update, making rewards such as the Brethren's Masquerade ship items available to purchase ahead of time. The ability to purchase or equip these items has been temporarily removed while the team work to reinstate the correct criteria.

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.

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Sea of Thieves · Oct 9, 2025

You’ve been smuggling contraband, you’ve taken part in a daring Heist, but it’s almost time for the biggest challenge you’ll face in Season 17: co-ordinating clothes! Don’t worry, spontaneous sweating is a natural reaction to such a high stress demand. Just breathe, take five minutes if needed and carry on reading when you’re ready.

That’s right, a fresh opportunity to get your hands on the Fashionista’s Finery Gloves is almost upon us. Whether you desire the gloves to pair them with light-coloured gear, to help you sleep easier at night knowing you’ve secured another rare item for your equipment chest or just because they look like they’d be great to wear while scrubbing your crew’s dirty dishes, you’ll be able to enter the Season 17 #StyleOfThieves contest for a chance to win them from October 20th–23rd 2025.

The format of the contest will continue unchanged: 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. You then share your screenshots on your social media channel of choice, including the relevant information and showing your pirate from head to toe, for our team to find and consider. This contest aims to stretch your styling skills, so standing out is a key goal to keep in mind. Which hat would other entrants not be picking for a theme? Can the prompt be interpreted in a unique way? How many themes can you wear the Wreath of Wisdom Crown in?

Each theme will be open to entries for 24 hours, after which time our Community team will create a shortlist of their top entries, concealing the links as morse code disguised as background elements in a portrait of Flameheart. Should the Art team work out this hidden message rather than simply sending copious notes on how to actually make art, alongside a cease and desist to ensure that the Community team never draws again, they’ll be able to choose their 16 overall winners for us to reveal on October 30th.

Before we reveal the themes, we’d just like to reiterate that this contest remains very popular, so please see it as an excuse to enjoy a spot of pirate dress-up before anything else. Use it as a reason to flex your rarest cosmetics and see your scoundrel in a new, potentially even snazzier light than usual. Even if you don’t win in this Style of Thieves contest, we hope everyone who takes part simply has a good time exploring the fun of fashion within Sea of Thieves.

Image credit: MrMestriner on X/Twitter

And now, without any more re-re-re-re-tweaked preamble, here are Season 17’s #StyleOfThieves themes:

The Themes

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.

Detective
From long jackets to tailored hats, find a fit authoritative enough to make a guilty pirate confess before you’ve even fired your first question (or third cannonball, we don’t know your style).
Entry date: October 20th

Ridiculous
Embrace your silly side and throw on an assortment that passes for an outfit on the one simple truth that you are, in fact, wearing it, even if doing so could mean you’ll never be taken seriously again.
Entry date: October 21st

Cosplay
Do your best to pay homage to your favourite characters from beyond the Sea of Thieves with only your closet of ramshackle rags and pirate apparel. Good luck!
Entry date: October 22nd

Ghoulish
Cast about for a style that would have even the Order of Souls clutching their skulls. They do contain precious secrets after all, it’s just sensible to keep them safe from potentially scorned wraiths.
Entry date: October 23rd

Image credit: ZenekSoT on X/Twitter

How to Enter

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 refer to this previous Style of Thieves article – remembering of course that Season 17’s themes are the ones here in this article, the link’s just for the extra details! 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.

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.

And done. You’re still here? Well, we appreciate that. And for sticking around, we’ll tell you the secret to winning, aren’t you lucky! The secret is to wear the Wreath of Wisdom Crown. The other secret is to not do what we expect. Would wearing that wreath be what we expect? It would, so it wouldn’t work. The moral of this story is there is no secret, do what you want. See you October 20th–23rd thanks bye!

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Sea of Thieves · Oct 8, 2025

The nights have started growing longer – which means it’s the perfect time to undertake some sneaky smuggling! In September, pirates were unleashed upon a new Heist for The Smugglers’ League, while charity fundraisers and Community Spotlights capably filled the gaps. Let’s take a look at some things you may have missed…

Content Update

September’s update brought in Act 2 of Season 17, and the introduction of the Smugglers’ Heist! Once some tweaks to the Heist’s frequency were made with a quick hotfix, this new time-limited Event had covert crews competing against each other to claim an extremely valuable painted prize. We even provided the perfect backing music for your planning montage in the form of latest Sea of Thieves soundtrack addition ‘The Fine Art of Theft’.

With all this Heisting pulling in the gold, September felt like a perfect time to give back too. To that end, our trusty Community Stream Team pulled together to host a month-long fundraiser for Everyone Can! Together, their efforts completely smashed the set target, and they managed to raise more than £12,000 for the charity – legendary work by all involved.

News and Features

For once, the first news article of September wasn’t This Month in Sea of Thieves – although that came very shortly after – but was instead the first of two Spotlights squeezed into September. Culinary connoisseur Shredz (author of Sea of Thieves: The Cookbook) was the first to stop by, then the second Spotlight of the month focused on pirate artist Soycha and the creative chaos he gets up to on the seas.

Keeping our eye on community affairs, we saw plenty of competitive spirit going around in September. First, two new Community Hub updates saw eight deserving pirates receiving a glorious hat for their creative efforts, before a new #SoTShot contest theme had sailors showing us their best Smuggling Scenes. Most Smugglers prefer to conduct their business away from prying eyes, but we salute these brave souls for sharing their daring escapades far and wide.

Videos and Streams

No month is ever complete without at least one new instalment of Sea of Thieves News, and September was to be no different. Between Daryl outlining forthcoming game updates and, later, Drew pulling back the curtain in the latest Developer Update, it was a good month for any pirate interested in knowing what’s on the horizon.

As with every monthly update, there was also a vibrant run of video promotion providing all the details. Our latest Content Update video gave us a chance to walk you through the story behind the Heist and how this time-limited competitive Voyage actually works, before the Launch Trailer provided a whistle-stop tour of all the major highlights. After that it was just a case of revealing the latest Twitch Drops running alongside the update, and then letting players get down to the business of Heisting.

And that was the gist of it for September! If all the pumpkins around the Outposts didn’t give it away, we’re officially into That Time of Year now, so there are sure to be many more terrifying treats to recap for you in a month’s time. Until then, don’t forget you can always join in the conversation on any of our usual channels, including Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Twitch, and via our Forums or Discord server. See you there!

Previously in 2025:

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: August 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: July 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: June 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2025

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Sea of Thieves · Oct 3, 2025

Gourd grief, how is it October already? This month features a veritable feast of goodies for folks wanting to set sail – so grab your pumpkin-spiced beverages, get out your diaries and plan your next sessions with this handy guide comprised of what to expect over the coming weeks. Let’s go!

Smugglers’ Heist Continues – until Thursday, October 16th

For those of you yet to dip your toes into the waters of Season 17: Act 2, the Smugglers’ Heist Event is still active until the middle of the month. The Smugglers’ League have asked pirates to procure one of Flameheart’s prized paintings, worth a cool 175,000 gold to any crew making it to the hand-in point. However, it’s hardly a piece of cake to secure the target painting – and that’s not even accounting for other pirate players turning up to meddle…

Festival of the Damned Decorations Return – from Wednesday, October 1st

Fans of pumpkins, gourds and squashes of the orange variety, unite! The shores of the Sea of Thieves will be appropriately decorated from October 1st, in honour of our very own spooky season.

‘Forts of the Flame’ Release – Wednesday, October 8th

This month’s audio track release is ‘Forts of the Flame’, which gives players a sneaky aural peek at the music that will soundtrack the Reaper Fortresses experience coming as part of Act 3’s update. Stream this stunning song via Spotify or other streaming service of your choice from October 8th.

Sea of Thieves Season 17: Act 3 – Thursday, October 16th

Captain Flameheart’s forces are once again under attack, and fortifying the Skeleton Forts to withstand renewed assaults on their Vaults. With the arrival of October’s game update, players can take the fight to these reinforced Reaper Fortresses, facing Ghost Ship battles, traps and a host of formidable fighting foes.

These Fortresses and their advanced defences will be available throughout Act 3, and will enter the usual World Event rotation from Season 18. Their Vaults hold a whole treasure trove of goodies, including Reaper’s Bones loot – so set sail when Act 3 launches to sample this fresh new flavour of Fort goodness.

October’s update will also refresh Outpost stock with the Orange Resolute Hull, Flag and Sails – or if green’s your autumnal colour of choice, you’ll be able to spend your gold on Lucky Rover weapons instead.

Meanwhile, spooky season arrives in the Emporium with aplomb, with an expanded Jack O’ Looter collection that now includes a Collector’s Figurehead and Sails, Ship’s Crest, Trinket and long-awaited lantern! The Crimson Crypt items are also set for expansion by way of a new Cabin Bundle for Captained ships, while the brand new Alter Ego collection brings a conflicted costume, ship set, concertina and weapons to the Emporium aisles. True to October’s theme, a new Pocket Bat Emote will also make its debut – and a ton of the Emporium’s most terrifying cosmetics will be on offer in a Festival of the Damned Mega Bundle!

Twitch Drops – Friday, October 17th – Friday, October 24th

With the launch of Act 3 also comes another windfall of wonderful Twitch Drops, available to earn just by watching Sea of Thieves Partners streaming on Twitch.

Alongside our usual rewards of 75,000 gold, a Renown boost and a Voyage of Luck, this batch of Drops also allows viewers to score the Mystical Divination Emote, Eastern Winds Ruby Eye of Reach, Amethyst Mercenary Pegleg, Mandrake Pistol and an Order of Souls-themed Skeleton Fort Raid Voyage. What glorious gains!

Pirate Emporium Halloween Sale – Tuesday, October 28th – Tuesday, November 4th

Kicking off close to the end of the month is another opportunity to save Ancient Coins, this time on some of the eeriest sets the Emporium has to offer! Crimson Crypt, Graveyard Gladiator, Soulflame and Blighted sets are all being slashed in price, along with a whole heap of eldritch emotes.

Ghoul & Glory Weekend – Friday, October 31st – Monday, November 3rd

This Festival of the Damned-flavoured twist on the trusty Gold & Glory Event makes a return for 2025! Boosted rewards await all who play during this period, with extra gold, reputation, Renown and Allegiance all up for grabs.

And that takes us to the closing days of October. While November promises the launch of a whole new Season, there are still all the tantalising titbits above waiting for players to tackle this month – so make sure you plot a course for everything that appeals to you in this lovely list of stuff, and we’ll see you on the seas!

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Sea of Thieves · Sep 18, 2025

Smugglers’ Tide: Act 2

New blood brings new opportunities as The Smugglers’ League settle into the shadows of the Sea of Thieves! To learn more about this Season’s headline features, head over to our dedicated Season 17 page.

The Smugglers’ Heist

For the duration of Act 2, a daring Heist at Royal Crest Fortress will regularly be available via a note pinned to the ship’s mast, allowing all crews to join The Smugglers’ League in their task.
Once the Heist has begun, crews will need to follow directions to retrieve a key from a Smuggler contact and then set sail to Royal Crest Fortress in search of a precious painting.
Players must stick to instructions sent by The Smugglers’ League to ensure the correct painting is retrieved. There are many decoy paintings which can also be found and sold, but only the target painting will allow you to become the victor of the Heist!
Crews that hold the target painting should be ready to fend off Ocean Crawler ambushes while aboard their ship. Other crews can also join in the Heist at any stage, so be prepared to use any means necessary to get the painting safely back to the designated Smugglers’ Hideout.
Successful crews will earn a hoard of 175,000 gold for returning the correct painting, while Guilds will receive a significant bonus to their Guild Reputation!

Smugglers’ Tide: Act 2 Rewards

Crews taking on the Heist at Royal Crest Fortress can unlock the Royal Crest Fortress Plans and Royal Crest Fortress Blueprints Trinkets to commemorate their daring accomplishments.

Smugglers’ Route Run Balancing

The frequency of Phantom encounters while taking part in a Smugglers’ Route Run Voyage has now been reduced.

Gameplay Improvements

Improved Field of View

Players can now extend their field of view above the previous limit up to 110, providing a range of wider view options.
To give players more control over their field of view experience, the graphics settings now provide individual field of view override settings for areas where players dock to an object such as the ship’s wheel, Rowboat or ladders.

Cinematic Banner Improvements

The cinematic banners shown on the HUD have been extended to provide support for a reduced banner option that retains visibility of the player’s health and ammunition during gameplay.
Players can navigate to the HUD Settings and switch between Full (default) or Reduced Lower Banner Style.

Underwater Animation Improvements

Players swimming in water and making quick changes to their pitch and rotation will now find their pirate moves more smoothly when viewed by others.
These changes aim to reduce the impact of players making fast movements with their mouse or controller to avoid damage during gunplay while underwater.

Ashen Skull of the Banished

The Ashen Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage in The Devil’s Roar now rewards players with the new Ashen Skull of the Banished, replacing the Skull of the Banished on this Voyage.

Ashen Chest of Bones

The Ashen Followers of the Flame Voyage now rewards players with an Ashen Chest of Bones, offering higher value than the Chest of Bones.

The Ashen Chest of Bones retains the same number of charges as a Reaper’s Chest, but will not reinforce crews with Order of Bone and Blade Captains.

Displaying Trophy Tiers

Captains who have earned multiple tiers of a Trophy are now able to decorate their ship with all previous tiers when interacting with a Trinket location.

Skull of Siren Sorrow

Players are now able to sprint when holding the Skull of Siren Sorrow.

Sunken Merfolk Statues

Merfolk Statues found within the Sunken Kingdom will now only store treasure that can be discovered while exploring the various Shrines and Treasuries, and Trading Company items recovered during Raid Voyages.

Pirate Emporium

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!

Pirate Pugilist Ship Collection and Ship’s Crest
Pirate Pugilist Weapon Bundle
Pirate Pugilist Clothing Bundle
Pirate Pugilist Speaking Trumpet
One-Two Punch Emote (free!)
Inner Sanctum Weapon Bundle
Inner Sanctum Ship Collection (returning from Season 14 Plunder Pass)
Inner Sanctum Clothing Bundle (returning from Season 14 Plunder Pass)
Firestarter Variety Ship Bundle (mixed bundle of existing items)

Pirate Emporium Special Items Tab

A Special Items tab has been added to the navigation menu within the Pirate Emporium, providing access to items such as the Pirate Deed, Renaming Deed and Pirate Appearance Potion.

Outpost Cosmetics

New Outpost Stock!

The shipwrights have restocked with the new Russet Resolute Hull, Sails and Flag.
The Outpost shops now offer Lucky Rover equipment and instruments.
The shipwrights have expanded to supply Ship’s Crests for purchase, and Pirate Legends can access the Sovereign Ship’s Crest previously available during Season Ten.
The weaponsmith in the Pirate Legend Hideout now stocks the Legendary Fortune Double Barrel Pistol, Grapple Gun, Blowpipe, Throwing Knives, Heavy Sword and Rapier. These weapons are all available for purchase upon reaching Pirate Legend status.
Players who previously purchased the Legendary Throwing Knives, Heavy Sword or Rapier from the Pirate Legend Hideout will find these items have been replaced in their Armoury with the corrected Legendary Fortune colour scheme.

Updates

Performance Improvements

Optimisations made to the loading of environment assets should now provide a more stable framerate for players residing on the Ferry of the Damned while their ship is still moving through the world.

Performance Counters

Players on console now have the ability to display their ping in the top corner of the screen. This can be enabled from within the Video Settings.
Players on PC can now choose to display ping only, without displaying their FPS at the same time.

Text Chat in Game Options

Players can now summon the text chat window from the Game Options menu, providing easy access to chat and freeing up a keybind. Players on console or handheld devices will find the Virtual Keyboard is shown when the chat window opens.

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

After being revived, players should find their health bar is now consistently displayed when not at full health.
Players wearing the Skeleton Curse are now able to equip disguises from the Vanity Chest.
During an Hourglass streak, crews who become matched again with the same rival within a session will now consistently earn a win towards their streak.
Crews choosing to leave treasure behind at sea when diving to a Faction Battle will now find that if their dive fails or is cancelled, the treasure they left behind is now floating nearby and no longer becomes stuck within the ship.
Rum Crates of all varieties are now properly damaged by Gunpowder Barrels.
When rowing towards a location where a Rowboat can be docked, the interaction now consistently displays at a range where the Rowboat can be attached.
Tapping to aim down sights with the Eye of Reach no longer causes the screen to blur before the weapon is scoped.
Bounty Voyages from a Message in a Bottle will now more appropriately scale their difficulty level based on the size of the crew.
Crews digging up a stolen treasure buried by another crew should now consistently gain the Commendation progress when selling the item. This addresses the following Commendations: Taker of Stolen Stock, Bony Bandit, Bountiful Giving, Charitable Giving, Ritual Recovery and Legendary Thief.
Players interacting twice with a ship’s cannon while holding an item will no longer find the item is held floating nearby.
Crews pledging to the Guardians of Fortune or Servants of the Flame and remaining on the sea should no longer be able to increase their ship’s Treasure Grade when recovering the same item onto their ship repeatedly.
Ancient Skeletons defeated by skeletons allied to the crew now consistently award Ancient Coins to the members of the crew.
Crews are no longer able to gain additional Gunpowder Barrels from Skeleton Camps.
Crews are no longer able to encounter multiple Skeleton Captains or Ashen Guardians at the same Skeleton Camp.
Players moving across a tightrope should now consistently appear in the correct position to other players.

‘Shores of Gold’ – Players dying within the Devil’s Shroud during this Tall Tale should now return from the Ferry of the Damned with their equipment and resources intact.

Smugglers’ Tide

The following Commendations can now be progressed consistently when performing the required criteria: Revered Rum Runner, Fine Art Felon and Super Smuggler. Players with prior progress may remain temporarily blocked as the team works behind the scenes to sync their progress.
The Skull of Siren Sorrow now sinks after the correct amount of time when left floating on the sea.
The Deed to Sink a Smuggling Skeleton Ship with a Black Powder Barrel now progresses consistently.
Smuggler characters can no longer be interacted with from behind or while airborne.
Players wearing the Black Powder Barrel Disguise now show a tooltip to others to inspect The Smugglers’ League mark, to ensure a more effective disguise.
Players will no longer progress the Chest Buster Commendation when being forced out of the Black Powder Barrel Disguise.
A range of island improvements have been made to Smugglers’ Hideout locations, addressing visual issues and ensuring traps trigger consistently.
Skeletons can no longer walk through items or walls in Smugglers’ Hideouts.
Enemy Phantoms will no longer appear inside Smugglers’ Hideouts.
Smugglers’ Treasure found washed up will now direct players to the correct location of The Smugglers’ League.
The ship’s map should now consistently show the Smugglers’ Route Run path when switching between Safer Seas and High Seas sessions.
Crews should now be awarded progress towards the Storm Sale Commendation when handing in a Horn of Fair Winds to The Smugglers’ League.
Players should now consistently earn progress towards the Seeker of Smugglers’ Caches Commendation when locating Smugglers’ Caches on islands.
Smugglers’ Caches now remain buried when leaving and returning to islands.
Speaking with Lottie no longer causes her body to change shape.

Reapers Rising

Crews taking on a Voyage for The Reaper’s Bones will now find that joining and leaving an Alliance will retain their raised Reaper’s Bones Emissary Flag and Reaper’s Mark Flag.
Players should now find it easier to interact with a moving Skeleton Mercenary in order to give them an item to hold.
Items dropped onto the Ancient Pillars or Sarcophagus found during the Search for Ancient Secrets or Followers of the Flame Voyages are now placed safely away from the location instead of becoming stuck within them.
Skeletons can no longer walk through the Ancient Pillars or Sarcophagus found during the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage.
Notifications shown during the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage will now appear consistently.
Ancient Fish are now held correctly by Skeleton Mercenaries.
Showing a map to an allied skeleton now consistently results in the skeleton aiding the player to find the location.
Improvements have been made to readability for the Quest Maps during the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage.
Crews digging up multiple Pillars in quick succession should no longer prevent Ancients from appearing.
The Order of Bone and Blade should now have no trouble in digging up the Sarcophagus during the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage.

Visual and Audio

The Alabaster Wildcat now appears in the correct colour when summoned or viewed in the Pet Chest.
Various throwing knives have had their visual effects restored when performing melee attacks.
Emerging Phantoms and Ocean Crawlers are now accompanied by the intended music.
Voting daggers now sit correctly on the Quest Table when cancelling a Voyage.
Animals and skeletons will now move more smoothly when idling around islands.
Players opening and exiting a shop will no longer see their character become temporarily invisible.
Players equipping the Rare Regalia Hull will now find all areas of the ship are coloured consistently.

Environment

Players are no longer able to venture underneath Port Merrick by using the Cannon of Rage to fire themselves into the environment.
Improvements have been made to the environment in ‘The Journey to Mêlée Island’, ‘The Quest for Guybrush’ and ‘A Pirate’s Life’ Tall Tales to prevent players from using a Grapple Gun to leave the designated areas.
Players can no longer fall out of the environment by using a Grapple Gun to navigate within Ancient Vaults.
Barrels in Sea Forts can no longer be accessed through the ceiling.
‘The Lair of LeChuck’ – The area behind the Headless Monkey no longer contains hidden water that allows players to swim in mid-air.

User Interface

Emissary Ledgers should now consistently show the next unlockable reward when the Ledgers refresh each month.
Players are now prevented from purchasing Ship’s Crests and Banners within the Pirate Emporium if they do not yet own a Captained ship.
The Ghostly Curse Alsatian now requires Pirate Legend status to purchase within the Emporium.
The countdown shown in the Season overview now displays the time correctly.
The Last Played date now displays correctly for newly created pirates.
Pirate options can no longer be opened while a pirate is in the process of being deleted.
Pirate previews now display correctly after deleting a pirate.
Trading Company shops now require the correct promotion to be unlocked before a corresponding item can be purchased.
During the Tutorial Voyage for the Order of Souls, the destination island will no longer be obscured by notifications.

Text and Localisation

Players starting the Tutorial Voyage for the Merchant Alliance at Ancient Spire Outpost will now find the notifications refer to the correct islands during the Voyage.
The Merchant Alliance Tutorial Voyage now consistently shows the intended text on the quest parchment during the Voyage.
Players unlocking the All-seeing Commendation will now see the appropriate description in the Pirate Log.
Terminology for the Chest of Fortune has been improved when playing in Japanese to better differentiate the item from a Treasure Chest.
Following player feedback, the terminology used for Fight Nights has been improved when playing in Polish.
Various terminology improvements have been made for The Smugglers’ League in Russian and Spanish (Mexico) languages.

Performance and Stability

Crews on Safer Seas should no longer experience scenarios where their ship begins to lift into the air.
Wielding Treasure Maps no longer causes performance issues when the maps update.
Players on lower-spec hardware should no longer find the loading wheel stops animating for long periods of time.
Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

Known Issues

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.

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Sea of Thieves · Sep 9, 2025

A hectic summer of Events, updates and general pirate chaos is finally coming to an end and that can mean only one thing: time to round up everything you might have missed in August. So settle in while we give you a whirlwind tour of the last month, ahead of everything still inbound this autumn…

Content Update

As we set sail into August, we were rapidly coming up on the end of Season 16. In a distinctly un-piratelike show of generosity, the Trading Companies thought they’d offer a helping hand to any pirates scrambling to max out their Renown before the Season closed, leading to a full Gold & Glory Weekend for everyone to enjoy. Who doesn’t love doubled rewards?

From there, Season 17 burst to life in an explosion of proportions never before seen on the seas – that’s right, the arrival of The Smugglers’ League brought with it fearsome Black Powder Barrels and a host of new loot, Commendations and Voyages for pirates to dive into. At the same time, Rare’s 40th Anniversary had us celebrating with anything and everything ruby, and August concluded with the latest Community Weekend to mark this special milestone in fine style.

News and Features

As always, the first addition to the News pages in August was our This Month in Sea of Thieves article, swiftly followed by the latest Community Spotlight, focused on artist extraordinaire Middy! Alongside a Community Hub update and two full #SoTShot rounds – Pretentious Photography and Rare View – there were plenty of opportunities to find out what community folks had been up to.

The introduction of a new Season always requires a little explanation to help players find their feet, so a Season launch article was delivered just in time for the update, followed by a Smugglers’ League guide introducing the new faces on the seas! After that, all that was left to do was tee up the delights of Season 17 Community Weekend with an in-depth article, and then wait for the screenshots to start rolling in.

Videos and Streams

We started our streaming news in August not with a stream of our own but with a Community Stream Team refresh! A whole new cast of streamers have signed on to represent Sea of Thieves, with some new goodies to give away to lucky viewers. They weren’t the only ones either – the Pirate Emporium team had new items with some real outlaw swagger ready to show off this month, and they weren’t about to miss that opportunity.

Elsewhere in the world of video we rounded up the regular monthly Sea of Thieves News, a new Developer Update from Production Director Drew, and, of course, a Launch Trailer and Content Update video for the new Season! As if that wasn’t enough, a new Seasonal title screen meant that the Audio team were on call for their usual trick of producing an anthemic tune to add to Sea of Thieves’ streamable soundtrack.

All of which brings us to the end of August and the first stirrings of a damp September wind across the waves! There’s sure to be more to report in on a month, but until then, please seek us out on your social media of choice: Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Twitch, or you can join in the conversations happening on our Forums or official Discord server. Hope to see you there!

Previously in 2025:

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: July 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: June 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2025

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Sea of Thieves · Sep 6, 2025

What’s that? Another month of shenanigans on the horizon, is it? Why yes, it is! As we step into the run of -ber months, kicking off with a pumpkin-spiced September, a feast of delights await you on our shores. Let’s get into what you can expect…

Rare’s 40th Anniversary – until Saturday, October 4th

Although all the in-game fun has now finished for our big 40th milestone, some Rare Ruby remnants remain available until the first week of October. Players with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate can swipe the ravishing Rare Ruby Emote until this date via the Perks programme, while the roguish Rare Ruby Hat remains obtainable via Microsoft Rewards in participating territories, either by completing a punch card or as a bundled bonus when redeeming against Ancient Coin packs.

‘The Fine Art of Theft’ Release – Friday, September 12th

To whet your whistles for the Smugglers’ Heist Event (more on that later), we’re releasing the music that soundtracks the final part of the experience. Stream this rousing, epic track via Spotify or other streaming service of your choice from September 12th, to get yourself in the mood for pulling off a serious art heist.

Sea of Thieves Season 17: Act 2 – Thursday, September 18th

The second update of Season 17 drops on September 18th, bringing with it a Voyage of Luck for players for logging in to enjoy the new experiences on offer, and a generous gold bonus for those who dive in during the first week. The update also features a hotly discussed update for Field of View: from September 18th, the FOV cap will increase from 90 to 110, providing players more choice in how they play Sea of Thieves.

Russet Resolute ship items hit the Outpost shops this month, as do Lucky Rover instruments and equipment, while Pirate Legends can head to the Hideout to find new weapons in the Legendary Fortune set. Over in the Emporium, fans of fisticuffs will be able to exchange their Ancient Coins for the Pirate Pugilist set, with the complementary One-Two Punch Emote is available as this month’s freebie. Inner Sanctum items are also up for purchase, originally part of Season 14’s Plunder Pass!

Smugglers’ Heist Event – Thursday, September 18th – Thursday, October 16th

The headline of Act 2 is, of course, the Smuggler’s Heist Event. The Smugglers’ League are asking pirates to procure one of Flameheart’s prized paintings, and brave buccaneers up to the challenge will need to sneak into Royal Crest Fortress and take it from under the bony noses of the Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons charged with its defence. The target painting is worth a stonking 175,000 gold – so it’s a high-stakes heist that promises a plentiful payout for crews participating.

Pirate Emporium Talk Like a Pirate Day Sale – Friday, September 19th – Wednesday, September 24th

To celebrate this key moment on the pirate calendar, you can enjoy Pirate Emporium discounts on some premium piratey wares! The anarchic Stone Islehopper Outlaw set is on offer, as is the Labyrinth Looter set, along with bundles of parrots, weapons and perfectly piratical emotes. The Pretty Polly Sails will also make their traditional time-limited return, so swing by and see what takes your fancy.

Twitch Drops – Friday, September 19th – Friday, September 26th

If you like your cosmetics free instead of deliciously discounted, make sure you tune in to any Sea of Thieves Partner during this week to grab a glorious hoard of items. Watch for six hours total to unlock 75,000 gold, a level of Seasonal Renown, a Voyage of Luck, the Eastern Winds Ruby Blunderbuss, a Gilded Voyage of the Ancient Isles, the Gilded Phoenix Shovel, Amethyst Mercenary Boots and the Mandrake Figurehead.

October is shaping up to be a similarly spicy experience to September, with Act 3’s Sea Fort refresh offering an overhauled take on a well-loved experience. There’ll also be a timely sprinkle of autumnal spookiness on the horizon – but more on that in the next edition of our This Month article. Farewell for now, and we’ll see you on the seas!

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Sea of Thieves · Aug 31, 2025

The ruby-hued Season 17 Community Weekend is now live until Sep 1st (11am UTC)! Set sail for a free flag and emote, unlock the Ruby Legend Figurehead as a community, boost the Community Emissary Grade multiplier by watching Sea of Thieves on Twitch, earning you boosted gold, reputation, Seasonal Renown, Allegiance and Guild Reputation, and more!

As always, please note that Gold Rush windows are not active during Community Weekends, so you don't need to hoard! As the Community Emissary Grade rises, you'll always be earning the maximum multiplier available whenever you decide to deliver.

Pop-Up Plunder returns, with a twist! Below are the times these loot roulettes will appear, alongside a starting island. These locations will be key to the puzzle, but won't necessarily be the island containing the spot, so we hope you're ready for a race! Good luck...

Want to do something more co-operative? Well, if players complete at least 100,000 World Events over the Weekend, all participants will earn the extra-special Ruby Legend Figurehead! So spot that cloud on the horizon and set your course...

And that's not all: beating those World Events will also unlock two bonus Twitch Drops, the Obsidian Captain’s Table and Obsidian Captain’s Logbook! If unlocked, they'll be available from participating streamers between Sep 5th and 12th (10am UTC), at 90 minutes' watch time each.

Need some Twitch Drops now? Eight rewards are available during this Event, including two suitably ruby cosmetics for Rare Ltd's 40th anniversary! Tune in to any participating Sea of Thieves stream from now until Sep 5th (10am UTC) and earn everything you see below over six hours.

Spot the Deckhand or Quartermaster Sails on the horizon and you could secure spoils! Crews flying these sheets will have Celestial Steed ship items, Obsidian Capstans, Gilded Phoenix Ship's Crests and Six Item Packs to gift to playful pirates throughout the Event.

And that's the line-up for this Event! Time to pose at a Picture Wall, set some goals, get your hands on a haul and make it another Community Weekend to remember. If you need a refresher on anything, it's all here: https://www.seaofthieves.com/community-weekend

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Sea of Thieves · Aug 23, 2025

As August draws to a close, we’re delighted to share with you a more in-depth look at the shenanigans scheduled to land for Season 17 Community Weekend, taking place from Saturday, August 30th to Monday, September 1st (11am UTC). This Event comes delightfully themed to our studio’s 40th anniversary; the good ship Rare has been sailing for four whole decades, so this particular Community Weekend commemorates our history, as well as offering a couple of cute cosmetics that reflect the ruby-red shine to our celebrations.

For those of you confused about where Season 16’s Community Weekend went, here’s your reminder that as we wrangled the transition to a more predictable Seasonal rhythm of content releases and Events, we had to sadly skip that one to get this Weekend into your hands so early in Season 17. The good news is, this one is here with some extra lovely stuff to make up for the missing Event!

Log In to Win

It wouldn’t be a Community Weekend without a suite of goodies shuffled into your inventory, all for the pleasure of popping in for a sail. Log in after 11am UTC on Saturday, August 30th and you’ll bag yourself a beautiful white, red and gold Community Weekend Flag, plus the glorious Rare-themed Paper Cutout Emote. That’s not all on offer, though: if players complete at least 100,000 World Events over the Weekend, all participants will earn the extra-special Ruby Legend Figurehead. Completion of that Community Spirit Goal will also unlock a couple of additional Twitch Drops – but more on that later!

Streams Can Come True

Hopefully most of you know the drill by now, but just in case: to raise the Community Emissary Grade and influence the in-game generosity, pirates just need to watch Sea of Thieves streamers on Twitch, with the total watch time powering Grade progress. So all you need to do is watch any of your favourite content creators within the Sea of Thieves category during the Event period. You can tune into Sea of Thieves Partners, wave hello to our Stream Team, watch a friend or even find a random creator. It doesn’t matter where you watch, as long as you’re watching Sea of Thieves!

Every time the Community Emissary Grade increases, 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 and prepare to defend your loot from potential pirates looking to steal the fruits of your labour.

Twitch Perfect

Although the real reward from watching our wonderful streamers is the fun you have along the way, you can also swipe a stunning set of Twitch Drops just for tuning in! On offer during the Event will be the Eastern Winds Ruby Pistol and Cutlass, Gilded Phoenix Pocket Watch, Mandrake Sails, a Voyage of Luck, A Legendary Search for Cursed Treasure Voyage, bonus Renown and 75,000 gold.

And going back to that Community Spirit Goal: if a total of 100,000 World Events can be smashed during Community Weekend, then for the following week, the Obsidian Captain’s Table and Obsidian Captain’s Logbook will be made available as bonus Twitch Drops to be unlocked! That’s a serious hoard of lovely, shiny free stuff for players prepared to tune in and watch their fellow pirates sail the seas.

Pop-Up Plunder Evolves

We’ve been crunching some numbers here, and we’re thrilled to see that Pop-Up Plunder remains one of the most popular features introduced in recent times! However, we do like to keep you on your toes, so we’re ready to mix it up a bit and see how you all rise to the challenge. Enter this Community Weekend’s fresh take on Pop-Up Plunder, now featuring – drumroll please – starting islands.

That’s right: for Season 17 Community Weekend, we’re taking the unprecedented step of publishing the Pop-Up Plunder times and accompanying starting locations ahead of the day to support your crews getting closer to the shenanigans once a new dig spot drops. Just scroll down right now to see for yourself!

We will of course still be dropping clues on social media channels at these scheduled times to ensure you've all got a way to work out the specific spot you need to stick your shovel in, although the actual dig may not be on the island mentioned below (it'll make sense on the day). Think of the islands more like the starting grid of a race. Our hope is that more fun will follow if we can push you all a little bit closer together.

The loot’s absolutely worth fighting for too, with a pool of high-value goodies on offer to those who brave the challenge – so start your Pop-Up Plunder strategising now, because things are about to get a little more chaotic!

Smells Like Community Spirit

Alongside Pop-Up Plunder, pirates who set sail over Community Weekend will find Picture Walls at every Outpost, with The Reaper’s Hideout Picture Wall returning too. We want to see all your lovely crew moments captured at these special posing points, so please share them on social and tag us in – not much makes us happier than seeing you and your crews in pride of place in front of our Picture Walls, so we’re counting on you to deliver the goods.

Sailors can also expect to swipe a Community Spirit Firework Crate, free of charge, from their local Merchant Alliance representative over the Weekend. Nothing says “we’re friendly!!” quite like some of these beautiful community-themed fireworks, so make sure you have the box ready for when you bump into other crews. Or not, if you’re planning on sinking them.

Bonnet Blue

If you think you or one of your crewmates are deserving of fame and a particularly fetching blue hat, look no further as our usual #BeMorePirate giveaway gets amped up over Community Weekend! This is an occasion to celebrate amazing artists, players, creators and community MVPs – so as is customary, we’ll be scouring our channels and the #BeMorePirate hashtag for suitably special Sea of Thieves stories, from now until the end of the Event. Worthy winners will be awarded the Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame, so get your submissions in ASAP to see if your antics warrant your pirate’s bonce being crowned with such a special bonnet.

Beyond the Sail

While a lot of these celebratory activities centre around setting sail, at its heart this Event is designed to honour and excite you, our amazing players. So this Community Weekend, we would love for you to share your favourite clips, creators, screenshots and crewmates in celebration of the stories you’ve all experienced on our shores. Sea of Thieves has already accounted for a seven-year slice of Rare’s amazing 40-year history, and we’re proud to be here in 2025 feeling just as excited for its future as we were when it was just a glint in the studio’s eye.

Whether you’re new to Sea of Thieves or thinking about diving in for the very first time, Community Weekend – with its gifts, goals and impeccable vibes – is the perfect opportunity not just to set sail, but to dip your toes in the lovely warm waters of our online community. So come on in! We’re a friendly bunch, promise. Alliance?

Sea of Thieves · Aug 15, 2025

Season 17 has begun! And some unfamiliar faces have been spied on remote islands as The Smugglers’ League settle in and begin their hunt for high-value, dangerous prizes.

While they show a surprising appreciation of Fine Art and fragile bottles of even finer rum, the League are also on the hunt for Black Powder Barrels. These devastating delights pack more of a punch than any other explosive on the seas, so you’ll want to be careful about bringing them aboard your own ship.

And there is cargo to be found! A recent run of bad luck has seen several Smugglers’ Shipwrecks left to languish beneath the waves, hiding treasures that can be returned to the League for a comfortable payout.

Season 17 wouldn’t be complete without a host of new Commendations to measure your success! Completing Voyages for the Smugglers and handing in their cargo will help you unlock a wealth of cosmetics to update your pirate’s style.

September and October will bring in Act 2 and Act 3 of Season 17, where there’ll be plenty more Smuggler activity to join in with including a daring Heist and newly fortified Reaper Fortresses. Get a preview of those in the Content Update trailer:

For the more complete rundown of what you can look forward to in the Season, head to the full Season 17 Launch Article. And for even more details in painfully diligent detail that the Merchant Alliance would surely give a small nod of approval, you can read the release notes right here.

Set Sail and Get a Free Eyepatch!

The free Rare Ruby Eyepatch is now on offer as a celebratory Sea of Thieves login bonus to mark Rare Ltd's 40th anniversary! Set sail between now and Sea of Thieves' September update to secure your celebratory patch.

There's plenty more to discover with today's update, from a new Plunder Pass and Pirate Profiles in the Emporium to a range of new Outpost cosmetics to splash your gold on, so all that's left is to wish you successful smuggling! We'll see you on the seas...

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Sea of Thieves · Aug 15, 2025

Season 17 has begun! And some unfamiliar faces have been spied on remote islands as The Smugglers’ League settle in and begin their hunt for high-value, dangerous prizes. They’re open to letting pirate crews help them transport their cargo where it needs to go, and maybe recovering some choice items misplaced along the way. Their true goal, however, remains rather mysterious… but for now, let’s find out what you can expect from this new Season in Sea of Thieves!

Introducing the League

These shadowy newcomers have set up shop in secret hideaways across the seas, and they’ve set their sights on some explosive new treasures. While they show a surprising appreciation of Fine Art and fragile bottles of even finer rum, the League are also on the hunt for Black Powder Barrels. These devastating delights pack more of a punch than any other explosive on the seas, so you’ll want to be careful about bringing them aboard your own ship.

As The Smugglers’ League get accustomed to life on the Sea of Thieves, they’re recruiting pirates to ferry some of their precious cargo safely from pick-up point to destination. That means sending crews out on Smugglers’ Route Runs, perilous delivery Voyages along a highly contested route. If you want to make it through unscathed and with the cargo still in your possession, you’ll need to keep a keen eye on that horizon. Elsewhere, find a Message in a Bottle with the Smugglers’ mark and you can set out on other Smugglers’ Runs too, ranging far and wide with some of the most valuable contraband on the seas.

Making Their Mark

You don’t last long in the smuggling trade by doing business out in the open, so The Smugglers’ League have sought secret spots on the Sea of Thieves to conduct their covert operations. Each of them has established a Smugglers’ Hideout, somewhere out of sight and protected by traps. You’ll have to pinpoint these Hideouts yourself if you want to get to know the League and deliver any cargo you discover on your travels.

And there is cargo to be found! A recent run of bad luck has seen several Smugglers’ Shipwrecks left to languish beneath the waves, hiding treasures that can be returned to the League for a comfortable payout. Some of this wayward cargo has also washed up on beaches for passing ships to spot, while opportunistic Skeleton Ships have been seen to scoop up the rest. Hunt them down and sink them if you want to claim those spoils for yourself…

The Season Continues

Surreptitious they may be, but those Smugglers don’t sit still for long. When September and October bring in Act 2 and Act 3 of Season 17, there’ll be plenty more Smuggler activity to join in, including a daring Heist that pits crew against crew to secure some very valuable loot. Those who take part will descend upon Royal Crest Fortress in search of a painting specially requested by an important patron of the League, but remember: you won’t be the only one after the prize! Surviving skirmishes with rival sailors will be crucial to claiming the payout.

In the meantime, Captain Flameheart’s forces are using the distraction offered by the League’s arrival to strengthen their position at the Skeleton Forts. In Act 3 of Season 17, you’ll be able to find the newly fortified Reaper Fortresses under siege from a Phantom fleet. Fight off both sides, and you might just be able to escape with a cache of dangerous loot – provided none of the Fort’s new traps get you first…

Rewarding Work

With so many new additions to the seas, Season 17 wouldn’t be complete without a host of new Commendations to measure your success! Completing Voyages for the Smugglers and handing in their cargo will help you unlock a wealth of cosmetics to update your pirate’s style. For completionists, new achievements (and Trophies) present a tantalising challenge as the potential gamerscore on offer climbs towards a tremendous total…

As always, there are new Pirate Emporium offerings including the dusty outlaw chic of the Riptide Rodeo set, plus of course a new Season means a new Plunder Pass packed with goodies to unlock – this time including the Rare Regalia ship set and clothing, as well as 750 Ancient Coins for spending in the Pirate Emporium.

Whether you pick up the Pass or not, there’s a trove of rewards on offer for climbing 100 more levels of Renown this Season, including items from the Master of the High Seas, Fabled Fins and Faraway Shores sets. To help you earn these time-limited rewards, a new Deed system has been implemented to encourage arrangements with the Smugglers and earn increased Renown by doing so!

Pirate Profiles also arrive this Season, offering a way to access an extra pirate persona without overwriting your existing one. Want to keep your current adventurer firmly on their own path, while embarking on a separate seafaring saga under another pirate identity? Adding a new Pirate Profile will let you do that, splitting your time between two (or three, or more) profiles as you see fit. Swing by the Pirate Emporium and purchase a Pirate Deed if this sounds like something for you!

There are a lot of changes coming to the seas this Season, spaced out to ensure you have something new to discover each month. For a full tour of everything arriving in August, be sure to read through the detailed Season launch release notes, and check out the dedicated Season 17 page – and for more about the features coming in September and October, follow Sea of Thieves on your social media channel of choice to stay in the loop. Until then, we wish you good luck and successful smuggling!

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Sea of Thieves · Aug 15, 2025

Smugglers’ Tide

New blood brings new opportunities as The Smugglers’ League settle into the shadows of the Sea of Thieves! To learn more about this Season’s headline features, head over to our dedicated Season 17 page.

The Smugglers’ League

The Smugglers' League have sailed in from unknown waters and established six Hideouts across the islands of the Sea of Thieves. Visit these new locations to learn more about The Smugglers’ League and cash in Smugglers’ treasure.

Smugglers’ Route Run

The Smugglers’ League now provide an on-demand Voyage from the Quest Table, tasking crews with covertly transporting dangerous and fragile high-value goods.
The Smugglers’ Route Run will always direct players down the same treacherous pathway marked on the ship’s map, where other opportunist crews may lie in wait…

Messages in a Bottle

For the duration of Season 17, any Message in a Bottle discovered outside The Devil's Roar will offer a sneaky Smugglers’ Run along a route hidden from the map, providing lucrative rewards.

Black Powder Barrels

The Black Powder Barrel is a powerful new explosive item that can be sold to The Smugglers’ League at their Hideouts.
This barrel is held upright, making it an easier target, but is also reinforced for increased durability. The barrel will show visual signs of damage before it explodes, dealing more damage than a Stronghold Keg and with a considerably wider blast radius.
Each Black Powder Barrel has a long 10-second fuse, allowing for more devious traps to be laid.

Smuggling Skeleton Ships

Skeleton Ships have recovered valuable Smugglers’ League treasure items and weapons, and are now stockpiling them on board in addition to their usual rewards.
Skeleton Ships are now guaranteed to have a Black Powder Barrel aboard, and a high chance of rare items like the exotic rum crates favoured by the Smugglers, Skulls of Siren Sorrow and Ashen Winds Skulls.
All roaming and ambushing Skeleton Ships encountered on the seas contain these new Smugglers’ League treasures, while the Skeleton Fleet world encounter remains unchanged.

Smugglers’ Shipwrecks

Crews setting sail may now discover these smuggling vessels sunk while transporting their precious cargo. While these wrecks are rarer than traditional shipwrecks, their rewards are worth the detour!
Smugglers’ Shipwrecks contain an assortment of high-value treasure in addition to their usual rewards, with unique ship journals that can be returned to The Smugglers’ League and an assortment of weapons including devastating Black Powder Barrels.
Players diving down to a Smugglers’ Shipwreck will find handy air bubbles throughout the ship to help them while exploring.
For the duration of Season 17, the Reaper’s Chest and Reaper’s Bounty are now exclusively found within sunken Smugglers’ Shipwrecks and no longer found within the Fort of the Damned.

Smugglers’ Caches

As some of the Smugglers’ vessels have been lost at sea, caches of their goods have now begun washing ashore on islands. Finding them will reward eagle-eyed crews with various Smuggler treasures and resources.

Reaper’s Bones Rowboats

These returning Rowboats have been refitted with reinforced Gunpowder Barrels and can also be found with a cannon or harpoon attached. They can be rowed, docked and repaired just like standard Rowboats, but detonate after taking enough damage or when the fuse is lit.
While now a permanent addition to the seas, these Rowboats will appear more frequently for the duration of Season 17.

Smugglers’ Tide Commendations and Rewards

A range of new Smuggler Commendations have been added this Season to provide an additional challenge to players. Explore these from the newly rebranded Adventure at Sea Commendation tab in the Pirate Log.
The Smugglers’ League now offer access to themed clothing and ship rewards along with a range of Trinkets and a mischievous Black Powder Barrel Disguise, unlocked through their Commendations. These items will arrive over the course of Season 17 and can be found in Outpost shops once unlocked.

Season Overview Menu

A new Season Menu has been introduced, showcasing the new content set to arrive this Season and helping players track their progress and earned rewards.
The Overview tab breaks the Season into three Acts, highlighting the content coming throughout these three months of updates. Players can view the content, progress and available rewards.
The Deeds & Rewards tab introduces challenges to complete during each Act. Completing these will earn players a boost to their Season progression along with a few time-limited rewards.
With this new approach to Seasons, the old Weekly, Monthly and Seasonal Trials and Daily Deeds have now been retired.

Season 17

Another Season means 100 new levels to climb by raising your Renown, with racks full of rewards to snag along the way – and an optional Plunder Pass adding even more!

Season 17 Rewards and Plunder Pass

Progressing through the 100 levels of Renown in Season 17 will reward players with Master of the High Seas clothing items and unique Season 17 rewards, alongside time-limited Fabled Fins collectibles. Head to the Seasons profile page to browse the new rewards and check your pirate’s progress!
Pick up a Plunder Pass to gain access to a plethora of additional unlockable cosmetics from the Rare Regalia collection, including a ship set and selection of themed clothing, all individually earned by raising your Renown. The Plunder Pass can be purchased in-game through the Pirate Log or Pirate Emporium, or via the Pirate Emporium webpage or Steam Item Store.

Season 17 Emissary Ledger Rewards

This Season, the Guild Emissary Ledgers offer the ‘Moonrise Mariners’ Painting, ‘The Unseen Deal’ Ornament and the Guild of Crafty Contrabandists Title to Guilds who represent them well and perform proudly in the Ledgers.
The Hunter’s Call Emissary Ledger now offers the Call of the Seas Wheel and Cannons along with the Assailant of Treacherous Targets Title. These new rewards are earnable by Hunters representing the Company as Emissaries.

Chest of Fortune

The Chest of Fortune remains within the Fort of Fortune and crews can now earn the next Grade of the Fortune’s Favour Commendation, unlocking access to the Regal Fortune Lantern, Spyglass, Compass and Bucket.

Reaper’s Chests

Crews chasing down the tell-tale beacon of the Reaper’s Chest or Reaper’s Bounty can earn the next Grade of the Reaper’s Riches Commendation and start unlocking access to the Regal Fortune Banjo and Drum.

Pirate Emporium

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!

Riptide Rodeo Ship Collection and Ship’s Crest
Riptide Rodeo Weapon Bundle
Riptide Rodeo Hat, Jacket, Boots and Mask
Riptide Rodeo Pocket Watch
Ghostly Curse Alsatian (requires Pirate Legend status)
Fan the Hammer Emote (free!)

Pirate Profiles

Players can now purchase additional Pirate Profiles, unlocking access to multiple pirate slots from the Pirate tab in the front-end menu. Each pirate will have their own journey with separate progression, rewards and visual customisation.
Players can open up these extra profiles by purchasing a Pirate Deed, either from the Pirate Menu or the Pirate Emporium, where bundles of three Deeds can also be purchased at a discount. Once a Deed has been purchased, players can create and customise a new pirate.
Pirate Appearance Potions can now be used on individual pirates through the Pirate Menu.

Rare 40th Anniversary

Sea of Thieves studio Rare is celebrating 40 years of making games, and the festivities include a range of Ruby-themed cosmetics rolled out for pirate players to pick up in various ways!

Login Bonus

Players will receive the Rare Ruby Eyepatch for free when arriving on the seas at any time between Season 17 launch day and September 1st.

Outpost Stock

Appropriately colourful new items are now on offer in the Outpost shops: the Ruby Celebrations Eyeshadow, Lipstick and Makeup along with Red Buckled Boots, Red Sailor Bandana and Red Stitched Shirt.

Pirate Emporium

Available to buy until the September update, the Ruby Reaper’s Mark Sails put a special anniversary spin on this classic time-limited design.

Microsoft Rewards

Players can acquire the Rare Ruby Hat as a redeemable item through Microsoft Rewards.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can get access to the Rare Ruby Emote through the XGPU Perks programme.

Outpost Cosmetics

Season Ten Legacy Cosmetics

Cosmetics previously available during Season Ten have arrived in the Outpost shops and can now be purchased with Doubloons!
Players can purchase the Intrepid Explorer clothing set, plus the Intrepid Explorer Bobbed Hair, Braided Hair and Beard. The Compass of Nuanced Navigation, Spyglass of Skilful Steering and Bucket of Eternal Cooking are also available.
Pirate Legends can purchase the Larinna Tribute Tattoo.
The time-limited Gilded Sovereign items, however, remain exclusive to players who participated in Season Ten.

Gameplay Improvements

Improved Controller Keybinds

Players on controller now have the ability to use separate keybinds for a range of actions. These actions can now be customised independently or share a button: Secondary Interact and Swap Weapons, Secondary Interact and Reload, and Primary Interact and Reload.
These keybinds can be customised in the Controller Settings Menu, with the default remaining as Y on Xbox controller and Triangle on DualSense™ wireless controller, and can be reset to default if changed at any time.

Cross-Region Matchmaking Improvements

Following the release of Cross-Region Matchmaking in 3.4.1, players now have the choice to opt out of this feature and return to only matchmaking within their home region.
Players are free to change this setting either in the front-end settings or in-game during a session, and this will take effect when next attempting to matchmake into an experience such as Faction Battles, Voyages, entering the Tunnels of the Damned for Tall Tales or scuttling a ship.
When playing in a crew, if any player has chosen to opt out of Cross-Region Matchmaking, that will prevent the crew from migrating across regions during their session.
Support for additional regions has been added in France, South Africa and India, providing lower-latency servers for players in those regions and additional Cross-Region Matchmaking routes for nearby locations.

Performance Improvements

Following the prior rebuild of the Sloop, Brigantine and Galleon, this update now allows the game client to utilise the system to smooth out how other ships are loaded when approaching them at a distance, stabilising framerates while sailing.

Hit Registration Improvements on Animals

Players attacking various animals like chickens and pigs with melee attacks will now experience improved hit registration, dealing more consistent damage to targets.

Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage Notifications

Players who have their Skull of the Banished stolen by a rival crew will no longer be notified with a pop-up notification. This ensures consistency with how stolen items are handled across the wider experience.

The Devil’s Roar Balancing

Further improvements have been made to volcanoes, ensuring that players caught on an island about to erupt can more predictably plan their escape. After a volcano starts to smoke, the time before it erupts has now been reduced slightly as a result.

Events

Season 17 Community Weekend (August 30th – September 1st)

Your favourite 48-hour event is back for Season 17! Enjoy free gifts, pose at Picture Walls, solve puzzles as you seek Pop-Up Plunder, and make use of reward boosts thanks to the Community Emissary Grade raised by watching Sea of Thieves streamers on Twitch.
As a bonus goal to tie in with Rare’s 40th anniversary celebrations, reaching a cumulative community total of World Events completed during Community Weekend will unlock the Ruby Legend Figurehead for everyone.
Find out more in August’s This Month in Sea of Thieves article, and stay tuned for a full rundown closer to the date!

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

Players taking damage soon after healing to full health will no longer find their health bar becomes hidden even though they are not at full health.
Voyage notes pinned to the ship’s mast now require players to be much closer and facing the note before being able to interact with it, preventing accidental use.
Skeletons killed by a thrown knife will no longer leave behind an invisible surface that prevents players from attacking enemies behind it.
Improvements have been made to boarding audio effects to prevent players muffling certain effects when repeatedly attempting to give an item while grabbing the ladder.
Ships that are beached in shallow waters around islands can now be consistently sunk by rival crews. Once sufficient damage has been dealt to a ship, even if the ship is unable to fill with water, it will be considered sunk and destroyed.
During a Faction Battle, a ship that is sunk due to heading into the Devil’s Shroud now consistently causes the match to end and loses the encounter.
Bone piles belonging to the Order of Bone and Blade should no longer appear on lava where they cannot be dug up.
Ashen Lords in combat will now continue to actively attack players using a nearby cannon.

Followers of the Flame Voyage

If players are moved to another server during the Followers of the Flame Voyage, the Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons will now continue to behave as expected.
Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons revived near the dig site will no longer seem to disappear.

Reaper’s Chests Unsealed

Unsealed Reaper’s Chests and Chests of Bones that have been depleted will no longer show bones inside the chest.
Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons should no longer start following allied players if the unsealed Reaper’s Chest is not nearby.

Cannon of Rage

Players approaching a deployed Cannon of Rage will now find the interactions have been repositioned to make the weapon easier to load, fire and retract.
Retracting a Cannon of Rage no longer causes it to briefly disappear.
Players joining a session in progress should now see deployed Cannons of Rage in their correct state.

Environment

Improvements have been made to the environment beneath Skeleton Camps to prevent players from using a Grapple Gun to leave the designated area.
A range of island improvements have been made to prevent players becoming stuck within the environment.
Mysterious journals found on Crescent Isle should now all be readable.

Visual and Audio

Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons now move smoothly when following players or walking while holding weapons.
When Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons appear, the visual effects now show consistently.
Dropping a Chest of Bones or Reaper’s Chest no longer causes the audio effect to be heard at extended distances.
Players will now consistently hear their pirate gasp for breath when resurfacing if they had begun to drown.
Crews with the Regal Fortune Wheel equipped will now find it appears visually correct after being fully repaired.
When performing the Grog Shaker Emote, the audio effects can now be heard fully.
Ancient Phantoms encountered during the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage should now consistently have audible voiceover when subtitles are shown.
The image on the Crate of Immaculate Diamonds now appears at the correct orientation when placed on the ground.
Players wearing the Oyster’s Prize Eyepatch will now find the eyepatch is hidden when performing a disguise.
Players’ hands will now appear correctly when performing the Target Hide Emote.

Text and Localisation

‘The Lair of LeChuck’ – Players using non-English languages will now find interactions on the Headless Monkey are translated.
‘Captains of the Damned’ – Captain Jack Sparrow’s subtitles will now be shown fully when speaking.
‘Lords of the Sea’ – The voiceover and subtitles shown during this Tall Tale now match correctly.
Players using replaced gamertags will now see Half-Stew Jean’s name spelled correctly.
Players using Russian language settings should now find the Dire Dark Warsmith set name has been changed to better differentiate it from the original Dark Warsmith set.

Performance and Stability

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

Known Issues

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.

Download and Installation

Download Size:

Steam: 2.9 GB

Sea of Thieves · Aug 8, 2025

Can you believe it’s been a full month since we last stopped by with a round-up? We hardly could, but our calendars insist upon it which means we’ve got a job to do. A lot of big news arrived throughout July, as well as a game update and a bumper Event, so let’s look back at all the things you may have missed in the last few weeks.

Content Update

No month would be complete without a Sea of Thieves content update, and in July that meant the final update of Season 16, delivering the second Voyage for The Reaper’s Bones – known as Followers of the Flame – along with an Ashen version of the Search for Ancient Secrets. The update also took a second shot at rolling out a rebalance of Kraken activity. Fingers and tentacles crossed that she behaves a little better this time around.

The animosity between the Pirate Lord’s Legends and Captain Flameheart’s Reapers has been on the rise again recently, culminating in two full weeks of chaos in July! During Legends Unleashed, pirates on both sides of the conflict were tasked with completing Goals to earn gold, reputation, Renown and even a few exclusive Trinkets. And, in case that wasn’t quite enough to keep you occupied, the Compass of Chaos saw a new expansion of prompts based on the latest Season 16 content. Never a dull moment!

News and Features

July began with the usual This Month in Sea of Thieves article, followed by a lengthy unpicking of something new we’ve decided to embark upon in the spirit of openness: the Sea of Thieves Community Direct! After that came the unveiling of Season 16’s Style of Thieves contest categories – and, later, the names of the fashionable pirates sailing away with a win.

Community creativity also came under the spotlight in a #SoTShot round focused on landmarks and a fresh collection of Community Hub entries, this time with a little SoTFest twist. The community spirit isn’t for everyone, though, is it? With so many celebrations taking place, The Reaper’s Bones were quick to remind everyone that their ruthless approach to piracy was the focus of Season 16, with a substantial guide to the ins and outs of their Company. If you’re looking for the lore on these red and black-clothed reavers, look no further!

Videos and Streams

We led into July’s monthly update with the usual suspects: an episode of Sea of Thieves News to announce what was coming up, a Developer Update from Drew digging into some of the work already going on behind the scenes, and a trailer or two showing off the new arrivals players could expect to enjoy.

It wasn’t all standard fare, however! As mentioned earlier, July saw our very first Community Direct, in which some familiar faces sat down to discuss the current state of Sea of Thieves and everything we want to accomplish in future. Even more information was to follow in our latest official podcast, focused on Season 16. This gave us a chance to clarify some things touched on in the Community Direct, such as how our new approach to Seasons will incorporate permanent changes to the game world, and whether or not Drew was wearing trousers. All in all, a very enlightening watch.

And with that, we’re at the end of July and our latest round-up! If you have a few more seconds to spare, you’re always welcome to come and find us on social media, including Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Twitch, as well as the official Forums and Discord! You can drop by to send us any feedback you might have, or just stop in to say hi, provided you maintain a respectful distance from our loot pile. No, genuinely, leave it alone. See you there!

Previously in 2025:

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: June 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2025

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Sea of Thieves · Aug 7, 2025

Welcome to another edition of This Month in Sea of Thieves, and August’s turn to take a star turn in the spotlight. It’s a big month for us here at Rare as the studio’s 40th anniversary swings into focus, and we’ve got a ton of seafaring fun to put the wind in your sails and add spice to your sailing sessions!

It’s a packed few weeks, with not just the anniversary celebrations but a new Season and a couple of exciting events too – so let’s not waste any time getting down to details…

Rare’s 40th Anniversary – from Monday, August 4th

The studio turns 40 years old imminently – so to celebrate, we’ve got a boatload of things to share with fans and players. Starting from August 4th, we’ve organised a suite of Ruby-themed gifts and tie-ins!

For Xbox Game Pass Ultimate players, the sparkling Rare Ruby Emote will be available as an XGPU Perk all the way through to October 4th. The roguish Rare Ruby Hat will also be earnable via Microsoft Rewards, and from August 6th there’ll be huge Pirate Emporium discounts on Sea of Thieves sets inspired by classic Rare titles (see full sale info below).

The free Rare Ruby Eyepatch will be on offer as a celebratory Sea of Thieves login bonus starting from the launch of Season 17 on August 14th and running right through to the September update – and a grab bag of new ruby-tinted Outpost stock will be available to pick up with your in-game gold from the same date.

Rare-inspired cosmetics will also be purchasable in a mega-bundle from August 14th, while the glorious Ruby Reaper’s Mark Sails will be made available as a time-limited Pirate Emporium offering. Meanwhile, the optional Season 17 Plunder Pass will allow players to unlock the classically themed Rare Regalia ship set and clothing as they power through those levels of Seasonal Renown!

There’s also more on offer in Season 17’s Rare-themed Community Weekend – but more on that later…

Pirate Emporium Rare Anniversary Sale – Wednesday, August 6th – Monday, August 11th

A major milestone deserves a major sale, so you can expect a huge range of deals to explore in the Pirate Emporium while this one is live! The Emporium has no shortage of ship sets, costumes, weapons and Trinkets inspired by Rare’s games and characters from the last 40 years, and most if not all of them are part of this special sale. From Bear & Bird to Paradise Garden, Night Wulf to Huntress and everything in between, there’s a look here for everyone to enjoy!

‘Smugglers’ Tide’ Release – Friday, August 8th

The official Sea of Thieves soundtrack that’s streamable and downloadable from your choice of music provider gets another of its regular additions, this time the moody signature music from the upcoming Smuggler-driven Season. Check it out from August 8th, ahead of the Season’s launch a little under a week later…

Gold & Glory Weekend – Friday, August 8th – Monday, August 11th

Our boosted rewards Event beckons players in over the second weekend of the month, giving persistent pirates a perfect opportunity to hit level 100 Renown in Season 16 before it ends! Gold, reputation, Allegiance and Renown will all be boosted for the duration of the Event, so make sure you’re heading out on the waves to make the most of these gains.

Season 17 Launch – Thursday, August 14th

Announced at the Xbox Games Showcase back in June, Smugglers’ Tide finally comes to Sea of Thieves’ shores later this month. With explosive Black Powder Barrels, fresh faces to meet and interact with, Smugglers’ Route Runs and new Deeds, Commendations, rewards and treasures, our smuggling-themed Season is all set to offer pirates new ways to make their fortune.

Stay tuned to Sea of Thieves social channels for more information on what’s to come as part of Season 17’s package.

Pirate Profiles Launch – Thursday, August 14th

Also launching alongside Season 17 are Pirate Profiles, which players will be able to pick up from the Pirate Emporium! For those of you who like the idea of having multiple pirate personas to roleplay with – or if you just fancy taking on new challenges with a fresh-faced pirate (and no worries about overwriting your old one) – you’ll find this feature just the thing to help you scratch that itch.

Season 17 Community Weekend – Saturday, August 30th – Monday, September 1st

Remember a few paragraphs ago, when we mentioned the next Community Weekend? Well, that’s all set to happen nice and early in the Season 17 calendar, with rewards and Pop-Up Plunder both themed to our 40th anniversary milestone. As usual, the Community Emissary Grade will be powered by hours of Sea of Thieves watched on Twitch – with a suite of Twitch Drops on offer for folks tuning in. Picture Walls will return to Outposts with a special ruby-red flavour, with one at The Reaper’s Hideout also back in action for the 48 hours of this Event.

Pirates who pop in during the Weekend will receive two glorious login bonuses: the Season 17 Community Weekend Flag and the Paper Cutout Emote. And, if 100,000 World Events are completed during Community Weekend, a special Ruby Legend Figurehead will be unlocked for all participants. It’s set to be a stunning celebration of all things Rare, so make sure to mark the dates in your diary now to avoid disappointment.

And that’s all for August! We hope to see you on the seas in honour of our studio’s milestone anniversary, and our thanks, as always, to those of you who have set sail with us at any stage of this unforgettable journey.

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Sea of Thieves · Jul 18, 2025

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…

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.

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.

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.

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

And now, without any more re-re-re-tweaked preamble, here are Season 16’s #StyleOfThieves themes:

The Themes

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.

ApocalypticImagine 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

Debonair
However you said ‘Debonair’ in your head just then, translate that instinctively suave pronunciation into fashion form.
Entry date: July 22nd

MagicalFrom 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

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

Image credit: nexusgamingv1 on X/Twitter

How to Enter

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.

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).

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.

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!

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Sea of Thieves · Jul 18, 2025

Reapers Rising

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.

Followers of the Flame Voyage

The Reaper’s Bones offer a new on-demand Voyage: Followers of the Flame.
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.
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.

Chest of Bones

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.
The Chest of Bones will release fewer skeletons than its more powerful Reaper’s Chest counterpart, and does not contain Skeleton Captains.

Ashen Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage

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.
The Order of Bone and Blade are now helpfully immune to damage from geysers.

Reaper’s Chest Balancing

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.
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.
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.

Stealing the Search for Ancient Secrets

It is now possible for rival crews to steal the Skull of the Banished during the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage.
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.

Skeleton Mercenary Improvements

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.
When a buried Skeleton Mercenary is uncovered by a pirate, the other members of the crew will now be notified of the discovery.

Reapers Rising Commendations and Rewards

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.

Gameplay Improvements

The Devil’s Roar Rebalancing

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.
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.
Volcanoes now signal their eruption for a longer time, allowing players more time to react.
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.

Responsive Health Bar Improvements

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.
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.
After healing fully, a player’s health bar now remains visible for a longer period before being hidden.

Kraken Encounter Balancing

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.

Performance Improvements

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.

Pirate Emporium

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!

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

Outpost Cosmetics

New Outpost Stock!

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

Events

Legends Unleashed (July 17th–31st)

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.
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.
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.
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.

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

Storage Crates found through Skeleton’s Orders can now be sold to the Merchant Alliance as intended.
Players stowing a throwing knife while charging a stab attack will find the stab is now cancelled.
Treasure harpooned from the water can now be consistently picked up from the deck.
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.
A Grapple Gun can no longer be used to drag the Key or Chest of Siren Song into The Reaper’s Hideout.
Restoring a ship at the shipwright should no longer cause the ship’s wheel to spin rapidly.
Players attempting to grab on to a ladder while using a spyglass should no longer find the vignette effect lingers.
Players are now prevented from selling a hunting spear while attempting to throw it.
Attempting to throw a hunting spear and crouching should no longer cause controller vibration effects to persist.
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.
‘The Revenge of the Morningstar’ – Items dropped on Graymarrow’s altar during this Tall Tale will no longer vanish unexpectedly.

Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage

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

Cannon of Rage

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

Reaper’s Chests Unsealed

Skeletons released from a Reaper’s Chest at an Outpost now move consistently to keep up with their crew.
Skeletons emerging from Reaper’s Chests will now consistently show their nameplates.
Reaper’s Chests now emit a bone-rattling sound when sealed.
Leaving the area of an unsealed Reaper’s Chest and returning no longer causes the lid to reappear.
The red glow inside the enhanced Reaper’s Chest now displays properly when other players are holding it.
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.

Skeleton Mercenaries

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

Environment

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.
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.
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.
Players should no longer be able to retrieve items from the Fort of the Damned using a Grapple Gun without first unlocking the Vault.
Players can no longer fall out of the environment by using the Grapple Gun to navigate within Ancient Vaults.
Players can no longer pass through Royal Crest Fortress’ ceiling by interacting with the Map Table on a different floor.

Visual and Audio

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

User Interface

The front-end intro video now appears correctly when playing without visible black borders.
Event times shown on the Quest Table are now shown in players’ local time instead of UTC.
Players using a Trident of Dark Tides for the first time will no longer see a ‘Refill Ammo’ notification after firing.
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.
Attempting to sell a Bounty Skull to Flameheart now correctly guides players to the right hand-in location.
Players navigating between the title screen and front-end menu should now hear music at a consistent volume.

Performance and Stability

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

Known Issues

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.

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Sea of Thieves · Jul 11, 2025

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…

Content Update

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.

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!

News and Features

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!

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.

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…

Videos and Streams

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.

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!

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!

Previously in 2025:

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2025

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2025

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Sea of Thieves · Jul 10, 2025

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.

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!

Looking Back

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.

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.

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.

Looking Forward

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.

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.

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.

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.

New Team Setup and Seasonal Approach

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.

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:

Month 1: more sandbox features and worldbuilding setup

Month 2: headline live Event, upscaled and expanded with lore elements

Month 3: ‘call to action’ moment for players, revisiting and revitalising sandbox content

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.

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!

Season 17

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.

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.

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!

Season 18

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…

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.

Custom Servers

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Beyond Seasons

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.

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.

Thanks for Reading

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.

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!

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Sea of Thieves · Jul 4, 2025

Welcome to another month of Sea of Thieves plans, events and revelry! There’s plenty of action headed your way as Sea of Thieves advances into July with all sails unfurled. So grab a cuppa and your diary as we take a good look at the line-up…

Community Direct – Thursday, July 10th

It's been a while since we sat down and shared our plans for Sea of Thieves, so we thought: we should do that soon. And we are! On July 10th, join Head of Video Production John McMurtrie, Head of Community and Communications Christina McFairholme, Associate Design Director Shelley Preston, Creative Director Mike Chapman and Production Director Drew Stevens as they talk about upcoming Seasons, big Insider Programme changes and a much-requested feature that’s recently been ticking away in development.

You’ll be able to watch our debut Community Direct via YouTube Premiere on the Sea of Thieves YouTube channel, or live on our official Twitch channel – so be sure to subscribe for the all-important notification when we go live.

Pirate Emporium Staff Picks Sale – Thursday, July 10th – Tuesday, July 15th

This month’s Emporium sale is a precursor to Rare’s anniversary celebrations, featuring some of the team’s favourite sets and stellar specials! Our bold Pirate Emporium squad canvassed the studio to arrive at the selection featured in this sale. From the ever-popular Lodestar set to the irresistible Pocket Crab Emote, you won’t want to miss the opportunity to browse this bucketload of bargains.

July Monthly Update – Thursday, July 17th

The third and final content update of this Season introduces Followers of the Flame, another new Voyage for The Reaper’s Bones, that sends crews in search of a new kind of Reaper’s Chest with enchanted items leading the way. The Pirate Emporium is also expecting an influx of new stock, including the Bosun Brewmaster set for true tavern aficionados and the darkly delightful Ashen Curse Toucan.

July’s inbound Outpost stock includes the Green Resolute Hull, Flag and Sails, plus the glorious Golden Chaser equipment and instruments. And, as is now customary, a new Voyage of Luck awaits all pirates who jump in to enjoy this latest free update.

Legends Unleashed Event – Thursday, July 17th – Thursday, July 31st

It’s not just a content update going live on July 17th – once the game is back up from maintenance, Legends Unleashed also kicks off! This Event will last for a fortnight, rallying the patrons of Athena’s Fortune against the rise of the Reapers. There’ll be Athena’s Fortune reputation and gold boosts, Daily Goals offering additional payouts, emergent Legendary Message in a Bottle Voyages (with a Trinket reward for completing three) and the possibility of Ashen Mega Stashes once again appearing in Fort Vaults.

Week two of the Event will bring the Reapers’ resurgence, complete with their own themed Daily Goals and boosts on Athena’s Fortune treasure delivered to The Reaper’s Hideout (with another unlockable Trinket for doing so). For a real payout, any Athena’s Fortune Emissary Flags captured and handed in will be worth 10 times the usual amount!

Shorter Athena’s Fortune Voyages and Letters of Recommendation from Larinna will also be introduced with this Event, becoming a permanent feature of the game – so there’s ample opportunity down the line to raise your standing as a Pirate Legend, or attain that lofty goal if you haven’t already.

Twitch Drops – Friday, July 18th – Friday, July 25th

Tune in to any Sea of Thieves streaming Partner during this week to unlock more Twitch Drop treasures. This set of Drops features some fan favourites including the Shuffle Dance Emote and Rising Morningstar Trousers, as well as a Raid on a Dark Fortress Voyage, the brand new Amethyst Mercenary Jacket and more. Stay tuned for the full suite of swag and info on how to earn it all later in the month.

Drops are available by linking your accounts and watching any Sea of Thieves Partner on Twitch for the required amount of time. If you’re not sure who to watch, check our Partner Directory to see who’s online and available to tune in to once those Drops go live!

Season 16 Style of Thieves – Monday, July 21st – Thursday, July 24th

Of course, no Season is complete without a fashion-focused Style of Thieves contest, and that time is almost upon us once again. Show us your best fits on our social channels during this entry period dated above, with a heads-up on this Season’s themes arriving a little earlier to help you get planning! We look forward to seeing all your snazzy outfits and giving away more pairs of the coveted Fashionista’s Finery Gloves.

Sails of Bonded Brawlers – throughout Season 16

July will be the last full month to get the free Sails of Bonded Brawlers, a set of beautiful blue sheets designed in honour of Sea of Thieves’

launch on [URL='https://steamcommunity.com/linkfilter/?u=http%3A%2F%2FBattle.net%C2%AE']Battle.net®[/URL] alongside Season 16. Just log in at least once before Season 17 kicks off to find these in your Ship Customisation Chest.

Although it’s not our own event, we must also give an honourable mention to SoTFest 2025 taking place this month: we hope everyone making their way to the UK for this fantastic fan event has a wonderful time, and we have a strong Rare contingent turning up to enjoy the vibes and participate in a few panels. So for those of you going, we’ll see you there!

That’s all for now, but we look forward to seeing you here this time next month where we’ll be ready to talk about everything happening in August – which will of course include the beginning of Season 17. Get your sneakiest outfits at the ready, crew, we’re going smuggling…

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Sea of Thieves · Jul 1, 2025

One of the most exciting social additions to the Sea of Thieves calendar is the annual celebration of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month. As part of this, we reached out to three members of one of our newest Affiliate Alliance additions, The Pride Brigade – a social space created and curated to celebrate diversity and inclusion within our community, giving pirates a safe space to be themselves and be proud of who they are.

So we’ll now hand over to Div_And_Inc, Zom8ie and Serve_with_Ice from The Pride Brigade, who are taking the time to discuss not only their community but the important history of Pride Month, and why it’s still important to make space for these conversations and activities every year!

Article 1 of the Sea of Thieves Pirate Code states “The Sea Calls to Us All”. This hugely resonates with the purposes of LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, and the Rare team have always been proud to present their wonderful pirate adventure world as a place where everybody is free to be themselves without the risk of unfair treatment, discrimination or abuse. The freedom of expression that every player has on the Sea of Thieves is a direct example of this, with anyone able to enjoy this world in their own way – be that how they play the game, dress their pirate, decorate their ship or communicate with crewmates and strangers they meet on the waves.

Proud pirates in Sea of Thieves (in participating territories) can now also represent Pride in game with the Progress Pride Flag – find out more in June’s This Month in SoT article. This flag, in its current 2021 iteration, includes the original six colours of the Pride flag representing the LGBTQIA+ community. The triangular colours now included on the left were added to represent the importance of issues affecting BIPOC, transgender, non-binary and intersex people.

LGBTQIA+ Pride Month, held in June every year, is a worldwide observance and celebration, commemorating many decades of struggles amongst the LGBTQIA+ community for civil rights and social acceptance. It also signifies the ever-growing pursuit of equal rights for everyone, regardless of who they love or how they identify.

Image credit: heslashthem and murpheylives on Bluesky

Pride began in 1969 in New York City’s Greenwich Village in protest against discriminatory treatment and social injustice. It stood as a pivotal moment in history when members of the LGBTQIA+ community were finally empowered enough to say “we deserve to be treated equally and with respect”. Since then, LGBTQIA+ Pride has evolved into a rich, vibrant global celebration of diversity, inclusivity, respect and love. All the while, it never fails to note the importance of highlighting parts of the world where the LGBTQIA+ community still face dehumanisation, discrimination, persecution and abuse.

It’s also important to highlight that while LGBTQIA+ Pride Month is an opportunity to show loud and colourful support within the LGBTQIA+ community and acceptance of everyone’s individual expression, the celebration of Pride is not exclusive. This is seen in the support given by the fiercest of allies who sit outside the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, and is hugely welcomed around the world as it further demonstrates Pride as a true celebration of inclusion, respect, authenticity, expression and love.

Pride is not only a celebration but continues to be a global protest to show that, though inclusivity has come so far in many parts of the world, there is still a long way to go in ensuring LGBTQIA+ people are safe from exclusion, violence, oppression and abuse. Sea of Thieves recognises that Pride is a wonderful event platform to help educate all of us on the struggles still faced by the community today, as well as making it a safer place for all.

“The Sea Unites Us as One Community” is another article of the Pirate Code that echoes the true sentiment of Pride Month. While Pride Month highlights the struggles faced by the LGBTQIA+ community around the world and online, Pride also stands for everyone being equal, standing together in times of hardship and times of joy. Sea of Thieves offers just that, with a chance to meet new people every time you set sail and work together on group adventures, discovering hidden secrets and embarking on beautiful examples of community-focused gameplay.

Image credit: divandinc on Bluesky
The Sea of Thieves community is a rich combination of pirates from all over the world representing many ethnicities, backgrounds, sexualities and gender identities. The game is designed for all play styles, capabilities and identities to be able to step into a fully inclusive world and adventure with their friends, while also being able to make new friends around the globe.

As a result of this inclusive message within the Pirate Code, a new Sea of Thieves Affiliate Alliance community has grown: The Pride Brigade. This began over three years ago as a small group of LGBTQIA+ pirates learning to play Sea of Thieves for the first time. We soon began to expand with the intention of creating a safe space for all the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as everyone outside the community who would call themselves an ‘ally’.

Through a mutual love of this open-world pirate adventure game, our community has expanded exponentially and has allowed us to support people from all over the world in feeling safe and celebrated as their authentic selves. Our community champions education over intimidation, where kindness, understanding and patience are considered the most important aspects of inclusivity. We host content creators, artists, gamers, musicians and inclusivity experts, all of whom champion the ethos that “everyone deserves to be treated equally and kindly, regardless of who they are or how they identify”.

Now established as one of the newest Sea of Thieves Affiliate Alliance communities in June 2025, we hope to further increase our Pride message and offer many more players a welcoming and safe space, a chance to meet new pirates to sail with safely and a platform to stand proudly and be themselves.

As the celebrations continue through June and beyond, let us all come together as one community and set sail for new horizons as our authentic selves, with nothing but kindness and adventure in our hearts. Happy Pride to everyone. All shall sail together!

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Sea of Thieves

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Community Weekend Live

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This Month in Sea of Thieves: August 2025

Season 16’s Style of Thieves Theme Reveal!

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Sea of Thieves Community Direct: July 2025

This Month in Sea of Thieves: July 2025

All Shall Sail Together: Celebrating Pride Month 2025