A new year is upon us! After the frenetic end-of-year rush to make sure all the pieces of the Festival of Giving were running smoothly, it feels like almost no time at all since we were last here, giving you the rundown. Nonetheless, it is time once again to take a look back and call out some of the highlights you might have missed in December…
Content Update
If there was anything you weren’t likely to miss, it was the arrival of Season 18 as sarcophagi containing the Eternal Guard started appearing across the seas, bearing keys to Sanctuaries unearthed within The Devil’s Roar. For the full suite of changes and additions made to the game, as always, dive into the release notes for this update (and the later hotfix). And of course this is only Act 1 of Season 18, so keep a weather eye on the horizon for all that’s coming in Acts 2 and 3!
December also meant the next item on the agenda was the Festival of Giving: this year not only Partners but all Pirate Legends were able to hand out in-game gifts to other crews, while all pirates also enjoyed a daily Gilded Voyage, newsletters came bearing desserts and Twitch viewers had the chance to unlock even more goodies by gifting subscriptions to their favourite streamers. Generous sailors also grouped together in the Treasures for Hope initiative to raise over $137,000 for the Global Gift Foundation – extra-special thanks to everyone who contributed!
News and Features
Announcing Season 18’s launch was naturally the main news beat of the month – but with the end of the year racing up to meet us, December also offered a chance to look back on a year of accomplishments and tally them all up in Your Story So Far. In fact, players were so busy sharing their favourite feats that we almost missed the chance to show off their best Stormy Seas screenshots in the latest round of #SoTShot, and we couldn’t have that…
As the holidays are nothing without a few tasty treats, we also stoked the festive spirit with a foray into cookie decoration – making sure everyone had access to a Sea of Thieves gingerbread recipe recipe so that they could rustle up their own. With cookies and mulled grog to hand, all that was left to do was to settle down somewhere warm and dig into the last Community Spotlight of 2025, focusing on practised prop maker JustJobiwan.
Videos and Streams
If you’ve been with us for previous launches, it should come as no surprise that the Video team were busy producing Seasonal content for much of December. The Season 18 Content Update was followed in short order by an instalment of Sea of Thieves News, lifting the veil on 2025’s Festival of Giving plans and more. A Developer Update and official Season trailer followed, but not before a delightfully nostalgic B-movie trailer reintroduced everyone to the delights of The Devil’s Roar.
The festive season wasn’t all business as usual, of course. The Audio team also delighted all crews with an eerie carol warning of the dangers that lurk in the darkest time of the year. Adding to the sense of ominous mystery, the Orb then broke its silence to share some of what’s to come in the future (and ultimately made its way into the possession of many resourceful pirates)…
And with that, we reach the end of 2025. Last year was a whirlwind, with too many highlights and fond memories to name, so thank you to everyone who joined us on the waves at any point. We hope to sail with you again in 2026 and beyond – in the meantime, remember that you can always find us via our usual social channels, namely Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Twitch, as well as the official Forums and Discord. Here’s hoping you all had a holiday season to remember!
Previously in 2025:
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: November 2025
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: October 2025
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: September 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
Continue reading...
Content Update
If there was anything you weren’t likely to miss, it was the arrival of Season 18 as sarcophagi containing the Eternal Guard started appearing across the seas, bearing keys to Sanctuaries unearthed within The Devil’s Roar. For the full suite of changes and additions made to the game, as always, dive into the release notes for this update (and the later hotfix). And of course this is only Act 1 of Season 18, so keep a weather eye on the horizon for all that’s coming in Acts 2 and 3!
December also meant the next item on the agenda was the Festival of Giving: this year not only Partners but all Pirate Legends were able to hand out in-game gifts to other crews, while all pirates also enjoyed a daily Gilded Voyage, newsletters came bearing desserts and Twitch viewers had the chance to unlock even more goodies by gifting subscriptions to their favourite streamers. Generous sailors also grouped together in the Treasures for Hope initiative to raise over $137,000 for the Global Gift Foundation – extra-special thanks to everyone who contributed!
News and Features
Announcing Season 18’s launch was naturally the main news beat of the month – but with the end of the year racing up to meet us, December also offered a chance to look back on a year of accomplishments and tally them all up in Your Story So Far. In fact, players were so busy sharing their favourite feats that we almost missed the chance to show off their best Stormy Seas screenshots in the latest round of #SoTShot, and we couldn’t have that…
As the holidays are nothing without a few tasty treats, we also stoked the festive spirit with a foray into cookie decoration – making sure everyone had access to a Sea of Thieves gingerbread recipe recipe so that they could rustle up their own. With cookies and mulled grog to hand, all that was left to do was to settle down somewhere warm and dig into the last Community Spotlight of 2025, focusing on practised prop maker JustJobiwan.
Videos and Streams
If you’ve been with us for previous launches, it should come as no surprise that the Video team were busy producing Seasonal content for much of December. The Season 18 Content Update was followed in short order by an instalment of Sea of Thieves News, lifting the veil on 2025’s Festival of Giving plans and more. A Developer Update and official Season trailer followed, but not before a delightfully nostalgic B-movie trailer reintroduced everyone to the delights of The Devil’s Roar.
The festive season wasn’t all business as usual, of course. The Audio team also delighted all crews with an eerie carol warning of the dangers that lurk in the darkest time of the year. Adding to the sense of ominous mystery, the Orb then broke its silence to share some of what’s to come in the future (and ultimately made its way into the possession of many resourceful pirates)…
And with that, we reach the end of 2025. Last year was a whirlwind, with too many highlights and fond memories to name, so thank you to everyone who joined us on the waves at any point. We hope to sail with you again in 2026 and beyond – in the meantime, remember that you can always find us via our usual social channels, namely Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Twitch, as well as the official Forums and Discord. Here’s hoping you all had a holiday season to remember!
Previously in 2025:
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: November 2025
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: October 2025
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: September 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
Continue reading...