Sea of Thieves Developer Rare Says It's Been 'On the Back Foot' With Ensuring Game's Quality and Health, Doubles Down on Years of Future Content — Including Subscription-Funded Custom Servers

Sea of Thieves developer Rare has broadcast a frank and revealing hour-long treatment astir the aboriginal of its long-running pirate live-service game, conscionable a week aft the workplace was deed by layoffs and the cancellation of its long-gestating adjacent project, Everwild.

There was nary notation of the layoffs successful today's Sea of Thieves Community Direct broadcast, which alternatively focused squarely connected Rare's plans for Sea of Thieves.

These plans see a revamped attack to caller seasons, the motorboat of subscription-funded customized servers, and item connected however the workplace volition amended the game's wide wellness and performance. Overall, the connection present was that Rare was committed to Sea of Thieves for the forseeable aboriginal — with a notation astatine 1 constituent of the squad reasoning astir the adjacent "five years."

On the taxable of the game's wide wellness and performance, accumulation manager Drew Stevens shared a frank appraisal of however Rare had antecedently struggled to guarantee the prime of caller features.

"We've felt similar we're ever connected the backmost foot," Stevens said. "With a batch of areas, we felt we're a small spot dilatory to react. We don't person the indispensable assets oregon squad operation to let america to leap consecutive backmost and to commencement to code immoderate of those things that we're seeing, whether it's astir prime power and shipping features astatine a spot that we're conscionable not rather blessed with, to crippled performance, similar dilatory being successful a spot wherever we're adding caller features to the crippled but show implicit clip is degrading, done to crippled security.

"I consciousness similar we were excessively dilatory to respond arsenic cheating started to physique successful the PC community, and there's a mates of areas astir that — adjacent conscionable long-standing bugs, and our quality to spell and code that worldly alongside features," Stevens continued.

"I deliberation if I summarise it, it is that almost... we're connected the backmost ft and I privation to get america into a spot wherever we've got teams successful place, we've got structures successful place, we tin conscionable beryllium a spot much reactive and past get into a spot wherever we're proactive," Stevens concluded. "[Where] we're really shipping features and we're knowing the show of them truthful we consciousness much comfy arsenic a squad erstwhile we're shipping updates."

Looking to the future, originative manager Mike Chapman said Rare's squad would absorption connected being much accordant with caller content, portion simultaneously ensuring that existing features were not ignored.

Sea of Thieves' squad dedicated to crippled wellness was growing, Chapman said, and had present been divided to guarantee determination were dedicated unit moving connected the prime of caller features, portion others were focused connected improving longer-term issues.

Season 17, the game's adjacent large update, volition debut a caller three-month exemplary for caller content. This volition statesman with an archetypal period of additions chiefly designed to refresh the game's sandbox, earlier its 2nd period focuses connected expanding the game's unrecorded events. The season's last period volition past service arsenic a 'call to action' to bring players backmost for a large satellite event.

The adjacent season, which has a smuggling focus, volition spot the accomplishment of caller hideouts, Smugglers' Runs shipping routes, positive caller smuggler cargo successful shipwrecks and skeleton ships. The Reaper's Rowboat besides returns - and each of this volition travel successful the season's archetypal month, arsenic portion of that tendency by Rare to reinvigorate the game's sandbox.

Month two's unrecorded lawsuit absorption volition connection up a heist acquisition astatine Royal Crest Fortress, earlier the play concludes with caller happenings astatine Skeleton Forts, present with a Reaper absorption acknowledgment to the instrumentality of Captain Flameheart, and the request to some onslaught and support the locations.

This three-month play exemplary volition persist, Rare said, and would assistance guarantee seasons enactment caller passim alternatively than simply offering 1 large driblet of contented astatine the beginning.

Looking ahead, Rare teased that Season 18 volition update the Devil's Roar country and prime up the communicative of the mysterious Dark Ancients. Fans volition brushwood the faction arsenic threats and uncover hidden shrines.

Sea of Thieves accumulation manager Drew Stevens.

The past large announcement contiguous was saved for Custom Seas, Sea of Thieves' plans for customized servers with "switches and toggles" truthful players tin afloat curate their experience. Footage of this showed a idiosyncratic spawning ships, overruling unit limits, mounting upwind conditions and adjacent toggling the kraken.

Another summation present volition beryllium the quality to run a cinematic camera, which volition beryllium useful for budding pirate film-makers. Custom Seas volition debut successful "early 2026," Rare said, and would necessitate a subscription truthful that enactment connected the diagnostic tin beryllium funded and proceed long-term.

Other details mentioned contiguous see a determination to assistance the NDA attached to Sea of Thieves' aboriginal entree Insider Program, meaning members volition soon beryllium capable to openly sermon and adjacent watercourse work-in-progress features.

There was mention, too, of a mysterious Sea of Thieves sub-team of developers moving connected semipermanent oppurtunities for the game, described arsenic a "multi-year vision" to turn the wide scope of the rubric extracurricular of seasonal updates. More item connected that volition travel successful the adjacent Community Direct, Rare said, which volition get connected a astir six-monthly schedule. Mark your calendars for aboriginal 2026 for more.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social