Massive piratey factor Sea of Thieves might be getting customized servers as a part of a paid subscription service in “early 2026”, builders Uncommon have introduced throughout a first-ever group direct for the sport. That is removed from all the studio’s plans, with wider shakeups additionally within the pipeline.
This outlining of plans to verify the great ship SOT is just not solely seaworthy, however can efficiently broadside the various different vessels competing for its gamers’ consideration comes with some miserable and un-piratey context. It follows Uncommon being one of many studios affected by Microsoft’s mass layoffs earlier this month, with Everwild being among the many variety of in-development video games cancelled as a part of the cuts.
Within the hour-ish of their group direct and accompanying Steam weblog submit, Uncommon acknowledged that they have some work to do to maintain of us invested within the sport. “We all know we haven’t hit the mark our gamers had been hoping for by way of sport well being and efficiency, particularly on the subject of being reactive to dishonest and the sport expertise on PC,” they wrote, “We’re additionally cognisant that we could possibly be extra attuned to the needs and experiences of our participant base, and we’ll be working laborious to treatment this in future.”
Cue some adjustments to how the groups engaged on SOT are structured, with Uncommon saying it is expended the workforce centered on “bettering the core playability and stability of the primary sport”. Alongside this, the studio’s taking a distinct method to how they construction three-month seasons, with new stuff arriving each month so the gamers all the time have one thing contemporary to do.
Whereas seasons 17 and 18, each of which had been teased right here, are coming quickly, these customized servers might be arriving early subsequent 12 months. They will be deployed as a part of a brand new subscription’s “premium package deal”, which’ll additionally embody different advantages. You’ll tweak the seas of your custome server to fit your each whim, spawning enemies, turning off enemies, working safer seas fleets, messing about with the devs’ cinematic digital camera. The place oysters come from is your oyster.
“Though this subscription service is touchdown subsequent 12 months, we’ve taken the choice to announce it good and early in order that our Companions and artistic communities can begin planning sooner somewhat than later,” Uncommon wrote, “We wish to construct this toolset in partnership with the group, and working it as a subscription mannequin signifies that we are able to guarantee ongoing funding into and growth of customized servers as a platform.”
So, there you go. Sea of Thieves is crusing on. Hoist the mainsail.
