In a new community direct, Rare has confirmed swashbuckling pirate MMO Sea of Thieves will get a slate of new features over the coming months, including long-requested custom servers. These will be a premium, subscription-based feature for players launching in early 2026, inviting everyone into custom worlds where everything can be controlled, from the weather to the game’s camera.
As discussed, custom servers will feature various toggles and switches for players, with these determining the vibe of the world, and just how much danger is lurking around. For players who want a cosier experience without the threat of being shipwrecked and losing their loot, there will be options to turn off the Kraken, and to remove storms. There will also be options for spawning treasure and loot, reducing enemy numbers, and controlling crew numbers.
In addition, players will get access to a cinematic camera tool, which is usually used to create trailers for the game. We expect there’ll be plenty of fun uses for this particular feature, for those players who enjoy roleplaying in games.
Rare highlighted that custom servers will be paid for a significant reason: the cost of developing and maintaining this feature is high. The team also expressed a desire to continue evolving the feature in future, with money from subscriptions giving the team scope to support it, and ‘look back’ on where it could be improved, rather than releasing it and moving on.
Read: Microsoft initiates sweeping Xbox layoffs, cancels several games
‘We have a little bit of history of maybe shipping stuff, and then not looking back. This is a very deliberate way of making sure there’s budget to look back,’ Christina McFairholme, Head of Community and Communication on Sea of Thieves said.
Those players keen to hop into their own custom servers will need to stay patient as the feature develops. Per Rare, the feature is currently in active development, with the team working to make it a robust and valuable addition to the game.
Sea of Thieves Community Direct – July 2025
While players wait for more news, there’s plenty of other things on the way for Sea of Thieves. For the smaller things, Rare said it was keen to refresh the sandbox of the game, with plans to focus on ‘more possibilities’ on the open seas. It also confirmed the Insider Program will be changing, with players now able to talk openly about their experiences in this dedicated server.
Notably, the team also announced a significant restructure internally, with its Game Health team set to be expanded to ‘continue improving the core playability and stability of the main game’ while also working on new features. It’s unclear whether this restructure was directly inspired by Microsoft’s recently-announced layoffs.
Sea of Thieves: Season 17 and Season 18 detailed
In addition to announcing all of these changes, the Sea of Thieves team also confirmed new details about the coming seasons of the game. As announced, Season 17 will focus on the Smugglers League, who are a new bunch of pirates providing fresh quests for players. Skeleton Fort is also getting a revamp in this season.
Season 18 was also confirmed to be in development, with this focussed on The Devil’s Roar.
We’re likely to hear much more about these new seasons in the coming months, so stay tuned. While recent announcements impacting Rare did cause some concern prior to this sudden community update, it does appear the studio remains dedicated to Sea of Thieves, and that the game will continue to expand in future.
