Content Update
As always, a new month meant a new content update, complete with handy release notes containing all the details. This one was headlined by the arrival of the much-anticipated anti-cheat system, the ability for players with no live service subscription to still play solo on Safer Seas, and a waterfall of wondrous cosmetics – both in the Pirate Emporium (where they were joined by a cut-price Classics range) and at the Outpost shops. There was also a fresh makeover for an old friend, with a bit of help from one of Madame Olivia’s Pirate Appearance Potions!
March marked Sea of Thieves’ sixth anniversary too, and it wasn’t like we were about to let that pass without a celebratory Event. Enter the Legendary Message in a Bottle Voyages, offering tantalisingly valuable Athena’s Fortune treasure for any pirates willing to track them down. Completing one of these also granted players the glittering Seaglass Rapier to help them commemorate the momentous milestone. Really makes you wonder who keeps making all this glass, doesn’t it?
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News and Features
The standout news of March was the arrival of Sea of Thieves pre-orders on PlayStation®5! Not only did this mean that players on the new platform could stake their claim well before launch, it revealed the three new editions of the game coming to all platforms for 2024, and the host of goodies accompanying each one.
New players weren’t the only thing to get excited about in the month of our sixth anniversary, and we dropped a recap article on the day itself to walk you through all this year’s tie-in activities. Handily, March also hosted Season 11’s round of Style of Thieves and ensured everyone was dressed to the nines for the occasion!
In community news, we had another Creator Spotlight to bring you as we introduced Pufferson, a seasoned Slooper and proud winner of Last Ship Standing. She was happy to share her journey from World of Warcraft to Sea of Thieves, and how studying UX design ultimately led her into content creation.
Outside the game, March also welcomed a new Sea of Thieves addition to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks programme in the form of the Kraken Classic Bundle! Lore fans were treated to the third instalment of the Sea Dog’s Search comic series where Lesedi continued the desperate hunt for her brother’s soul, while music fans were able to savour the stirring ‘Treasury Ambush’, our latest streaming soundtrack addition.
Videos and Streams
With both anniversary and PS5® announcements in March, it only made sense to kick off the month with a new episode of Sea of Thieves News. As well as lining up bottles for the forthcoming Event, this instalment gave our Production Director and resident technical news-deliverer Drew a chance to reveal more details on the Easy Anti-Cheat system. And to plead for a little mercy on behalf of all the new players, but we’re not sure anyone listened to that bit.
Speaking of new players, the reveal of PS5 pre-orders marked a new chapter for our little pirate paradise and we wanted our branding to reflect that. To that end, we didn’t just release a new trailer for said pre-orders but also a freshly updated #BeMorePirate trailer for the game itself, reflecting on a full six years of updates, expansions and refinements. Here’s to many more to come!
And, as we look to the future of Sea of Thieves, it made sense to complete our anniversary celebrations with an inside look at what’s going to be arriving in the upcoming year. That meant rounding up Sea of Thieves team members to spill the beans on Seasons 12, 13 and 14, then compressing all their answers into a 20-minute Preview Event! What future update are you most excited about? It’s owls, isn’t it? It’s always owls.
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Social Channels
After all the excitements of February, we wanted to at least try to start March in a calmer mood. That meant digging into Sea of Thieves’ sound effects and coming up with the most soothing ASMR we could find amidst all the burning ships and flag revelations. Of course, the peace and quiet could never last for long, especially when a certain member of the team decided to go undercover and staunchly refused to come back.
Fortunately, the lure of a new #SoTShot round was enough to bring the whole team back together, and we collectively delighted in everyone’s take on Radical Rowboats. Not to be left out, the Community Hub was also due for an update as we celebrated more amazing art, crafts and creations produced by players.
From there, the anniversary celebrations had us reminiscing on some of our earliest days at sea, and admiring how much we’ve all changed since then – as well as looking forward to where we’re going next. After that, all that was left was to keep an eye out for suspicious boarders, imagine a strange new world for Megalodons, and uncover the greatest treasure of all. Who could resist that face?
And so we came to the end of March! It’s a very exciting time for Sea of Thieves right now, hopping from an anniversary to the imminent prospect of a new platform launch and a new Season, so thank you for being here with us for all of it. As always, if you’ve got any feedback or burning questions you want to hurl our way, find us on the usual channels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and the official Forums and Discord. Otherwise, there’s much more to come throughout April, so stick with us! We’ll see you again soon…
