Sea of Thieves – Community Update July 2025

Rare just did their Sea of Thieves Community Update for July 2025. Showing a side of them that gives us assurance they’re listening to what players want. Something that some fans of the game might feel hasn’t been the case recently.

It’s a treasure map leading to some of the most demanded features since launch. In their first-ever Community Direct, the studio laid out a multi-year vision that promises to sharpen Sea of Thieves‘ core loop and finally deliver the goods.

Let’s cut to the chase: Multi-ship private servers and paid custom servers are confirmed for early 2026.

This wasn’t just an hour of corporate back-patting. Rare owned up to dropping the ball on game health and narrative. Admitting they need to do more to keep Sea of Thieves veterans on board.

The new plan? A precision strike targeting legacy systems, bug squashing, and a complete overhaul of the seasonal structure. It’s all about “finding balance,” and it looks like they’ve finally found their footing.

 

The New Seasonal Blueprint

Forget the content droughts and abandoned Adventures. Starting with Season 17, Rare is deploying a new, fixed three-month seasonal strategy. This is the new rhythm of the tides:

• Month 1: Sandbox Shake-up. A new theme, new mechanics, and a fresh reason to set sail. This is where they “stir the pot” to keep the core experience from going stale.
• Month 2: Live Event Onslaught. Expect expanded, rotating live events that bring the community together for massive, heist-style battles and objectives.
• Month 3: Community Call to Action & World Evolution. The world changes. A new threat emerges, a familiar location gets a makeover, and players are called upon to leave their mark.

This structure means you’ll always know when to rally your crew. Community Weekends? First month. Gold and Glory? Third month. No more guesswork; just a clear, predictable cadence of content.

 

Inside Season 17

So what does this new blueprint look like in action? Season 17, dubbed “Smugglers’ Tide,” gives us a crystal-clear look.

In month one, a new Smuggler faction emerges, bringing with it hidden hideouts and high-stakes smuggling runs. You’ll be ferrying dangerous cargo while hunting refreshed shipwrecks and skeleton ships for illicit loot.

Month two unleashes a new heist-inspired live event centred on a sea fort, promising intense ship-to-ship combat. Better yet, these events will enter a rotation, ensuring there’s always a fight to be had.

Finally, month three will see Skeleton Forts get a Reaper-themed overhaul. Just when you think you’re clearing a fort, the Dark Brethren and their ghost ships will invade, flipping the script and forcing your crew to become defenders.

It’s the dynamic, narrative-infused action we’ve been asking for.

And looking ahead, Season 18 is already targeting the long-neglected Devil’s Roar with a banished faction of Dark Ancients and a new threat. Rare is thinking years, not months, ahead.

 

The Big One

Here’s the headline grabber. “Custom Seas” are officially on the horizon for “early 2026.” These are the fully-featured custom servers players have been dreaming of, complete with a powerful suite of tools:

• Toggle everything: Turn off the kraken, banish storms, control world events.
• Spawn what you want: Need a Chest of Legends for a community event? Done.
• Break the limits: Go beyond the standard crew limits for massive fleet battles.
• Cinematic Tools: Get access to the same camera and in-game tools Rare uses to create their epic trailers.

There is, however, a catch. This is a premium feature that will require a regular subscription. Rare’s logic is that developing and maintaining these servers is a significant cost.

Alongside this, the existing Safer Seas mode will be expanded to allow multiple friendly ships to sail together in a private world.

It’s not yet clear if this will be a free update or tied to the Custom Seas subscription, but it’s a welcome upgrade for pirates who want to create their own adventures without the constant threat of PvP.

While the stream was light on other bombshells, Rare’s message was clear: they have a refined, multi-year vision.

They’re ditching NDAs on their Insider programme and are committed to a more transparent, spoiler-filled future.

After a period of uncertainty, Rare has unsheathed its blade, refined its strategy, and is ready to execute.