Hello, and welcome to this handy summary of March 2026’s Community Direct! The team sat down earlier this month to reflect on everything that’s happened since the last Direct[www.seaofthieves.com], while also discussing the next few months of Sea of Thieves plans. The Direct itself is a crisp 29 minutes long, but if you’d like a shorter summary of events, then you’re in luck – this companion article has it all. Let’s get into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk7ap_R2Ip8

When reflecting on our current rhythm of release, it’s clear to us that the signals we’ve had from our players show our current model isn’t working. Delivering bitesize content via our three-Act structure has put a lot of pressure on internal teams, while also still not delivering to our players’ expectations – so we recognise it’s something that needs to change.

However, there have been plenty of highlights when looking back over the last eight months: the NDA lift for the Insider Programme has gone well, and the scale of that feedback has helped us push valuable feedback through. A big highlight for us internally was also watching the first Last Ship Standing technical test in real time on Twitch – a feat previously impossible when the content was under NDA.

Of course, the last few months have also brought a suite of quality-of-life updates – with a range of improvements and bug fixes shipped, including increased FOV, improved weapon switching, cross-region matchmaking for Faction Battles, slimline banners, underwater combat improvements, stuck black screen loading and water desync. We’re still all in on game health, and we’re pleased with how these changes have been received so far.

We’ve discussed a lot of the above as it’s happened on the official Sea of Thieves podcast – so for more on all of the above, please head over to YouTube to catch up. But for now, let’s look forward…

As discussed in the Direct, we have an ongoing commitment to game health and tackling players’ long-standing bugs. From Merchant supply problems through to hard-to-achieve Commendations, our Community team are working more closely than ever with the Guardians of Fortune – our Game Health team – to support, inform and prioritise how we go about tackling these issues.

We also covered the formation of the internal Toxicity strike force off the back of our survey results; we now have a cross-disciplinary crew working together to approach improving the player experience in a holistic, multi-pronged fashion. The output of this work will touch on many areas, whether it be matchmaking based, design based, enforcement based or beyond – including us being explicit on what’s legitimate gameplay and what’s not.

We also recognise that players have felt there’s been an imbalance of cosmetic supplies to Outpost stores, versus our rhythm of delivery to the Pirate Emporium. We’re changing that, with work underway to better supply the Outpost shops and Black Market with more items. We’re committed to making sure there’s a continual supply of cool stuff for people to spend their gold and Doubloons on, and we want to make this far less asymmetrical than it might’ve felt of late.

While we’re talking about gold: rest assured we heard the feedback on the Doubloon reset, and we are making a commitment now to not reset our players’ total gold earned. We will not touch your gold.

On the theme of cosmetics and the Pirate Emporium, we took the opportunity to discuss some upcoming changes coming to that area of the game.

The key change we’re making to the Emporium is stock rotation. With rotating stock, we can be more intentional about what we release and rotate. We also recognise that having a full catalogue of Emporium items to browse isn’t necessarily easy or fun to navigate, and makes it hard to see everything we have on sale. So this change allows us to streamline the experience and spotlight cool sets that a ton of folks are missing because they’re 50 pages deep into the UI.

This change might feel odd given how we’ve introduced stock since we first set up the Emporium in 2019 – but almost seven years in, we’re keen to evolve how we operate our premium store. Those changes will be arriving in April, and everything due to rotate out (for now) with April’s update is currently marked with a time-limited tag to give you a heads-up that it’s leaving soon.

We’re thrilled to announce that Season 20’s headline feature will be Custom Seas, our previously discussed custom server toolset. However, the key thing to note from today’s announcement is that Custom Seas will not be locked behind a subscription – it’ll be free to play for every Sea of Thieves player.

While we were developing and testing the toolset, it became clear to us that locking the feature behind a subscription was potentially limiting its true potential. So, in the spirit of unleashing community creativity for all, we want everyone to be able to play with it. Even with the limited set of Custom Seas tools in Insiders, players have still been having a whale of a time – and we’re so excited to see what kind of experiences and game modes you all start coming up with when it hits retail later this year.

With this plan, we can also ensure that Custom Seas is a platform for us to build upon. We’ll be listening carefully to feedback as the feature rolls out, so we know what kind of experiences players want from future iterations of the toolset.
As per the learnings and reflections of the past few months, Season 20 will not have a three-Act structure; however, it will have the most consistent and varied live Event calendar we’ve ever had, featuring a monthly Bilge Rats Weekender, monthly Last Ship Standing Event, and once-a-Season Community Weekend and Gold & Glory.

Finally, we’re changing the Season Pass – the 100 levels of free Seasonal rewards earned by raising your Renown – to be a much more meaningful player experience. This track will now only comprise 50 levels, and will give players more choice with the path they pick through their Seasonal rewards. Those who complete a Seasonal reward track under this new structure will receive a brand new high-value reward at the end – a star prize – which are super-shiny unique items that we hope players will find much more satisfying and meaningful.

While we’re all super excited to see what our players can do with Custom Seas, there is one last announcement we snuck into the Community Direct. As of today, we officially have Limited Commercial Usage Guidelines[www.seaofthieves.com].

In the spirit of unleashing community creativity, we’re freeing up the makers among our player base to sell their creations within some distinct guidelines. This enables us to shout out some of these talented folks on our channels too – previously we’ve been shy in spotlighting makers with Etsy stores and the like, but in addition to giving our players confidence to sell, these guidelines also give us the confidence to showcase and celebrate a range of stunning Sea of Thieves-inspired wares.

You can check out the guidelines here[www.seaofthieves.com].

That’s everything, but join us again in July for our next Community Direct, which will once more be a veritable feast for Sea of Thieves fans. Thanks for tuning in, and we’ll see you on the seas!

If the sound of distant – and not-so-distant – cannon fire hadn’t tipped you off, Season 19 has begun! That means a few things, including a host of improvements to Faction Battles, but most importantly of all: it’s nearly time for our next Community Weekend. It’s so very nearly time for it, in fact, that by the time you read this it may well have begun, so let’s not take up any more time with pleasantries and get straight to the details…

Starting with everyone’s favourite bit: free stuff! Anyone who sets sail during this Event will add the latest luxurious Community Weekend Flag to their collection, while also unlocking the rhythmic Arm Wave Emote for some synchronised celebrations. No need for any purchases or challenge completion here – both items will be waiting for you when you jump into the game.

A slight step up on the challenge front comes in the form of the Community Spirit Goal, which tasks pirates with fishing up Bronze Pondies (for Sea of Thieves’ bronze anniversary!) and delivering them to The Hunter’s Call during this Event. If the community collectively catch and cash in enough fish by the end of Community Weekend, everyone who participated will earn the Meridian Hunter Double Barrel Pistol to acknowledge their angling accomplishments.

As an extra bonus, the commemorative Golden Sailor Figurehead is still available as a free anniversary gift while Community Weekend is live – and to tie things off with a bow, it’ll also be possible to unlock new Titles before the weekend is out. But to get to those, we have to talk about cakes…

As Sea of Thieves has just turned eight, we’re adding a little extra sidequest this Community Weekend to mark the occasion. And sticking with the celebratory theme, it involves cakes. That’s right, a selection of baked goods will be hidden around the Sea of Thieves for eager pirates to find – eight of them, in fact. See, it all makes sense.

Finding these cakes won’t be easy, but there’s a tantalising reward on offer for any pirates who manage it: an exclusive Sweet Sailor Title to wear with pride! There might even be a second Title waiting for pirates who notice a strange pattern[www.seaofthieves.com], but we wouldn’t know anything about that…

If you’ve sailed these seas before then you likely already know how this works, but for those who don’t: Community Weekends are the perfect time to head out in search of treasure due to the shared Community Emissary Grade, a reward multiplier available to all sailors from the time it’s triggered to the end of this Event. The higher the Grade, the higher the multiplier – up to a whopping two-and-a-half times the usual rewards at Grade 5! – but like all Emissary Grades, it has to be earned.

Rather than completing Voyages or finding loot, the Community Emissary Grade tasks viewers with spending time on Twitch watching any streamer in the Sea of Thieves[www.twitch.tv] category[www.twitch.tv]. All are welcome, of course, but if you need any suggestions of who to watch, you can always browse our Community Stream Team[www.seaofthieves.com] and Partner Directory[www.seaofthieves.com].

As those cumulative watch hours tick up, so too will the Community Emissary Grade and that all-important multiplier. This will remain active throughout Community Weekend, increasing the amount of gold, reputation, Seasonal Renown, Allegiance and Guild Reputation you can earn! Just make sure it’s the High Seas you’re sailing on if you want to enjoy the boosts on this special anniversary-themed Community Weekend.

We can’t imagine needing even more incentive to set your eyes on some streams and help boost those gains, but we’ve gone ahead and triggered the latest set of Twitch Drops all the same! Linking your accounts[www.seaofthieves.com] and watching any participating Sea of Thieves streamer between March 27th and March 31st will give you the chance to earn gold, Renown and a Voyage of Luck – ideal for when we hit Community Emissary Grade 5 – as well as a raft of free cosmetics.

This time, these include the Speak No Evil Emote, Eastern Winds Ruby Pirate Title, Gilded Phoenix Hurdy-Gurdy and Lionfish Sails and Pistol. All that for just watching some streamers doing their thing? Got to be a pretty good deal.

Cakes aren’t the only mysteries to contend with this weekend: Pop-Up Plunder is making its return too, promising a bounty of extremely desirable items to crews who can track down the dig spot in time. All you have to do is follow the clues shared regularly on Sea of Thieves social channels, work out the location, hightail it over there and unearth the loot before any other crews beat you to it or the one-hour timer runs out. Better not tarry!

As always, the maps shared won’t be entirely straightforward – where’s the fun if the prize is too easy to find? But if you’re having trouble, try delving into spaces like the Sea of Thieves Discord or Reddit to see if anyone else has seen something you haven’t…

If the name wasn’t enough of a clue, Community Weekends are, at their heart, all about our fantastic community, sharing stories and giving back some good vibes for your ongoing support. We love seeing the endless inspiring ways that players engage with Sea of Thieves, from in-game hijinks to out-of-game craft projects and cosplays, and that’s where the Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame comes in.

The Hat, as it’s more succinctly known – capital H – is a rare reward given out in recognition of creativity, special effort or simply for being an inspiration to other players. Alongside awarding it to folks who feature in the Community Hub[www.seaofthieves.com], we traditionally like to hand out a few more on Community Weekends. So if you’re up to anything you think might fit the bill this weekend or just want to tag in someone as yet Hatless who you think deserves consideration, let us know on Instagram[www.instagram.com], Bluesky[bsky.app], Facebook[www.facebook.com] or Twitter/X, tagging us and using the #BeMorePirate[www.seaofthieves.com] tag to ensure we see it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPcjqnPnuSM

Now there’s one question still hanging over us: what’s the point in picking up all these new cosmetics unless there’s a good opportunity to show them off? Well, that’s what the Picture Walls are for. These snazzy backdrops can be found at every Outpost and The Reaper’s Hideout too, flying the Community Weekend Flag and decked out in a matching colour scheme. They’re the perfect place to get a shot of your crew to commemorate the occasion – and then to share said masterpiece on social channels for all to enjoy.

Don’t forget you can also grab a free Community Spirit Firework Crate from the Merchant Alliance this weekend, if you want to liven up your Picture Wall backdrop even further…

Now you’ve got all the details, there’s one last thing to know. The timings for Season 19 Community Weekend are a little different to what you’re used to, but never fear – it’s a good thing, offering even more time to get involved in this Event. We’ll be kicking things off on Friday, March 27th at 10am UTC, rather than the historical Saturday start. Community Weekend will then run all the way through to the morning of Monday, March 30th, giving you 72 hours to set sail, pursue plunder, chase cakes and raise the Community Emissary Grade. We hope to see you there!