Sea of Thieves PC and Xbox One cross-play will be optional in a future update
With more PvP-focused updates coming to Sea of Thieves in the future, developer Rare is taking steps to ensure a fair experience for everyone.
In a new developer update, Sea of Thieves executive producer Joe Neate revealed the studio's intent to allow Xbox One players to choose whether they want to play with and against PC players.
Since launch, cross-play has been the default option for Sea of Thieves, and it'll continue to be so until these changes are implemented. Though details are still being finalised, Neate said the game will essentially have separate multiplayer pools for players with a controller and those playing with a mouse and keyboard.
This is important because Sea of Thieves will soon support mouse and keyboard on Xbox One, so it makes a lot of sense to start working on a no-cross-play option now. This will also come very handy when the game's Arena update launches later this year.
Arena is a PvP-focused expansion, and it's another reason why controller players would want to be matched with and against others using the same input device. Once again, how the feature actually works is something Rare will detail closer to launch.
A couple of weeks ago, Rare announced that Sea of Thieves players will be required to download the full game again on February 6. This is being done to reduce the game's overall size.
The same February 6 update will also bring some changes to the game's combat, which Neate also touched on in the video above.