Skip to main content

Sea of Thieves will ditch monthly updates for seasonal battle pass model in 2021

Sea of Thieves is changing its content rollout strategy by adding a season pass. The new change does away with monthly updates and will instead see content roll out in three-month long seasons starting in January 2021.

Each season kicks off with a new piece of content, described as a “new way to play.” Developer Rare will roll out live events, new rewards, and quality of life fixes as a season progresses. Season 1 will feature three live events.

The biggest change is that the game is adding a season pass, which gives players 100 levels of pirate renown. Gaining renown unlocks different rewards like cosmetics for characters and ships. Players can buy a Plunder Pass, which adds an extra rail with additional rewards and exclusives from the Pirate Emporium. Rare did not share pricing details for the pass.

The content update is a change of pace for Sea of Thieves that puts it more in line with other live service games. The season model is similar to the model used in games like Destiny 2 and Fortnite.

As part of the season 1 update, the game adds a new Voyage Experience that tasks players with doing detective work to find a lost shipwreck. Rare says that it’s focusing on building adventures moving forward and deprioritizing the competitive Arena multiplayer mode. Rare will continue to support Arena, but it has no plans to update or evolve the mode going forward.

Sea of Thieves’ will cap off 2020 with its Festival of Giving event starting on December 9. Gilded voyages will return as part of the update.

Editors' Recommendations

Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
Everything we know about Sea of Thieves cross-platform support
is sea of thieves cross platform featured

Sea of Thieves is a game that really only works with a group of friends. Rare's live-service pirate simulator is one of the best co-op games available today, allowing you to put together a swashbuckling crew to take to the high seas, raid rival ships, and hunt for treasure. Thankfully, you don't need to be on the same system to put together such a crew. Here's everything you need to know about Sea of Thieves cross-platform support.

More Sea of Thieves

Read more
How to get Ashen Keys in Sea of Thieves
Pirates digging up treasure in Sea of Thieves.

One of the most welcome updates to Sea of Thieves added questlines for extra-swanky treasure that can only be looted from Ashen Chests. Small problem -- Ashen Chests can only be opened with Ashen Keys, and it’s not immediately obvious how to get an Ashen Key.

As a result, the SoT community went a little crazy over Ashen Keys (you even can buy one from Etsy if you want) and worked to uncover all the possible ways to find this hot commodity. We’re here to save you the trouble and get right to the business of how to farm Ashen Keys and which methods may work best for you.

Read more
Civilization VI to get season pass, bimonthly content updates through March 2021
Civilization VI: Rise & Fall hands-on preview

2K Games is rolling out a new season pass for Sid Meier’s Civilization VI that will bring a significant amount of new content to the game.

The New Frontier Pass expansion will see eight new civilizations, nine new leaders, and six new game modes introduced to the title. And while that’s a sizable expansion worthy of note for any game, it’s an especially strong vote of confidence for one that was released in 2016.

Read more