Sea of Thieves has sailed past 25 million players.

Rare's multiplayer Xbox and PC pirate adventure launched in March 2018, and has grown steadily since.

Executive producer Joe Neate said the introduction of seasons earlier this year, as well as the Pirates of the Caribbean crossover, sparked "a huge influx of players casting off for the first time".

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Swashbuckling pirates with a generous disposition will soon have another opportunity to simultaneously tart up their ships and donate to a good cause as part of Sea of Thieves' latest charity event, this time in aid of No Kid Hungry.

No Kid Hungry is a campaign run by US nonprofit organisation Share Our Strength and is dedicated to solving problems of hunger and poverty in the United States and around the world, with a particular focus on children.

Sea of Thieves players will be able to support the charity by purchasing the rather fetching time-limited Sails of Sharing from the in-game Pirate Emporium between 16th October and 10th November. Rare says all proceeds will got to No Kid Hungry, and it's also hosting a 24-hour charity stream starting at 5pm BST on Saturday, 16th October, in support of the campaign.

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Following its majestic, Pirates of the Caribbean infused third season, Sea of Thieves will be embarking on a new adventure next Thursday, 23rd September, with the arrival of Season 4.

As to what's in store this time around (beyond the inevitable fresh 100 levels of seasonal progression and rewards), Rare remains in a teasing mood, albeit dropping some major hints in Season 4's newly revealed announcement trailer.

It appears the malevolant sirens - which got a long-awaited and wonderfully orchestrated introduction during Season 3's A Pirate's Life campaign - are poised to play an even bigger role. Last season's spectacular Sunken Pearl Tall Tale took pirates down into the depths to visit the gorgeous coral-hewn home of the Siren Queen, and it seems we'll be visiting more areas of the sirens' long-lost kingdom once Season 4 gets underway.

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If you've finally wrapped up every last challenge from Sea of Thieves' utterly stupendous Pirates of the Caribbean story expansion and are in need of new adventure, Rare has a fresh batch of chaos for players to embark on, courtesy of a new Borderlands-themed collaboration event.

Sea of Thieves' newly announced Making Mayhem event is, as its name suggest, all about causing a ruckus out on the waves, challenging players to earn Favour with the Bilge Rats by completing a range of different (and largely explosion-focussed) activities.

Minor Mayhem challenges give pirates the opportunity to earning a "fair" amount of Favour by doing things like detonating Gunpowder Skeletons in a chain reaction or destroying a Ghost Ship, while Major Mayhem challenges are considerably more lucrative. A "good" amount of Favour can be earned by opening one of the Gold Hoarders' Treasure Vaults, for instance, and other activities, such as completing a Tall Tale, reward a "huge" amount of Favour.

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One of the more leftfield surprises to come out of this year's E3 (although in hindsight, it's such a natural fit, it shouldn't have been much of a surprise at all), was the announcement that Captain Jack Sparrow would be soon making his way to the Sea of Thieves as part of a mammoth new Pirates of the Caribbean crossover story arc for the swashbuckling multiplayer adventure. And ahead of its arrival this Tuesday, 22nd June, we had chance to chat with Rare to find out more about its impressively ambitious free update.

A Pirate's Life, as Rare's new five-episode Tall Tales story arc is officially titled, plunges players into a fight for the future of the Sea of Thieves after Captain Jack (here played by Jared Butler, an actor with a long history of voicing the character in video games) successfully navigates the perilous fog known as the Devil's Shroud surrounding the Sea of Thieves with Davy Jones in tow.

The ensuing adventure dips liberally into the worlds of both crossover franchises, most notably for Sea of Thieves fans, giving players their first opportunity to some visit some key locations in the game's expansive lore - including the underwater Sunken Kingdom, home of the malevolent sirens, and the Sea of the Damned, a realm between life and death where the dreams and nightmares of pirates take on a physical reality.

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Sea of Thieves' next major free update is packing in one hell of a crossover, bringing the world of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean into Rare's swashbuckling multiplayer adventure. And if the arrival of Captain Jack Sparrow wasn't enough to be excited about, it's also finally giving the formidable kraken a face - which makes an appearance in a brand-new trailer.

The centrepiece of Sea of Thieves' Pirates of the Caribbean crossover - officially known as A Pirate's Life - takes the form of a brand-new cinematic story campaign. It features five new Tall Tales episodes (the first since March 2020's Heart of Fire), charting Jack Sparrow's arrival in the Sea of Thieves and the events that ensue.

There are tantalising snatches of those adventures in Rare's second crossover trailer below, including the appearance of Davy Jones and his intimidating vessel the Flying Dutchman, battles against gargantuan mermaid statues, and even a portable talking skull that should stir fond memories for Monkey Island aficionados.

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Sea of Thieves will be raising anchor and embarking on its second official season - bringing new content, fresh player progression, and associated rewards - next Thursday, 15th April.

There's not a lot to report on Season 2 just yet, but - barring minor tweaks to the formula - it should continue the template established by Sea of Thieves' current, inaugural season, offering a three-month-long schedule of content updates and events, built around a fresh battle pass.

Expect another 100 levels of rewards in the free tier - progressed through by completing various activities while out on the ocean - plus a small selection of Pirate Emporium goodies and exclusive cosmetics that can be unlocked by purchasing the paid Plunder Pass.

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Sea of Thieves is launching its new seasonal content schedule and battle-pass-style progression system this Thursday, 28th January, and, in preparation, Rare has served up a handily informative breakdown of everything in store, hopefully answering any lingering questions pirates may have before raising anchor and setting sail later this week.

Each season will last approximately three months, and each will begin by introducing a fresh dollop of content (in Thursday's case, a new voyage-type for the much-maligned Merchant Alliance), ongoing live events, and most notably, a new 100-level progression system.

Rare says Sea of Thieves' new three-month content release schedule will allow it to "craft more meaningful experiences...and return to a more predictable rhythm of release." However, it also notes the game will continue to receive smaller monthly updates, delivering bug fixes, quality of life improvements, and new stock for the Pirate Emporium.

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Sea of Thieves' previously revealed battle pass will launch its first season of player progression and rewards next Thursday, 28th January.

The battle pass - intended to offer a "tangible sense of progress", even when engaging in shorter sessions according to Rare - will feature 100 progress levels (with associated seasonal rewards) that can be unlocked through exploration, adventuring, and combat. There's also talk of pirate trials "that celebrate...existing content and encourage you to play in new ways".

Notably, this new seasonal model also marks a shift in development strategy for the multiplayer pirate game. Instead of delivering new content on a monthly basis, as it did previously, Rare will now release new features every three months, at the start of each new season.

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It's all change on the Sea of Thieves starting in January next year, as Rare's piratical multiplayer experience goes the way of countless other online games, adopting a new battle-pass-style progression system and new Seasons content release model.

Before all that, though, there's some disappointing news for fans of the PvP-based Arena mode; Rare has announced that all future Sea of Thieves updates will focus on expanding the game's more popular Adventure mode, meaning that while Arena mode will still be available, all development will cease - a sad fate for what started out as a brilliantly chaotic, rapid-fire alternative to the core game, but one that struggled to overcome myriad technical issues and, later, an unfavourably streamlined reworking robbed of the original's adventuring spirit.

That, then, firmly places the focus back on Adventure mode, and the debut of Rare's new Seasons model in January. As explained in its latest video update below, each season will last approximately three months (previously, Rare aimed for monthly content updates), and each will begin with the introduction of "a new experience or way of play".

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