February Update, SoT News and Official Podcast #5!

Even before we’ve properly embarked upon a new age of Adventures in Sea of Thieves, it’s been a busy week in a busy month: the latest content update, an episode of the endearingly irregular Sea of Thieves News and even a podcast! That’s right, not only did we manage to nail down a two-hour timeslot where everyone was available for filming, we also went toe-to-toe with some hot topics that we know players have been keen to hear us discuss.

But first, the February content update. While the latter months of a Season tend to make for quieter updates after the big feature drop up front – something we’re looking to remedy with our imminent Adventures – February’s update did trigger some noticeable world changes to set the scene for ‘Shrouded Islands’, as an unnatural fog heralds Bad Times at Golden Sands. And where’s Flameheart taken himself off to? It’s far too quiet out there…

Another wave of rich pickings also rolled out to the Pirate Emporium this month, ranging from the Ashen Curse Alsatian to wider availability of the Jack O’ Looter set (and another new freebie emote). Then there was a good checklist of fixes, balance adjustments and quality of life improvements to be ticked off, including tweaks to radial menus, shop filters, storm currents and even the satisfying rattle of the ship’s wheel to aid accessibility. Want to know everything? The release notes are your loyal and unflinching friends.

In 2022’s first episode of Sea of Thieves News, our host Jon sprang into action with his famous catchphrase “There’s lots to cover today, so let’s get started” and promptly started covering lots of things, from February’s game updates and the return of streaming series The Gauntlet to a parade of player-created highlights from January’s Community Day and our full-throated Valentine’s month song release, ‘It Had to Be You’.

To say any more would be to spoil the episode, or at least repeat things we’ve said elsewhere in this article, so why not just sacrifice four minutes of your time to the unknowable YouTube gods and go on a rollercoaster ride of… well, Sea of Thieves news?

In 2022’s first episode of the Sea of Thieves podcast, our host Jon… was on holiday, so Head of Community Christina stepped in to gather Executive Producer Joe, Senior Producer Drew and Creative Director Mike around the tavern table to talk hot topics – and not even virtually this time, they were all actually there, in the same room, bringing back everything you’ve been missing like the face-to-face workplace banter and suppressed but still palpable animal attraction.

The topics on the table were a little spikier, ranging from recent server issues to community sore points like hit registration and spawn camping. But honesty and openness have always been paramount to the Sea of Thieves team, so it was all explored in as much detail as we can offer and is well worth a listen, whether you’re a casual pirate passer-by or curious about the technical challenges of running a live service game.

And that’s it for February! It’s not, of course, we’re not even at the halfway mark yet and we’ve got the events of ‘Shrouded Islands’ still to come, beginning a new era of story-driven Sea of Thieves updates in step with our ongoing Seasons. It’s set to be a wildly busy year, and at the end of it we hope to look back and be satisfied by how much new stuff we’re still sharing with Sea of Thieves players three years after launch, and we hope you’ll be right there alongside us. Maybe the dog that got left behind in the Golden Sands Emporium building will have been let out by then as well. Fingers crossed, eh?