Sea of Thieves cross-platform, crossplay and co-op guide

Sea of Thieves is a first-person multiplayer game of high seas piracy, plunder and derring-do. Developed by Rare and published by Microsoft, the game is available to play cross-platform on PC, Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One. In addition, Sea of Thieves can be streamed to other devices through Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service (previously known as Project xCloud), which means the game can be enjoyed on mobile devices if you have an active Xbox Games Pass Ultimate account. In short, arrr, Sea of Thieves be very much a cross-platform game, me hearties. 

As well as being cross-platform between Xbox, PC and streamed devices, Sea of Thieves also supports crossplay. This means that someone playing Sea of Thieves on Xbox Series X can play alongside someone logged into the game on PC, even if they are streaming it through Xbox Cloud Gaming. You can also switch from console to PC (or from Game Pass to Steam versions) and keep your progression, saves and achievements. This is made possible because Sea of Thieves is a Play Anywhere title, meaning that if you own the game digitally on Xbox One, you can download and play it on PC – and Series X/S of course.

Hooking up with friends in Sea of Thieves is relatively simple. In the Xbox version, simply select the Multiplayer tab from the main console menu and “Start a party”. Those playing through PC need to have the Xbox app installed, which should already be the case if playing through Game Pass.

Sea of Thieves’ most recent expansion was A Pirate’s Life, released back in June 2021. The Pirates of the Caribbean-themed addon introduced the likes of Captain Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones, Sirens and Ocean Crawlers to the game as part of its third season. The end of Sea of Thieves Season 3 has not been announced, but is likely to conclude at the end of September 2021.