Rare has announced that, following player feedback and lengthy internal discussion, it will be making Sea of Thieves’ currently mandatory Xbox One and PC cross-play optional in a future update.
The ability for PC and Xbox One players to seamlessly interact with each other was one of the multiplayer pirate game’s most trumpeted features prior to launch last March. In a new developer video, however, Sea of Thieves executive producer Joe Neate said that cross-play will become optional prior to the arrival of the game’s PvP-focussed Arena mode later this year.
The decision, Neate explained, is a response to continued player feedback. As anyone with an eye on the Sea of Thieves community will know, a day rarely passes without someone calling the current system (which pits controller users and mouse-and keyboard players against each other on servers) “unfair”. Given that Sea of Thieves’ PvP play is currently in the spotlight, thanks to Arena mode and the recent upswing in high-profile, PvP-focussed streamers on Twitch, it’s not hugely surprising that Rare has opted to address cross-play sooner rather than later.
Source: Eurogamer Sea of Thieves is making PC and Xbox One cross-play optional