Normally the developer update videos that come out of Sea of Thieves are focused solely on the things coming to the horizon of the piratical sandbox, without mentioning anything from Rare Ltd. in any sort of broader aspect. That’s not the case with the most recent episode, as production director Drew Stevens immediately talks about the Microsoft layoffs in general and specifically the cancellation of Rare’s other in-development title Everwild.

“It’s impossible for something like this not to ripple through the studio and affect us all in some way or another, so please bear with us,” Stevens remarks. “While this didn’t directly impact Sea of Thieves, and we’re continuing on as we’d planned, our focus as a team and a studio is on supporting our friends and colleagues whose roles are at risk.”

From there on, Stevens launches into the next plans for SOT, including the last update for Season 16 arriving today. This patch brings a new voyage, some Devil’s Roar tweaks that soften volcanic activity in the region, the ability for rival crews to steal the Search for Ancient Secrets voyage earlier, and some balancing for the Reaper’s chest that adjusts skeleton spawns based on the enemy ship it’s opened aboard. There will also be some health bar visual improvements and the squashing of a “touch of death” combat exploit.

Later down the line, the game will see some added options for hourglass PvP matchmaking to account for latency or timezones, the arrival of expanded FOV sometime in August or September, more efforts to address water desync on console, and controller updates to help with some interaction buttons. The video also confirms that the Insiders’ Program NDA has been lifted this week.

The Sea of Thieves servers are now offline for the third update of Season 16, delivering a quieter Devil's Roar, the Followers of the Flame Voyage and more! Please note that there will be an update to download before you can set sail. pic.twitter.com/jSExr6pHZm

— Sea of Thieves (@SeaOfThieves) July 17, 2025