Does Sea of Thieves Support Crossplay

After many years, Sea of Thieves remains the most popular — and even the only — pirate-themed online multiplayer action-adventure game on the market, and its greatest enjoyment comes from multiplayer cooperation, especially playing with friends. However, because Sea of Thieves is released on multiple platforms, it's hard to ensure every friend is playing the same platform version, which has left many players wondering: does Sea of Thieves support crossplay?

Does Sea of Thieves Support Crossplay?

Yes, Sea of Thieves fully supports crossplay across PC (Windows/Xbox App/Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Crossplay has been a core feature of the game since its original launch, as the developer Rare considered it essential to the overall experience.

How Crossplay Works?

• PC & Xbox: Players on Windows (via Xbox App or Steam) and Xbox consoles can seamlessly play together. This has been supported since day one.
• PlayStation 5: The PS5 version launched in April 2024 alongside Season 12 and immediately joined the crossplay ecosystem. PS5 players can play with those on Xbox and PC without any additional setup.

Special Limitations?

• Optional Crossplay: After receiving community feedback — especially from console players concerned about fairness against PC players using mouse and keyboard — Rare made crossplay optional. Players can choose to restrict their sessions to controller-only or specific platform users, giving everyone the option of a more level playing field.
• Cross-Save (Progress Sync): Character progress is shared between PS5 and Xbox, so you can switch between platforms and keep your pirate intact. However, platform-exclusive cosmetics cannot be synced — for example, certain Xbox-exclusive outfits are not transferable to PS5.
• Subscription Requirements: On consoles, the game requires an online multiplayer subscription to play — Game Pass Core or Ultimate on Xbox, and PlayStation Plus on PS5.

How to Enable or Disable Crossplay in Sea of Thieves?

Crossplay is enabled by default in Sea of Thieves, and the settings vary depending on your platform. Note that PC players cannot fully disable crossplay.

Xbox Players

Xbox players cannot completely turn off crossplay, but can set a preference to match with other controller users and avoid mouse and keyboard players.

1. From the main menu (not in-game), go to Settings.
2. Select Matchmaking.
3. Find "Prefer Xbox Players with Controllers" and set it to Yes.

Note: This is only a preference — if the matchmaking queue is empty, the system may still place you in a cross-platform server.

PlayStation 5 Players

PS5 players have more direct control over crossplay settings.

1. From the main menu, go to Settings.
2. Select Matchmaking.
3. Toggle "Allow Crossplay" to Off, or set "Prefer Controllers" instead.

Note: Turning off crossplay limits you to PS5 players only, which may result in longer matchmaking times.

PC Players (Steam / Xbox App)

PC players cannot disable crossplay. You will always be matched with players across Xbox, PS5, and other PC platforms. There is also no "mouse and keyboard only" matchmaking option available in the settings.

How to Ensure Crossplay Stability?

Many players have encountered issues like latency, disconnections, or friends not showing up during multiplayer sessions, whether or not crossplay is enabled. This isn’t necessarily due to a problem with your game or device, but rather an abnormality in your network connection.

GearUP

This may come as a surprise, since you might have fast internet and good hardware, but in reality the data transmission path is the key factor affecting crossplay stability. When your data passes through unstable nodes or experiences network jitter, the game experience will suffer. GearUP can easily solve this problem: through intelligent game traffic analysis it can allocate routes based on the server you choose. It has deployed over 7,500 nodes worldwide, with the purpose of providing stable network support to players everywhere.

Using GearUP is extremely simple, so you don’t need any networking knowledge:

1. Search for Sea of Thieves.
   
2. Choose a server. GearUP can help you connect to servers worldwide — please select the same server as your friends.
   
3. After starting the boost, GearUP will provide continuous optimization; then just launch the game.
   

There are also many Sea of Thieves players on PlayStation and Xbox, in which case HYPEREV is a better choice. HYPEREV is a gaming router launched by GearUP, ideal for placing in the living room, and its mobile app can optimize the connection with a single tap:

Conclusion

Sea of Thieves' cross play feature enhances the multiplayer experience by uniting players across various platforms. While it brings numerous benefits, being aware of potential challenges and utilizing tools like GearUP Booster can ensure a seamless and enjoyable adventure on the high seas.