Crossplay in Sea of Thieves becomes optional for Xbox One players
Crossplay in Sea of Thieves will soon be somewhat restricted. Xbox One players can choose to stay in a separate player pool, which PC players cannot be a part of. This is to eliminate the advantage of the computer mouse for those who want it.
According to Joe Neate of Rare, the advantage that keyboard and mouse users have over controller users has been a tricky point for some time, he says in a developer update. Before the PvP-oriented Arena expansion for Sea of Thieves comes out, this feature must come out. He states that “if you play on an Xbox One and you use a controller, you can choose to end up in this pool”. Then you only play with and against players who also use a controller. Xbox One players who do not indicate that preference and Windows players end up in the other group.
Xbox One games can now support keyboard and mouse on their own, but Sea of Thieves doesn’t at the moment. Fortnite on the Xbox One, for example, does.
This measure may be unfortunate for gamers who play the Windows version of Sea of Thieves, but use a controller for that. If they are excluded from this separate player pool, it is a disadvantage for them. It seems possible to add this option, as games are much more likely to “catch through” when a player is using a controller, as can be seen from the instantly changing interface.
The new option is currently under development and testing, but according to Rare will be built in before the Arena expansion for the game comes out. The expansion focuses on PvP gameplay, which makes it logical that the game maker wants to get this issue sorted before then. Exactly when Arena will be released is not certain. The studio has stated that it should be released “early in 2019”.
The moment of announcing in the video