Is Sea of Thieves cross-platform? How to play crossplay on PS5, Xbox and PC

Ava Thompson-Powell
Sea of Thieves friends and crossplay

At its core, Sea of Thieves is a multiplayer game, but is it cross-platform and how do you add your friends to your crew and friends list?

While you can play Sea of Thieves solo, it’s undeniably more enjoyable with friends, even if you’re only exploring on Safer Seas or completing a Tall Tale.

Sailing with a crew makes combat, exploration, and voyages so much easier – but with Rare’s beloved pirate game now available on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC many wonder whether they can play with their friends. This is what you need to know about cross-platform play in Sea of Thieves.

Is Sea of Thieves cross-platform between PS5, Xbox and PC?

An image of Sea of Thieves key art.

Yes, Sea of Thieves is cross-platform across PS5, Xbox and PC. This means that you’ll be able to link up with friends across platforms to take on anything that the Sea of Thieves has in store.

As well as being able to play cross-platform with friends, you can also use the cross-save feature, meaning that you can continue with your progress and character regardless of whether you want to play on PS5, Xbox, or PC platforms. This is because whether you’re playing on Steam, PlayStation, or Xbox itself, a Microsoft account is required to sign in.

How to use crossplay in Sea of Thieves on PS5, Xbox and PC?

Unlike other games that require you to tinker with some settings to enable crossplay, Sea of Thieves has a rather simple method in order to play cross-platform and is enabled from the get-go.

All you need to do to get started is to add your friends through the in-game menus to be able to join a lobby with them.

An image showing how to invite friends to play cross-platform in sea of thieves
You’ll be able to invite friends to your game through this screen when planning your next adventure.

How to disable crossplay?

To disable Sea of Thieves crossplay on consoles, simply follow the steps below:

  1. On your platform of choice, open the Settings menu.
  2. Navigate to the ‘Matchmaking‘ tab. From here you can choose to ‘Allow Crossplay‘ from the menu.
  3. Once you save your settings and exit the menu, you’ll only matchmake with players on either Xbox or PS5 going forward.

A lot of console players prefer to keep it disabled since the PC version of Sea of Thieves is loaded with cheaters. The anti-cheat system is also quite barebones and doesn’t really detect all the cheats.

How to add friends in Sea of Thieves?

Sea of Thieves friends

To add friends in Sea of Thieves, you’ll need to make sure that they’re added via the Xbox App, regardless of which platform you’re playing on. To do this on PC, follow these steps:

How to add friends on PC

  1. From the Xbox app on Windows, head to the ‘Social‘ tab located at the top-left of your screen.
  2. Click the ‘Search for people‘ box and type in your friend’s name.
  3. They’ll then appear in a list below. Click on their name, and their profile will pop up.
  4. At the far right of the screen, you’ll see ‘Add Friend‘. Click that.

How to add friends on Xbox

  1. Press the Xbox button on your controller to open the menu and scroll to the second icon of two people at the top of the menu. Select that.
  2. From here, if you’ve played a game with your friend recently, look under the ‘Recently played with‘ tab, where you’ll be able to add them.
  3. Alternatively, you can search for them via the ‘Find someone‘ option.

How to add friends on PS5

  1. Press the PS button on your DualSense controller and select Game Base.
  2. Head to the Friends Tab and search for players.
  3. Input a player’s real name or online ID and click on Add Friend.

Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll be able to invite your friend to your game from the lobby screen by selecting the button for ‘Invite Friends’. You’ll then just need to select their name from the window that appears, and voilà – it’s time to sail the seas!

That’s all there is to know about Sea of Thieves’ cross-platform feature. If you’re looking to give a significant boost to your loot, you can check out how to get Sea of Thieves Emissaries. You can also take a look at how to change your appearance in Sea of Thieves if you wish to change your outfit.

Sign up to Dexerto for free and receive:
Fewer Ads|Dark Mode|Deals in Gaming, TV and Movies, and Tech