Charging for Private Servers

"A total disaster" is a bit dramatic. Nobody is making anyone do anything, unless Rare employees come to your house.

-It costs money to run servers. Whatever price they charge is up to the consumer i.e. you. Some will pay for it, others won't. If you don't want to spend the money, don't.

-World of Warcraft not only charges for each expansion (making your current gear worthless) AND charge a monthly subscription, they too have issues with cheaters and toxic players. Every game has cheaters. It's a fact of life. If you don't want to pay or buy anything in this game, once again, no one is forcing you to.

-If the game is dead, then I guess you have nothing to worry about. Even if the servers were free, right? Game's dead.

-I hate to burst your bubble, but their first priority (as you'll find the case with every other game out there), is to make money. It's not like they're a business or anything... oh wait. As they said in the initial announcement, there is additional costs this will bring. The good news is, you don't have to pay anything if you don't want it.

-Aside from players having their own bit of fun, RPing, tournaments they decide to have in their own guilds, random videos, events, etc. I don't see this having a negative affect on the community. Anything players do on their private servers aren't going to count for the retail game anyways. If you don't want to spend money on a private server, then don't, but don't try and make it look like the sky is falling here with "a total disaster", when there are probably quite a lot of players looking forward to this feature.

Another “game is dead” post and extra bonus, thinks they have to pay.
Funny bit not everyone paid for the game. Thanks to game pass everyone who complains about the game, has no “right” to such excuses :p

Private servers are essential

Yeah sure. XD

I'm so glad that the SOT Community is a mature, perceptive, imaginative, forward thinking one while also keeping a sense of perspective.

It would really suck if we adhered to the tired tropes of gamer hysteria and entitlement.

I don’t think this person really understands what Private Servers are for — probably just saw a headline and decided to vent.

These servers are for custom setups, like turning events on/off or letting streamers run games with other streamers or their viewers. You can’t earn gold or unlock commendations, so it’s not paywalling the main game.

Rare already gives full access to High Seas and Safer Seas for free. So expecting them to also offer fully customizable private sessions for free feels unrealistic. This isn’t a basic feature — it’s a niche tool for specific use cases.

It was mentioned a couple years ago. I figured it got shelved, since I heard no dev wanted to touch it. Either that, or I got told something I probably wasn’t meant to know. Hard to keep track — it’s been a while.

@slechtic5114 said in Charging for Private Servers:

@europa4033 Rare had a chance to improve the game and bring players back… but they turned it into another paywall. Instead of finally doing something for the community, they made it a paid feature. Private servers should have been a standard, not another way to make money. A completely wasted opportunity. And the reality? Nobody is going to pay for it.

Maybe it's just me, but I find that they do a lot for the community. Years ago when I was new, Safer Seas wasn't a thing then. New players had to just deal with being thrown into the game after a short maiden voyage, and you were on your own. I'm also sure parents with young kids appreciate SS as well.

"Rare had a chance to improve the game..." You don't realize that these private servers and what happens in them, are going to be under the control of the subscriber, and as such, won't have any affect on the main game. If I summon 100 Athena chests, that gold/rep/achievements, won't carry over to the retail version. The new servers have zero affect on the main game.

"Another paywall"? This isn't World of Warcraft, where there's paywalls everywhere. You not only have to pay each month, but for a new season as well. If you don't like it, don't pay for it. It's not pay to win, and you're not at a disadvantage if you don't.

I'm sorry you feel as though "nobody" is going to use it, lol, but trust me, there have been many posts over the years here where players have begged them for a way to get all their guilded ships on the same server for events, matches, TDM, etc. You really have no idea, and to make such claims, just proves how ignorant you are. You seem to be so upset they're charging money as a business for specialized servers, keep reminding yourself that you don't have to be a subscriber! If you don't like it, don't pay for it!

@pc-monkfish said in Charging for Private Servers:

I'm so glad that the SOT Community is a mature, perceptive, imaginative, forward thinking one while also keeping a sense of perspective.

It would really suck if we adhered to the tired tropes of gamer hysteria and entitlement.

The username is far too similar to the person who got banned a few months ago, btw. So if that's actually an alt, I ain't surprised at all. xD

You cannot expect to get access to dev tools (that's absolutely what they are) entirely for free.

Quit being entitled.

@slechtic5114 said in Charging for Private Servers:

@uluckyhitreg Yeah, sure, you keep making excuses about it being a ‘niche tool’ for ‘specific purposes,’ but the reality is that private servers have been a standard feature in almost every multiplayer game for years. Players have already paid for the game, often multiple times (DLCs, season passes, etc.), and yet you still want to tell us that something as basic as the ability to play privately with friends is an extra paid feature? That’s straight-up exploitation.
Besides, Rare already provides free access to High Seas and Safer Seas, but those are just limited preset modes without full customization options. So that’s hardly a win for regular players.
And no, it’s not true that they don’t have the money — Rare is one of the biggest game studios, backed directly by Microsoft, one of the richest companies in the world. They have plenty of resources for game development and infrastructure.
Other games like Fortnite, Apex, Call of Duty, and even smaller titles offer private servers for free or for a one-time fee, not additional monthly subscriptions.
So no, this isn’t a ‘niche tool,’ it’s a basic feature that all normal players have, and you’re just making it another money trap that ruins the whole gaming experience. If we’re going to pay, it should be for real content, not just to play normally with our own people.

You're comparing apples to jet-fueled oranges.

Call of Duty and Apex flood players with microtransactions, battle passes, and paid content — and yeah, they can afford free private servers because their revenue streams are massive. Fortnite too, backed by huge funding from cosmetics and crossovers. Those games aren’t sandbox-style, though — they don’t offer the kind of open, player-driven world Sea of Thieves does.

Sea of Thieves is a sandbox MMO where progression and events rely on shared servers and coordinated systems. Private Servers here aren’t about progression or unlocking stuff — they’re a sandbox tool for streamers and communities to create custom events. It’s not a replacement for the main game, just an extra playground.

Microsoft is cutting back on gaming budgets to invest in AI projects, so Rare likely needs new ways to keep Sea of Thieves sustainable. Private Servers help with that without locking anyone out of the core experience.

High Seas and Safer Seas are still free to play with full progression. So calling this a 'money trap' is a stretch — it’s a paid option for a niche sandbox feature, nothing more.

This game is not almost dead, and people have said that for years. Every time something has come by and said "this is the update that will kill the already dying game!" over the last 6 years, the community has gone on to scoff at the claims.

This is not the update that will kill one of xboxes current top played games. Is it fun having to pay for stuff? Not really, but considering the servers in question, it would only make sense that rare not pay for your servers. You act as though not being able to use a single new feature thats not meant for everyone is restricting you from the game you bought, even though you still have the full game, but now with server rental options. Not exactly unique to sot either.

You can still enjoy the game you paid for no differently than before, so do just that, enjoy it. And if you cant, there is nothing wrong with changing up your games.

@worst-tdmer said in Charging for Private Servers:

@goldsmen

All available stats (twitch viewership + steam charts) point to the game definitely dying/bleeding its player base over the last 5 years. Gamepass + a loving core fanbase will make sure it never actually dies.

Most long term "veteran" players have been through multiple main crews because of how many of their friends quit the game.

There's a reason Rare has completely switched gears in terms of how they've approached things for years (ban enforcement, weapon balance, respecting player time with commendations, update quality assurance, FoV, etc), and it's not because the game is doing amazing numbers right now.

You are missing a very important stat, that being xboxes most played, considering that sot is mostly played on xbox or xbox app due to late releases anywhere else, the stats tend to be skewed if you look anywhere else at all since you will see a big spike at the start that flattens off. Same goes for any game with high anticipation to launch on steam. Examples include halo (pretty extreme example), return to moria, and red dead redemption 1.

People have been quoting the same steam stats you are using since season one. I dont get the obsession with stats from a platform that that doesnt host the majority of the games playerbase.

As for twitch, thats probably due to some new releases and the fact that as seasons go on, unless the content is fun to watch, theres not much to really watch for. The less content a season has, or the longer that content has been out for, the less people watch that content until something interests them again. Rn the game is getting ready for more content, so it makes sense people arnt watching what they have seen.

@worst-tdmer said in Charging for Private Servers:

@goldsmen

This would make sense, except I'm not saying that the stats are low in general.

I'm saying that the stats have been constantly deteriorating. The overall trend is going down. We can make inferences to how other platforms are performing based on the trend.

Again, there's a reason Rare has completely switched gears in terms of how they've approached things for years (ban enforcement, weapon balance, respecting player time with commendations, update quality assurance, FoV, etc), and it's not because the game is doing amazing numbers right now.

Not really, the steam stats kind of maintain an average that peaks and drops through the year every year, which it has done pretty much since 2020. Theres been a very slight lower average recently, but odds are thats gonna change soon again.

@slechtic5114 said in Charging for Private Servers:

@itz-majman If Rare thinks they’ll make money back from this, no way — nobody will buy it, maybe just a few people. If they made it free, they would attract the community and definitely bring in new players too.

How exactly would Private Servers, which can't be used to earn gold, commendations, levels, or achievements, bring in new players? They're mainly for streamers hosting events, community sessions, or groups of friends doing custom matches like TDM.

New players already have Safer Seas, where they can actually progress and learn the game at their own pace. I don’t see new players randomly joining Sea of Thieves just to sit in Private Servers with no rewards or progression.

Private Servers are basically just custom lobbies where you can toggle events, NPCs, and a few other things. I really don’t see Rare ever letting them be used to farm or cheese the game. It’s a sandbox tool, nothing more.

tbh I'm just pleasantly surprised that these servers/features won't be exclusively given to partners lol

@slechtic5114 the expectation was always for private servers to be paid. I really don't understand the backlash. Like yeah it's not ideal, for the consumer, but you can't just write off what they say and then get surprised when they stick to their word. Plus they haven't even said what the pay model is gonna be, outside of a subscription. It's entirely possible it'll work like MC Realms where you only have to pay to host, rather than pay to play. Point is I think it's strange to be surprised, and it's too early to get mad.

@slechtic5114 said in Charging for Private Servers:

@uluckyhitreg Private Servers would attract both new and old players because they allow people to play their own way, with friends or communities, without interference from random players, but without being locked into a solo experience like Safer Seas. They give players control over the entire world and their own adventure. That’s something current Sea of Thieves simply doesn’t offer.

So you think new players are going to join Sea of Thieves, load up a Private Server to do world events and quests with friends just to avoid random players killing them and taking their loot — even though the loot they collect will be basically useless because you don’t earn anything from selling it? No gold, no commendations, nothing.

A group like that would get bored fast and probably end up turning toxic on each other just for something to do.

@worst-tdmer said in Charging for Private Servers:

@goldsmen

Okay, here are the monthly averages for player count, averaged out for each year:

• 2025 - 7,109 (The average for 2024 by this time of year was 10,870)
• 2024 - 9,152
• 2023 - 10,489
• 2022 - 12,229
• 2021 - 14,694
• 2020 - 14,787

Here are the yearly peaks for player count averaged out:

• 2025 - 18,529 (The average for 2024 by this time of year was 27,861)
• 2024 - 22,372
• 2023 - 25,215
• 2022 - 27,680
• 2021 - 35,179
• 2020 - 38,231

Here are the yearly averages for twitch viewership:

• 2025 - 3,825 (The average for 2024 by this time of year was 5,442)
• 2024 - 4,483
• 2023 - 5,359
• 2022 - 6,695
• 2021 - 7,785
• 2020 - 7,366

Very clear downward trend.

Twitch was explained still, and a very gradual downward trend is not unseen in games long term life spans, again, please compare sot to the mentioned games that are seen as pretty much total success titles, with return to moria being the lesser known of the entire lot if you include sea of thieves, but just the same as sea of thieves. Both moria and red dead redemption 1 having a lower average player count than sea of thieves on the same steam stats, but still being successful titles, and the former still being updated.

Each of the games listed has in common:
They have a down fall in player count.
They all released to steam late and started with a boost in plays from release day hype.
They are all considered successful titles.

If you were to take many other games, you will notice a peak and a drop somewhere, some peak at the start from release hype, some are lesser known titles that reach peak hype later on that dwindles with time. Warframe for example peaked at 181.5k players on steam, but currently is sitting at 60k, and yet by xboxes stats, which i admit does not list specific numbers, but it IS the major platform that sea of thieves is played on, It has a long life still if its above warframe and even a semi recent game as popular as baldurs gate on xbox.

I have watched doom saying on this game for years now, you have not provided anything i have not before heard claimed, and i see no reason to continue this debate further for the time. It really doesnt help further anything, and after years of debating claims its just not that fun of a debate topic any more, which im sure some can agree with who have dealt with it longer than even i have.