It's taken five and a half years of asking from the community, but Sea of Thieves' oft-requested private servers are almost here, with Rare having now confirmed they'll arrive as part of the multiplayer pirate adventure's third major Season 10 update on Thursday, 7th December.
Private servers will be available under the new banner of Safer Seas mode, which'll co-exist alongside the current shared world experience - officially renamed High Seas. Safer Seas lets up to four friends crew a single ship across a private version of the world and access all PvE content - ranging from emergent events to Trading Company quests and narrative-driven Tall Tales - without needing to deal with other players.
It is, then, pretty much exactly what people have been asking for since Sea of Thieves' launch back in 2018, albeit with a number of restrictions. Features including Guilds, Hourglass Factions, and live-service events such as Gold & Glory are all unavailable, and Rare is capping Trading Company progression at 40 in Safer Seas, meaning it won't be possible to reach Pirate Legend status without returning to High Seas mode. Additionally, gold and reputation for Athena's Fortune or their Reaper's Bones counterpart won't be earnable.