Sea of Thieves Season 17 Smuggler's Tide: New faction, voyages, explosives, and more

Sea of Thieves Season 17 Smuggler's Tide is officially set to release in August 2025, as revealed at the 2025 Xbox Games Showcase with an announcement trailer. As the name suggests, this season is all about smuggling. It is set to introduce many features, including a brand-new faction and fresh voyages.

This article expands on all the updates Smuggler's Tide brings to the pirate adventure title.

Exploring Sea of Thieves Season 17: Smuggler's Tide

A new faction

Sea of Thieves Season 17 introduces new smuggling-centric mechanics (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

The seventeenth season introduces the Smuggler's League Faction to the game. As the trailer shows, the group is interested in rum, guns, and most importantly, explosives. Smuggling is all about acquiring loot by any means necessary. Thus, joining the League will involve stealing and illegally transporting different items.

Also check: Sea of Thieves: How to get Cannon of Rage

Smuggling Voyages

Visit the depths of an ocean to find and retrieve loot (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

Voyages for the Smuggler's League will revolve around retrieving and transporting items like explosive barrels, rum, and firearms. The trailer's footage also implies that you'll need to sneak the goods past enemy territory during some voyages, but nothing is confirmed so far. Further details regarding the Voyages are currently unknown.

Explosive new loot

One mistake and things go Kaboom (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

The next major addition that Sea of Thieves Season 17 showcased was "explosive" new loot. While explosive barrels have already existed in various forms in the pirate RPG, the seventeenth season might introduce a new tier of gunpowder kegs with increased damage.

On which platforms is the new season launching?

The season is set for August 2025 (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

Sea of Thieves Season 17 is set to release on Xbox Series X|S, PC (via Steam, Xbox App, and Battle.net), and PlayStation 5. Players can also enjoy it on day one on Game Pass.

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About the author

Meet Soni is an Esports & Gaming writer at Sportskeeda who specializes in covering the sphere of single-player games, with a focus on linear games. Currently in the second year of his BA degree, he has always been passionate about film, music, anime, and sketching, and added gaming to that list after being spellbound by the first Metal Gear Solid game.

When it comes to industry influences, he looks up to streamer MoistCrit1kal for his engagement with the goings-on in gaming as a whole while playing and reviewing games. And while he prefers single-player games, he keeps tabs on Valorant tournaments and the ALGS, follows teams such as 100 Thieves, Paper Rex, and Sentinels, and is always up for some Overwatch or Fortnite with his friends.

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Edited by Adarsh J Kumar