Crossplay was always a core feature of Sea of Thieves and one that Rare described as crucial for the game. However, in the latest video developer update posted yesterday on YouTube, Joe Neate revealed that following community's feedback crossplay will be made optional at some point before the PvP focused Arena mode becomes available later this year.

　　Obviously, Sea of Thieves is a crossplay title and we love what this brings to the game itself. We love that people on PC and console can play together. It brings so many benefits, but we've also been listening to feedback from our players, especially with Arena on the horizon, and that everybody feels they have the option of a level playing field.

　　We've been discussing this at length internally and we've arrived at a solution and we are starting work on the implementation. We want to make sure to give that option before Arena arrives. If you're playing on console and you're using a controller, you'll have the option to only matchmake with other players on console using a controller.

　　There will be two pools and you'll be able to change that option depending on who you want to play with, your circumstances at the time...

　　We've heard a lot of feedback around this, we've talked about it a lot and we definitely believe this is the right approach especially with that competitive mode coming. Once we do implement this, the option will be available whether you're going into Adventure mode or into Arena, so it will be available across the entire game.

　　We will be supporting mouse and keyboard on console. If you decided to use mouse and keyboard on console, you'll automatically be put into the crossplay pool.

　　Neate also talked about several changes coming to the game's combat. First of all, there will be balance changes to make all weapons viable in different situations but later on, there's also the goal to make combat smoother.

　　The changes of this update (on February 6th) will get us some way there, but we have further updates especially as we look to Arena on the horizon, where that focus on combat is really important.

　　Beyond what we've done for this update, we're really looking at combat, how can we make things more fluid, less clunky and how can we continue to make sure that each weapon has a clearly defined role.

　　Are you happy with these upcoming changes?