Sea of Thieves players complain about hacking issues, with some hackers exploiting the game to get more health, see through walls, track opponents and more.
Action adventure pirate game Sea of Thieves has finally been released on Xbox One and Windows PC, and players are enjoying taking to the high seas, battling other players, searching for loot and finding plenty of ridiculous ways to have fun. But it’s not fun and games for all players, as some are reporting that the game has a hacking problem that is ruining the experience.
It’s unclear how prevalent the issue is, but players have been discussing Sea of Thieves hacking issues since at least January when the game held a closed beta. There are reports on the game’s official forums about seeing players with absurd amounts of health, while certain sites that sell game cheats are currently advertising Sea of Thieves aimbots, cheats that help players find more loot, hacks that help players track opponents, with all promising to be “undetected” by the game client.
Players aren’t shy about using them either and there are plenty of video clips on Twitch and YouTube of them using hacks right from launch. The description of one particular YouTube video of hacking in the game boasts, “We don’t care that our names are not blurred [in the video] because the accounts are free.” It seems that some hackers are using the free trial of the Xbox Game Pass subscription to get away with their actions.
A hacking problem like this would usually only affect the PC version of a game, with The Division PC’s hacking issue being a notable example. But as Windows Central notes in a new report, because Sea of Thieves offers cross-platform play, people who are playing the game on Xbox One are affected by players who are using hacks in the PC version of the game.
Although games made under the UWP (Universal Windows Platform) are meant to be more secure, clearly things are not fully anti-hack proof. The publication even suggests that the situation with Sea of Thieves is one argument against cross-play.
Sea of Thieves has become the fastest-selling first-party Xbox IP, which is an incredible record, but some will be wondering whether an ongoing hacking problem will stunt the game’s long-term growth. The hacking issue in games like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds has thwarted their growth as players ditch the game out of frustration of facing hackers. If most Sea of Thieves hackers are using Xbox Game Pass trials, then the issue may clear up in the next few weeks when those trials run out, In the meantime, though, many will be calling upon Microsoft and Rare to tackle the issue head-on.
Sea of Thieves is available now for PC and Xbox One.
