"It Might Not Seem Like An Obvious Choice": Sea Of Thieves Reveals Unlikely Collaboration With Beloved Franchise

Sea of Thieves has announced an unlikely collaboration with one of the most prolific live-service games. Destiny 2-themed items have been added to the Sea of Thieves Pirate Emporium for purchase, allowing players to take on the high seas with paid cosmetic gear in what the game calls the "Lightbearer Set." The cosmetics include matching weapons, a set of costumes, a ship's crest, banners, sails, and a set of cannons that's sure to impress any other ship at sea.

Xbox Wire shared details on Rare's collaboration with Bungie, the Sony-owned developer of Destiny, to bring the items to the high seas. The blog post admits that the Destiny franchise "might not seem like an obvious choice" for a crossover, but the game's "classes and co-operative play presented a ‘crew-like’ bond that [Rare] thought was a great fit." Rare had been working with Bungie on the crossover idea since 2023, the blog post says. You can take a look at what the Destiny 2 and Sea of Thieves crossover has in store for players in the video below.

Destiny-Themed Cosmetics Are In Xbox's Sea Of Thieves

Space Exploration Meets Sea Exploration

Destiny 2-themed items are available in Sea of Thieves and cover pretty much anything a pirate could want. These cosmetics reference parts of Destiny lore, such as the Lightbearer Figurehead that resembles a Ghost, and flags and sails representing the three different factions in Destiny (Hunter, Titan, and Warlock). One particularly eye-catching addition is an Eye of Reach rifle based on the Whisper of the Worm exotic sniper rifle, which was first introduced in Destiny 2: Warmind in 2018.

Gameplay screenshot Sea of Thieves PlayStation 5 guarding with cutlass sword while two skeletons approach while standing on a beach with the sunsetting behind them.

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Strangely enough, players won't find any Sea of Thieves items added to Destiny 2, which would be typical of a true crossover event. Neither Bungie nor Rare have made comments on whether Sea of Thieves-themed goods will appear in Destiny 2, so Guardians are out of luck for now. It's possible Sea of Thieves items will appear in the Sol System down the line, and any potential appearance could depend on the success of Rare and Bungie's first crossover.

Our Take: Live-Service Crossovers Aren't Unusual, But A Sony-Xbox Collab Is Weird

The Rival Companies Have Never Collaborated In The Past

It goes without saying that a collaboration between Xbox and a Sony-owned studio is extremely strange, especially since Destiny 2 won't enjoy any Sea of Thieves cosmetics for the foreseeable future. Both games have had very successful crossovers in the past: Destiny partnered with Fortnite to swap cosmetics and Sea of Thieves received both Pirates of the Caribbean and Monkey Island content in previous updates, all of which were well-received by fans, though a collaboration across first-party companies is a pretty big leap to make in comparison.

The collaboration comes as cross-platform releases are becoming more common. Microsoft-backed games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Forza Horizon 5recently debuted on Sony with impressive preorder numbers, and Sea of Thieves itself also found success at its PlayStation 5 launch. Console exclusivity seems to be becoming a thing of the past, and while we likely won't see any Sony games getting a same-day release on Xbox, collaborations and cross-platform releases will likely continue to become more popular with both developers and players.