PC gamers may experience FPS drops in Sea of Thieves due to a variety of factors. This could be caused by a lack of hardware resources, a problem with the graphics settings or video settings, or an issue with the game files. You’ll have to go through several troubleshooting methods to have this frame rate issue fixed.
Sea of Thieves is a first-person action-adventure game developed by Rare and distributed by Microsoft Studios that is now available on Steam. Players take control of a pirate ship and sail around an open world. The game is a shared-world adventure game, which means that players will encounter each other regularly throughout their adventures, forming alliances and even facing off against one another. By completing travels for various trading enterprises, the player adopts the role of a pirate on a mission to become the greatest pirate legend. To become a Pirate Legend, players must reach level 50 with at least three of the trading firms.
Sea of Thieves FPS drops? Here’s how to fix it

A low frame rate is one of the difficulties you may encounter while playing Sea of Thieves. This can happen at any time, even if there is a lot of screen rendering on the screen.
Several factor can contribute to the fps drop. Check your computer specs, graphics setting, and even drivers, as they can all have an impact on your game.
Here’s how to resolve the FPS drop issue in the Sea of Thieves game.
Fix #1 Check minimum system requirements

The first step in resolving this issue is to ensure that your computer meets the hardware system requirements for Sea of Thieves. To play the game properly without FPS drops or lag issue, you must have at least the minimum system requirements.
Minimum requirements
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel Q9450 @ 2.6GHz or AMD Phenom II X6 @ 3.3 GHz
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 or AMD Radeon 7750
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 50 GB available space
Recommended requirements
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Intel i5 4690 @ 3.5GHz or AMD FX-8150 @ 3.6 GHz
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 or AMD Radeon R9 380x
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 50 GB available space
Fix #2 Adjust Sea of Thieves graphics settings
If you experience frame drops and slow movement while playing the game, lower the settings because your graphics card may not be able to handle the game at higher settings. The video quality of the game will be reduced, but the FPS will be improved.
Time Needed : 2 minutes
Adjusting the settings
- On the main menu, click settings.
This allows you to open the settings menu.
- Select Graphic Settings.
This will allow you to access the Graphic settings of the game.
- Change Default Quality Selection to Recommended or Common.
This will change the overall graphic settings of the game.
Check to see if it improves gaming performance or if the fps drops problem persists after making these changes.
Fix #3 Update graphics drivers

An outdated graphics driver is one of the causes of the Sea of Thieves game frame drop and performance issues. Make sure your computer’s GPU driver is up to date, as these will include numerous updates from the video card manufacturer which will optimized your gameplay.
Updating GPU driver
Step 1: Simply type Device Manager in the search bar on your desktop and then click the icon that appears in the results.
Step 2: Click the Display adapters icon.
Step 3: Right-click the GPU you are using to play the game and then select Update driver.
Step 4: Choose Search automatically for drivers.
Fix #4 Update Windows computer or laptop
It is always a good idea to keep your Windows operating system up to date. The most recent updates include several performance optimizations, bug fixes, and additional security measures, which should improve your gameplay experience and resolve the Sea of Thieves Frame drops issue.
Updating Windows computer or laptop
Step 1: Right click the Start button.
Step 2: Select Settings. This will open Windows settings.
Step 3: Select Windows Update found on the bottom left menu of the new windows that appears which will take you to the Windows Update tab section.
Step 4: Select Check for updates.
Fix #5 Verify game files
Sea of Thieves may suffer from frame drops issues due to corrupted or missing game files. To resolve this, use the Steam client to verify the integrity of the game files. To replace the corrupted files, new files will be downloaded from the servers.
Verifying integrity of game file
Step 1: Open Steam client.
Step 2: In your Steam launcher, click Library. This will open your Library tab
Step 3: Find Sea of Thieves then right-click Sea of Thieves in your Library and select Properties.
Step 4: Choose the Local Files tab and click Verify integrity of game files. This will let you verify Sea of Thieves.
Fix #6 Antivirus and Firewall
It will cause issues and problems if your antivirus and firewall programs, such as Windows security and firewall, are constantly scanning and blocking the games. To see if the problem resolves itself, turn off your antivirus and firewall software for a few minutes. If the frame drops issue has been resolved, add the game to the antivirus and firewall exception lists.
Turning off Antivirus software
Step 1: Press Window logo.
Step 2: Click Settings.
Step 3: Click update & security.
Step 4: Click Window Security.
Step 5: Click Virus & Threat protection.
Step 6: Click Manage settings.
Step 7: Turn off real-time protection.
Turning off Avast
Step 1: On the taskbar, look for the Avast icon.
Step 2: Right-click Avast icon.
Step 3: Select Settings.
Step 4: Select disable option from Avast Shields.
Turning off AVG
Step 1: Right-click the AVG symbol in the system tray.
Step 2: Select Disable AVG Protection temporarily.
Turning off McAfee
Step 1: In the system tray, double-click the McAfee antivirus icon.
Step 2: In the upper right corner, click the Navigation link.
Step 3: Select Real-Time Scanning and then turn it off
Adding the game to the antivirus exclusion list
Step 1: Click the Start Menu button.
Step 2: Click Settings.
Step 3: Click Update & Security.
Step 4: Click Window Security.
Step 5: Click Virus & threat protection.
Step 6: Click Manage settings.
Step 7: Click Add or remove exclusions.
Step 8: Click Add an exclusion.
Step 9: Click Folder.
Step 10: Locate and select the game folder.
Adding as an Exception through Firewall
Step 1: Type Firewall in the search bar on your desktop and then click the icon that appears in the results.
Step 2: Choose Allow an app or feature through Windows Defender Firewall.
Step 3: Scroll down until you find the game, then check all boxes.
Step 4: Click the OK button.
Fix #7 Close background programs
Make sure no other programs are running when you play Sea of Thieves. These applications will consume system resources, resulting in Sea of Thieves having less CPU, GPU, and RAM.
Occasionally, a background application will interfere with Sea of Thieves, resulting in frame drops.
Closing background programs
Step 1: Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc keys.
Step 2: Choose the Processes tab and select tasks that are unnecessarily running in the background and consuming resources.
Step 3: Click End Task to close it.
Fix #8 Reinstall
You should reinstall Sea of Thieves if the problem persists. This will resolve any issues and problems you may have.
Reinstalling
Step 1: Go to the Steam Library
Step 2: Right click on Sea of Thieves then click on Manage then uninstall
Step 3: Click Uninstall
Step 4: Right click Seas of Thieves then click on install
Step 5: Click next to proceed with the installation
Feel free to visit our YouTube channel for additional support and troubleshooting guides on various devices.