How to Fix Voice Chat Issues in Sea of Thieves

Countless players have made the headlong dive into Rare's newest open-world adventure Sea of Thieves. The game has garnered a huge amount of buzz over the last few months, leading to many overeager players jumping into the game without paying proper attention to the various prompts that pop up when the software is first launched. As a result, many players have wound up dismissing a critical question that effectively disables the ability to use in-game voice chat. Fortunately for chatty sailors, we know how to get voice communication in Sea of Thieves back up and working the way it should.

How To Enable Sea of Thieves Microphone Access in Windows 10

Almost all players who are having problems with voice chat in Sea of Thieves are experiencing an issue that comes down to Windows 10's own privacy settings. The prompt that many players have ignored when starting up the game was the software asking the user whether or not Sea of Thieves can be given permission to use the system's microphone. Closing the window or choosing the No option makes the dialog box disappear, and bringing it back isn't possible through any in-game menu.

Fixing your chat and microphone will lead to better cooperation which means sinking more ships!

With that said, the option to enable Sea of Thieves to access the microphone is easy to find outside of the game. The procedure is spelled out over on the Sea of Thieves support website, but for convenience we've featured it below.

First, close Sea of Thieves entirely.
From the desktop, click the Windows button, then click on the Settings icon.
Click on the Privacy icon — it's the one that looks like a lock.
In the left-hand column, click on the Microphone option.
Scroll down the list to find Sea of Thieves, then slide the toggle to the On position.

Depending on specific hardware, players may also have to ensure that their microphone is plugged in before launching Sea of Thieves. Beyond that, there shouldn't be much of an issue getting voice chat to work in-game. The default button for voice chat is Left Alt, and players can customize a number of different voice settings by heading to the Audio Settings page within the game's own Settings menu.

Keep on top of the latest nautical news and how-tos by setting your sights on Shacknews' ever-expanding Sea of Thieves guide and walkthrough.