Proof of Play, the studio behind the on-chain RPG Pirate Nation, announced on August 5 that it’s shutting down operations and releasing everything it built into the public domain. The app, smart contracts, artwork, NFTs, and full intellectual property are now available under a CC0 license, meaning anyone can use them for anything, no strings attached.
It’s a remarkably graceful exit for a studio that raised $33 million from Andreessen Horowitz in September 2023 to build the future of fully on-chain gaming.
From 100K players to a ghost ship
Pirate Nation’s daily active user count dropped from over 100,000 to roughly 10,000, a decline steep enough to make the game’s $150,000 monthly operating costs flatly unsustainable.
The game itself went dark back in September 2025. The studio limped along for nearly another year before pulling the plug entirely.
