Proof of Play Shuts Down, Open-Sources Pirate Nation as PIRATE Token Falls 99.7%

Proof of Play, the studio behind the fully on-chain game Pirate Nation, announced Tuesday it is ceasing operations, saying it could not build a sustainable business that proved its thesis at scale. That thesis centered on blockchain technology enabling a decentralized internet through gaming.

The studio is open-sourcing its code and art to assist future builders and agents in the web3 space. The release includes the Pirate Nation Unity application, the game's smart contracts and an internal agent workflow tool, all published on GitHub.

Proof of Play also released the Founder Pirates NFTs and all Pirate Nation artwork, intellectual property and logos under a CC0 license, waiving copyright and placing the work in the public domain. The `piratenation-art` repository on GitHub contains folders for Combat Cards, Founder's Pirate NFT, Logos and Voxel Game Assets.

Game developer AzFlin called the open-sourced assets a "bunch of gold" for other game developers, highlighting a giant squid model within the voxel asset files as a reusable resource.

The PIRATE token traded at $0.001285 on Wednesday, a 10 percent increase over 24 hours, with seven-day losses pared to 11 percent following the announcement.

PIRATE's circulating market capitalization stood near $940,000, with a fully diluted valuation of approximately $1.3 million. The token has fallen 99.7 percent from its all-time high of $0.4757, recorded July 18, 2024, weeks after its initial launch.

The Pirate Nation Foundation, an entity independent from the defunct studio, will continue supporting the PIRATE token and plans to keep its website operational. Proof of Play points, a reward system within the game, will not be redeemable for any value.

Proof of Play's other game, Shiba Story Go, has been acquired by an unnamed third party and will continue to operate independently. The studio did not disclose the buyer.

Proof of Play was founded by former Zynga executives and secured venture funding to develop Pirate Nation. In 2024, the studio announced plans to launch a second blockchain dedicated to handling the game's transaction volume.

The shutdown follows a series of retrenchments in the web3 gaming sector. Yield Guild Games previously sunset its YGG Play publishing unit and reduced its workforce by 35 positions.

Game developer AzFlin called the open-sourced assets a "bunch of gold" for other game developers, highlighting a giant squid model within the voxel asset files as a reusable resource.

The PIRATE token traded at $0.001285 on Wednesday, a 10 percent increase over 24 hours, with seven-day losses pared to 11 percent following the announcement.

Proof of Play's other game, Shiba Story Go, has been acquired by an unnamed third party and will continue to operate independently. The studio did not disclose the buyer.

The shutdown follows a series of retrenchments in the web3 gaming sector. Yield Guild Games previously sunset its YGG Play publishing unit and reduced its workforce by 35 positions.