Pirate Nation studio shuts down, open-sources all code and art under CC0 license

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. Founder Amitt and co-founder Adam Fern described the closure as a difficult decision, acknowledging that despite years of development and significant capital, the project never achieved the mass-market penetration they were chasing. What CC0 actually means here The CC0 designation is worth unpacking because it’s not just open-source. It’s...