In Brief:
- Following the studio’s shutdown, a onetime community member of Proof of Play’s Pirate Nation (official site) has kicked off a fresh project titled Booty Wars.
- Lead creator Murdoch stresses that the game is no sequel to Pirate Nation and won’t lean on the old infrastructure or tokens.
- Plans call for a brand-new NFT collection paired with gameplay built around high-stakes PvP mechanics.
New pirate game emerges from shutdown
Just two weeks after Proof of Play closed its doors, Booty Wars surfaced as a standalone effort from Murdoch, a community member recognized for what he contributed to Pirate Nation. Positioning itself as a separate entity, the title will steer clear of both the defunct studio’s infrastructure and the $PIRATE token.
The August 19 announcement revealed that Booty Wars is being built with assets published under a CC0 license. Proof of Play had raised north of $33 million to build Pirate Nation, a fully on-chain RPG whose operations ended in September 2025.
Two developers have been brought on board by Murdoch, who has been blunt about the project standing apart from its predecessor. “This isn’t Pirate Nation 2.0,” he said, flatly rejecting any tie to Proof of Play. At the heart of the project sits a new NFT collection of 6,969 Booty Pirates, with 969 held back for the team and the remaining 6,000 headed to public sale.
No blockchain has been locked in yet, though Robinhood looks like the front-runner. Murdoch’s design leans toward a fierce PvP experience, borrowing cues from titles such as Cambria (official site), Gigaverse (official site), and MOG in order to strengthen player retention.
Crucially, none of Pirate Nation’s economic layer is carrying over. Murdoch confirmed that neither the existing $PIRATE token nor the original Founder Pirates collection will feature in the new game. Anyone holding original items may apply for a whitelist spot, but inclusion isn’t guaranteed.
Billed as Booty Wars V1, the first release will keep things small in scope as a way to test engagement mechanics. Roughly 60,000 views have piled up on the announcement so far, with a good share of the replies coming from nostalgic Pirate Nation veterans.
Further details are due when the official website goes live on August 19.