Cloud Pirates
Cloud Pirates was an action-focused MMO built around team-based airship combat, putting you in command of a pirate vessel and throwing you into quick 10v10 PvP matches. Between battles you could tune your ship’s loadout and upgrades, then head back into the skies to trade broadsides, capture objectives, and outplay enemy crews.
 | Publisher: My.com Type: Ship Battle MMO Release Date: April 19, 2017 Shut Down Date: September 29th, 2017 Pros: +Skyborne pirate theme with a strong arcade combat hook. +Multiple ship archetypes that support different roles and tactics. +Readable, straightforward combat interface. Cons: -Queue and matchmaking could be inconsistent. -Progression toward higher-tier options often felt overly grind-heavy. |
Cloud Pirates Overview
Set in Sarnaut, a world broken into floating fragments, Cloud Pirates framed its battles around pirate captains raiding across open skies and island chains. The hook was simple and easy to understand: pick a ship class, outfit it with the tools you want, and jump into 10v10 matches where positioning, focus fire, and objective play matter as much as raw damage.
Ship variety was a major part of the game’s identity. Heavier hulls such as the Dreadnought leaned into brawling and soaking pressure, while lighter, faster ships like the Galleon played more like skirmishers, relying on mobility and timing. Progression also extended beyond the ship itself, letting you level your captain to unlock abilities and buffs that could influence how your build performed in a fight.
Customization sat at the center of the loop, covering both visuals and combat functionality. You were encouraged to adjust upgrades and weapon choices to match your preferred role, whether that meant leaning into survivability, burst damage, or team utility. Matches were designed to be brisk and decisive, with the expectation that coordinated teams would rotate together, control key areas, and punish isolated targets.
In terms of feel, the core structure lined up with other arena-style ship battlers such as Fractured Space or Galactic Junk League, although Cloud Pirates kept its build options more guided rather than fully open-ended. With only a small selection of maps, learning sightlines, cover routes around islands, and common engagement ranges became an important part of improving.
Cloud Pirates Key Features:
- Sky Pirate Fantasy – take the classic pirate theme and move it into airship warfare, complete with broadside-style firefights and aggressive boarding-range brawls (without the boarding).
- Ship Loadouts and Upgrades – change how your airship performs through weapons and improvements, alongside cosmetic personalization.
- Distinct Ship Classes – choose between different vessels with clear strengths and weaknesses, including options like the Dreadnought and the Galleon.
- Multiple Combat Arenas – fight across several sky maps and learn their routes, cover, and objective approaches to gain a tactical edge.
- Fast 10v10 PvP – jump into compact, team-driven matches where coordination and role execution decide the outcome.
Cloud Pirates Screenshots
Cloud Pirates Featured Video
Cloud Pirates Review
Cloud Pirates aimed for an accessible, arcade-leaning PvP experience, and at its best it delivered exactly that. Piloting felt responsive for a ship combat game, with clear feedback for incoming fire and ability usage. Fights tended to be readable, and the UI did a good job of communicating what mattered in the moment, which is crucial in 10v10 games where new players can otherwise feel lost.
The strongest moments came when teams played as fleets rather than as solo captains. Ships with tankier profiles could anchor pushes and hold space, while faster vessels pressured flanks, finished low-health targets, or forced enemies off objectives. Because ship roles were distinct, a coordinated team composition could create satisfying momentum, especially when players focused targets and chained crowd control or burst windows effectively.
Customization and progression provided a reason to keep queuing, but it was also where the experience could start to drag. Unlocking stronger options and climbing toward higher tiers often demanded a lot of repetition, which could feel at odds with the game’s pick-up-and-play tone. When progression gates were combined with uneven matchmaking, matches sometimes swung too hard, either because teams were mismatched in experience or because the queue struggled to build balanced lineups.
Map variety was another limiting factor. With a relatively small set of battlefields, repeated play put more weight on mastering the same routes and engagement zones. That can be a positive for competitive players who like refining strategies, but it reduced the sense of discovery and made the overall package feel smaller than it could have been.
For players who wanted quick, team-based airship combat with a pirate coat of paint, Cloud Pirates had a strong concept and a solid moment-to-moment loop. Its long-term appeal, however, depended heavily on healthy matchmaking and a progression pace that respected player time, two areas that were not always consistent during its lifespan.
Cloud Pirates System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows XP SP3 or newer
CPU: Core 2 Duo E6550 2.1 GHz
Video Card: GeForce 8600 GT 256 MB
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 2 GB
Recommended Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 or newer
CPU: Core 2 Quad 2.2 GHz+
Video Card: GeForce GTS 250
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 2 GB
Cloud Pirates Music & Soundtrack
Details on the soundtrack have not been widely documented, but the game’s audio direction generally supported the arcade naval-in-the-sky mood, emphasizing clear combat cues and punchy weapon effects over elaborate musical storytelling.
Cloud Pirates Additional Information
Developer(s): Allods Team
Publisher(s): My.com
Language(s): English, Russian, French, Polish, German
Alternative Names/Titles: Pirates: Allods Online (Russia); Cloud Pirates (Western release)
Platform(s): PC
Early Access: February 09, 2017
Full Release Date: April 19, 2017
Shut Down Date: September 29th, 2017
Development History / Background:
Cloud Pirates is an action MMO developed by the Allods Team and published by My.com. In Russia it was released as Pirates: Allods Online, while the Western version used the Cloud Pirates name. The concept traces back to Allods Online, a 3D fantasy MMORPG where airship battles proved popular with players. Building on that interest, the Allods Team spun the idea into a standalone title focused entirely on ship-to-ship combat. Cloud Pirates entered Early Access on Steam on February 09, 2017, and reached full release on April 19, 2017.
Cloud Pirates shut down on September 29th, 2017.