Pirates Treasure Hunters
Pirates Treasure Hunters was a free-to-play MOBA built around 6v6 matches where two teams of pirates battled for objectives, with success hinging on coordination, timing, and smart use of each character’s toolkit.
 | Publisher: Virtual Toys Playerbase: Small Type: MOBA Release Date: July 5, 2016 (NA/EU) Shut Down: September, 2016 Pros: +A solid roster of distinct pirates. +An unusually helpful tutorial for the genre. +Two-person vehicles (cars and boats) with mounted cannons. Cons: -Reloading ammunition feels clumsy. -Movement and inputs can come across as unresponsive. -A tiny community made PvP queues and matchmaking unreliable. |
Pirates Treasure Hunters Overview
Pirates Treasure Hunters leaned into fast, team-focused skirmishes by letting players pick from more than sixteen playable pirates (the game called them Hunters) and throwing them into 6v6 matches with clear win conditions. The roster pulled from different archetypes and origins, including fighters with military flair, gadget-focused inventors, magic users, and tribal-style leaders, and each Hunter came with a specific weapon and a unique set of abilities meant to define their role in a fight.
Matches were structured around several modes, including Treasure Hunt and Team Deathmatch, which helped the game feel closer to an objective-driven brawler than a strict lane-pushing MOBA. A memorable twist was the emphasis on cooperative vehicles across land and sea. Players could pair up to operate cars or boats equipped with cannons, with one teammate driving while the other handled the weapons, which rewarded communication and made map control feel different from typical on-foot engagements.
Monetization followed familiar free-to-play patterns, offering cosmetic items as well as EXP and currency boosts for real money. At the same time, progression also included amulets that provided stat improvements, and those had to be purchased using credit earned through playing rather than bought outright. Despite some interesting ideas, Pirates Treasure Hunters ultimately did not last long, Virtual Toys went bankrupt and the game shut down in September, 2016.
Pirates Treasure Hunters Key Features:
- Guided Onboarding – a detailed tutorial that does a good job teaching core mechanics and match flow.
- Hunter Roster Variety – choose from over sixteen different Hunters with distinct weapons and ability kits.
- Two-Player Vehicles – split responsibilities between driving and firing, then coordinate to get full value from cars and boats.
- Multiple Match Types – play modes with different objectives and victory conditions, not just a single ruleset.
- Cosmetic Customization – purchase cosmetic options for Hunters (similar to MOBA skins) using real world cash.
Pirates Treasure Hunters Screenshots
Pirates Treasure Hunters Featured Video
Pirates Treasure Hunters Review
Although Pirates Treasure Hunters is no longer playable, it remains an interesting example of a MOBA trying to separate itself from the standard formula. Instead of focusing heavily on long laning phases and deep item shops, the game aimed for straightforward team fights, quick objectives, and map interactions that were easy to understand even for players new to the genre.
The strongest part of the experience was the character selection. The Hunters were designed around recognizable roles and playstyles, and their different weapons gave combat a more action-oriented flavor than many click-to-move MOBAs. That variety also encouraged experimentation, especially when playing with friends who could build complementary team compositions rather than relying on solo carry potential.
The tutorial deserves credit as well. MOBAs often struggle with onboarding, but here the learning curve was softened by clearer explanations and a structured introduction, which made it easier to grasp what your abilities did and what the game expected you to do in each mode.
Where the game struggled was in how it felt to control moment to moment. Actions like reloading could feel awkward, and the overall responsiveness did not always match the speed the game demanded during close-range brawls. That sort of friction matters a lot in competitive games, because small input delays or clunky interactions can decide fights.
The other major obstacle was the community size. With a small playerbase, finding balanced PvP matches becomes difficult, and queue times can undermine even a good core concept. In practice, that made it harder for Pirates Treasure Hunters to sustain the consistent matchmaking loop that keeps MOBA players invested.
In the end, Pirates Treasure Hunters had a few standout ideas, especially its co-op vehicles and approachable structure, but it was held back by control feel and the realities of player population, and it ultimately shut down in September 2016.
Pirates Treasure Hunters Links
Pirates Treasure Hunters Official Site
Pirates Treasure Hunters Steam Page
Pirates Treasure Hunters Forums [Official]
Pirates Treasure Hunters System Requirements
Minimum Requirements:
Operating System: Windows XP
CPU: Intel Core Duo @ 2 GHz
Video Card: GeForce 8600 256 MB
RAM: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 5 GB
Recommended Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core Quad @ 2.4 GHz
Video Card: GeForce 9800 512 MB
RAM: 4 GB
Hard Disk Space: 5 GB
Pirates Treasure Hunters Music & Soundtrack
Coming Soon!
Pirates Treasure Hunters Additional Information
Developer(s): Virtual Toys
Publisher(s): Virtual Toys and Valve (US and UK), Netmarble (South Korea)
Game Engine: Unreal Engine 3
Language(s): English, Spanish, Italian, German, French
Platform(s): PC, PS4
Early Access Release Date: July 5, 2016
Shut Down: September, 2016
Development History / Background:
Pirates Treasure Hunters is a free-to-play MOBA created by Virtual Toys, a game studio based in Spain. In South Korea it was published by Netmarble (previously CJ E&M), while in the US and UK it was distributed through Valve’s Steam service alongside Virtual Toys. Work on the project started in 2013, and early testing took place only in South Korea. The title later arrived in early access for the US and UK in July 2016. Virtual Toys subsequently went bankrupt, and Pirates Treasure Hunters shut down in September, 2016.