Ashes of Creation

Xerge

Xerge

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No but there is that one CEO who is under NDA now with Amazon Games because of talks. Steven was always smug and pitty toward New World, but it'll be fucking comical if NW actually gets sold and lives on and AoC does not. AoC in its' current state offers next to nothing, buying NW on the other hand? That baby is ready to print money in the right hands.
 
mkopec

mkopec

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Xerge said:
No but there is that one CEO who is under NDA now with Amazon Games because of talks. Steven was always smug and pitty toward New World, but it'll be fucking comical if NW actually gets sold and lives on and AoC does not. AoC in its' current state offers next to nothing, buying NW on the other hand? That baby is ready to print money in the right hands.
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I personally dont think NW will ever get sold....Why? Because its Amazon and they dont give a shit about a pittance of a few dozen million or whatever its worth.
 
Warrik

Warrik

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Man it feels good to be right. I am SO glad I refunded before the Steam release.... pretty sure everyone who purchased in Steam is SOL. The company does not have to issue refunds as the game 'released'.
 
Mahes

Mahes

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A kind of summation. Regardless this does suck as the MMO market looks pretty bleak for anything coming out in the near future that is not Pay to win....if ever. I think this puts a cap in Crowd Funding for games, save the money laundering that is Star Citizen.

Steven founded Intrepid Studios in 2015 and for years claimed to be the sole owner with no board and no investors. State filings confirm he was CEO, Director, and Secretary. His words: "I am the sole share owner in the company. I don't have to answer to a board." The 2017 Kickstarter raised $3.27M from nearly a 20k backers with an explicit promise: "In the case that Ashes of Creation does NOT launch, we promise to refund all backers in full." Sharif personally guaranteed refunds from his own wealth in a PC Gamer interview.

Despite claiming full funding, lawsuits piled up. Sada Systems sued for $850k in unpaid cloud fees. Aetna filed a debt collection suit. Streamline Media sued over unpaid battle royale assets. California EDD filed ~$50k in payroll tax liens starting in 2020. The Ya-Ya Legacy Trust, a 9.7% shareholder, sued in 2024 after being denied access to financial books and bank statements. Sharif's other entity, Trek Holdings LLC, was suspended by the state.

In November 2025, Sharif transferred his home to his spouse — asset protection before creditors arrived. On December 11, Intrepid rushed an unfinished Alpha 2 onto Steam Early Access, technically "launching" the game and voiding the Kickstarter refund promise. On January 16, 2026, Karen Boreyko — co-founder of Vemma, an MLM shut down by the FTC as a pyramid scheme, connected to Sharif through the XanGo/Vemma world — filed a UCC lien securing her claim on Intrepid's assets. Layoffs began. On January 31, Sharif resigned via Discord blaming "the board" for unethical decisions. WARN Act notices followed. The studio couldn't make payroll.

Sharif was the board. He said so for years. He ran the company into the ground, took debt from Boreyko, couldn't pay, and she took control. The resignation "in protest" is spin. The house transfer shows he knew it was coming. Backers have no clear path to refunds.

I do not think it is possible, but I do wonder if more lawsuits are incoming. It really sucks for the developers. I wonder how many of the upper management got payouts.
 
Kirun

Kirun

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The MMO genre is dead. It has been for at least 5+ years. It's best people accept that and move on to either continuing to play "old" MMOs or move on to "MMO-lites" - which a lot of Survival type games are now.
 
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Mahes

Mahes

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This is not 100% confirmed but is going around.

From Nyce Gaming... And so there you have it — Ashes of Creation is reportedly gone, with Steven Sharif losing majority control of the company. Based on available research and statements from former employees who cannot be named, the situation was described as extremely difficult. One unnamed source, who verified their employment through Intrepid’s Slack communications, shared additional claims. To clarify, the speaker noted they cannot fully confirm the accuracy of this account, though they verified the source held a leadership role. According to the source, the board allegedly forced an early access launch and then instructed Steven to terminate 50 employees in December without pay or PTO.

The source claims Steven and the production directors refused to comply and fought the decision for two weeks into January. The board allegedly reduced the demand, forcing Steven to terminate only 10 employees, which may relate to the previously reported layoffs of nine staff members. The board also allegedly refused to provide PTO compensation, which Steven reportedly paid himself. The source further claimed the board later voted to terminate an additional 100 employees and outsource a large portion of the game’s development to the Philippines. Steven again reportedly refused and ultimately resigned in an attempt to push the board to reconsider.

Following his resignation, the board allegedly hired a new CEO, after which the remaining leadership team resigned in solidarity. The source claims the board then chose to terminate the entire team and outsource development to external teams at lower cost while refusing to provide wages or PTO. It was also alleged that Steven plans to file a major lawsuit against the board, which the source described as being made up of four members from a private equity group rather than individuals from the gaming industry. However, all of these claims originate from an unverified source and should be treated cautiously.
 
Kirun

Kirun

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LMAO. Steven is such a colossal bullshit artist. I can't believe anybody actually believes that snake oil salesman.
 
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Mahes

Mahes

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Game literally got killed by a Karen. Amazing...

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Kuro

Kuro

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Mahes said:
This is not 100% confirmed but is going around.

From Nyce Gaming... And so there you have it — Ashes of Creation is reportedly gone, with Steven Sharif losing majority control of the company. Based on available research and statements from former employees who cannot be named, the situation was described as extremely difficult. One unnamed source, who verified their employment through Intrepid’s Slack communications, shared additional claims. To clarify, the speaker noted they cannot fully confirm the accuracy of this account, though they verified the source held a leadership role. According to the source, the board allegedly forced an early access launch and then instructed Steven to terminate 50 employees in December without pay or PTO.

The source claims Steven and the production directors refused to comply and fought the decision for two weeks into January. The board allegedly reduced the demand, forcing Steven to terminate only 10 employees, which may relate to the previously reported layoffs of nine staff members. The board also allegedly refused to provide PTO compensation, which Steven reportedly paid himself. The source further claimed the board later voted to terminate an additional 100 employees and outsource a large portion of the game’s development to the Philippines. Steven again reportedly refused and ultimately resigned in an attempt to push the board to reconsider.

Following his resignation, the board allegedly hired a new CEO, after which the remaining leadership team resigned in solidarity. The source claims the board then chose to terminate the entire team and outsource development to external teams at lower cost while refusing to provide wages or PTO. It was also alleged that Steven plans to file a major lawsuit against the board, which the source described as being made up of four members from a private equity group rather than individuals from the gaming industry. However, all of these claims originate from an unverified source and should be treated cautiously.
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This sounds straight from Steven trying to paint himself a hero
 
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