Good afternoon,
I know it has been a few months since my last public update. Unfortunately, the legal process is not a particularly expedient one. To date, my federal lawsuit against Robert Dawson, Ryan Ogden, Aaron Bartels, Theresa Fette, Jason Caramanis and TFE Games Holdings LLC has had a very active docket of motion practice with nearly 200 entries and thousands of pages of filings and exhibits in just the last 6 months. Of course, none of you want to be reading a legal update about the game you should be playing right now and would be playing right now if not for the misconduct and greed of the very people who owed a duty of care and loyalty to Intrepid Studios.
At the outset of this tragedy, the defendants moved quickly to paint me as the villain, in an orchestrated attempt to control the public narrative and further their scheme to take control of Intrepid’s valuable assets and my rightful intellectual property. Their false and defamatory statements along with their lawsuit filed against me in Nevada has since been dismissed. Yesterday the Court spoke once again, as the light of justice continues to shine on their conduct. The defendants continue to retreat until the damage they caused is answered for fully.
For over a decade, I, along with hundreds of other developers, devoted our lives to fulfilling the promise given to our community. To deliver a PvX sandbox MMORPG worthy of the name Ashes of Creation.
I am fighting now to fulfill that promise and protect those years of dedication.
Yesterday, another hearing was held in my federal lawsuit against the board-defendants. At this hearing, I requested the Court to appoint a neutral receiver to marshal, preserve, and safeguard Intrepid’s intellectual property and related assets; to oversee and monitor any future foreclosure attempts; and to report to the Court on the propriety of any attempted sale. Yesterday, the judge granted that request, an extraordinary form of relief that the Court found was warranted given the defendants’ previous improper actions and violation of the California Commercial Code in 3 separate ways. The defendants purportedly unwound their unlawful foreclosure only after I dragged them into federal court.
Further, the Court agreed with my request to appoint a special master, receiver, banker, attorney, or the magistrate judge to inspect the propriety of the purported secured debt that the defendants claim Intrepid owes. The parties have to try to come to an agreement on who that person will be by August 25; if we cannot, the Court will make its own appointment.
In our briefing to the Court, we presented evidence that this debt was falsely and unlawfully placed on Intrepid by Dawson and his goons, with the express intent to further his self-interested “right” to conduct a foreclosure. The very same foreclosure that resulted in the destruction of Intrepid Studios and summary dismissal of all of Intrepid’s workforce, without pay or benefits that those families paid into… an absolutely horrendous and unconscionable act that is still impacting those families today. The board defendants submitted nearly 700 pages of documents to support their claims that this secured debt is real. Yet after all that paper, the Court found yesterday that the question of secured debt remains.
In addition to the Court granting our request for a receiver, and after our lawsuit forced the board-defendants to reverse their unlawful foreclosure, the defendants hired separate counsel for Intrepid Studios, in an attempt to force turnover of founder-owned assets such as the Discord, Reddit, YouTube, and X accounts. Their request for founder-owned assets was denied. The board-hired attorney for Intrepid also attempted to compel turnover of the Ashes of Creation domain, but the Judge denied this request also, noting that their motion failed to establish that Intrepid had a right to the domain.
Further, the board defendants attempted to acquire access and turnover of the game and codebase, including those systems with which the codebase is stored, directly to the board and Intrepid. Again, that specific request was not granted. I instead asked the judge to turn those assets over to a Court appointed neutral custodian for safe keeping, until further order of the Court, which is what the Court agreed to.
As such, I speak now to the investors and publishers in the industry who may be engaged in discussions with the board defendants, or TFE Games Holdings LLC or Dawnfire LLC: you are on notice, by order of The Honorable Judge Linda Lopez, in The United States District Court for the Southern District of California, all assets requested by Intrepid except the domain and social media sites identified by Sharif and communication devices, shall be turned over to the IP custodian until further order of this Court. This turnover is required within 72-hours of yesterday’s hearing.
Based on the Court’s ruling, there are still serious questions about ownership of rights of various assets related to Ashes of Creation. I suggest if you have firsthand knowledge of any private server, unauthorized copy, transfer, or third-party access involving these assets, preserve your own relevant records and do not transmit source code, credentials, or confidential materials. You may reach out to me on Discord with questions as it relates to this or if you have knowledge of the potential misuse or misappropriation of these assets.
I am also aware that the board-defendants have been hard at work in spreading false and defamatory narrative about me and my team not just to the public through their affiliated content creators but have also been doing so privately within the industry and investment circles in an effort to sell or monetize these assets. Do not mistake private access, a sales presentation, or a representation from a Dawson-affiliated entity for clean title or unrestricted authority to sell, license, foreclose upon, or otherwise monetize the disputed assets. Those assets are the subject of active federal litigation. The requested technical assets are being placed in neutral custody. Conduct your due diligence accordingly.
I also speak directly to any third-party developer, outsourcing company, technology provider, or contractor that has been given access to the Ashes of Creation codebase, repositories, credentials, or technical systems. The codebase and related assets are now subject to court-ordered neutral custody. Preserve every access log, copy, communication, instruction, credential, and transfer record in your possession. Do not expand, copy, distribute, or use that material without confirming that your actions are authorized through the court-supervised process. Continued use or dissemination outside that process may create significant legal exposure. All rights are expressly reserved.
I want to take a moment to speak personally to those of you who have read this far, because truly I know that this is not what you signed up for. You wanted to play a fucking MMO. So, did I. And instead, we must deal with this shit.
My heart breaks for the people who worked at Intrepid and for their families. It also breaks for the players who invested years of hope, trust, encouragement, and money into Ashes of Creation. And it breaks every time someone writes to tell me that they are still waiting and still believe this project deserves a future. It does.
I will be honest: staying strong through this travesty has been difficult. But I would not be able to continue with the same conviction and resolve without the support of this community.
So, thank you for keeping me going.
I will continue updating you when substantive developments occur. Those updates may come weeks or months apart because the timing depends on the Court’s docket and the progress of the case.
But I will not relent.
Stay safe and know that your support is deeply appreciated.
In diligence and hope,
