Controversial MMORPG Ashes of Creation Has Been Abandoned
- CEO Steven Sharif resigned amid board disputes, mass layoffs, and accusations of a “pump and dump,” leaving Ashes of Creation effectively abandoned.
- The MMORPG raised millions via Kickstarter, pre-orders, and Early Access, but years of delays, feature creep, and past controversies fueled distrust.
- Players are seeking refunds as ownership shifts amid debts, with the game’s future—shutdown or takeover—uncertain.
Ashes of Creation, the long-in-development MMORPG from Intrepid Studios, imploded yesterday (Feb. 1) as the company’s CEO, Steven Sharif, announced that he had lost control of the game. Many players suspected it was a “pump and dump” scheme, and public response has largely doubled down on this with claims that Sharif is trying to disappear with players’ money.
Ashes of Creation was first announced in 2016, and was the focus of an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign that ended in October 2017 having raised $3,271,809 through 19,576 backers. Intrepid Studios then continued to accept funding for the game through Pre-Order packs (that cost up to $375), cosmetics sold through the official site (up to $25) and at the moment, Early Access for $49.99.
Sharif announced Ashes of Creation’s apparent closing via the official Discord channel in a confusing post, the original of which has since been removed: “Control of the company shifted away from me, and the Board began directing actions that I could not ethically agree with or carry out. As a result, I chose to resign in protest rather than lend my name or authority to decisions I could not ethically support. Following my resignation, much of the senior leadership team resigned.”
“Following those departures, the Board made the decision to issue WARN Act notices and proceed with a mass layoff,” he added. “I cannot responsibly speak to further details at this time due to ongoing legal and governance matters. What I can say is that the developers and staff acted in good faith and deserved better than the uncertainty they are now facing. I am incredibly dismayed by the situation.”
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No Factions, Only Chaos
When Ashes of Creation was announced, it was with multiple grand statements including how everything in the game would be created by the players: cities, the economy, everything. Intrepid Studios also promised there wouldn’t be set factions, which appears to have come true as everything around the game is now in chaos.
Following Sharif’s post, the Discord has fallen into complete disarray with gamers (some players, some just there to rubberneck) calling Sharif’s actions into question. Other social media channels have also exploded with multiple reports that this should have been seen coming a mile away, given Sharif’s background.
In an interview with Massively Overpowered back in 2017, Sharif was asked about concerns even then. He explained that he got a lot of his wealth when he was 18, as he “was recruited to join an MLM [multi-level marketing aka pyramid scheme] company called XanGo. XanGo sold nutritional products, a fruit juice and vitamins. I started a website store to sell these products to customers, and my website was very successful.”
What he didn’t say in the interview was that XanGo had got in trouble with the FDA for claiming its products had (among other things) anti-cancer and anti-depressant properties. Even though he just worked for the company, not ran it, many people saw this issue as a way to sow a seed of doubt as to Sharif’s honesty.
Sharif hasn’t helped himself, however, by stating multiple times that “the project is being funded by myself,” which doesn’t exactly track with the various avenues of income he’d set up, including the Kickstarter. He also released Ashes of Creation: Apocalypse in 2019, which was a free-to-play, standalone battle royale that was abandoned a few months later.
Answer to the Board
Part of the chaos and confusion relates to how Sharif was always loudly adamant that, as a passion project, there’d never be a board to answer to. This calls his statement, where he shifts blame onto a mysterious “Board,” into question. Many gamers believe Sharif is trying to take the money and run, and an easy way to deflect blame is to, of course, lay it all on someone higher up.
It’s important to note that, with everything around Ashes of Creation currently in flames, people will need to wait until the fire dies down before they can shift through the, well, ashes. A common (and reasonable) belief, certainly on the game’s Reddit, is that Sharif realised his grand idea for the game was being subsumed by feature creep, leading to him making a debt-to-equity arrangement.
In short, Sharif had a board of directors to answer to, but not in a traditional sense. Once it became apparent to his backers that he really was in over his head in terms of delivering on his promises for Ashes of Creation, they stepped in to restructure any related assets (game developers included) so as to cover debts Sharif had accrued.
Gamers have also noted that Sharif must have known he was the captain of a sinking ship, as he sold his house to his husband in November 2025 and moved Ashes of Creation to Steam Early Access at the start of December 2025. The former action is being cited as a way Sharif protected this property since it couldn’t be taken off him by the “Board” calling in debts, and the latter has drawn attention as a last ditch cash grab: Steam pays out to studios at the end of every month, meaning he may have left Intrepid Studios with Early Access money in his pocket.
Next Steps
Players are currently banding together to petition Steam to offer refunds, given the unusual nature of Intrepid Studios’ apparent demise. Others are using Ashes of Creation as simply the latest example of why paying money for an Early Access release is a fool’s errand.
Others still are pointing to the original Kickstarter promise of “in the case that Ashes of Creation does NOT launch, we promise to refund all backers in full.” As the game has only been on Steam for less than two months, this is also seen as a way for Sharif to deny culpability (since it could be argued that the game was launched into Early Access).
Perhaps most importantly, there hasn’t been any conclusive statement that the game is being shut down. Right now, it’s been abandoned by Sharif and – from the sounds of it – no longer has a full dev team behind it. It could either get shuttered completely or handed over to another studio to knock into shape, which is feasible given that Ashes of Creation is at least in a playable state. Noted YouTuber Kira has also alleged that the latter option is likely.
It looks like it all depends on what its new owners decide is best to do for their own finances. Intrepid Studios was previously registered in California, and a current search on the government’s site for liens (a legal claim or “hold” placed on a property or asset by a creditor to secure payment of a debt) shows that an individual known as Karen Boreyko now has control of the company. It’s also possible to see just how many debtors the studio has had, adding further credence to the debt-to-equity theory.
One final wrinkle in all of this is Boreyko’s history. She was a co-founder of Vemma, a company that sold dietary supplements and was shut down a few years ago. The FTC found it guilty of deceptive marketing as it operated as an MLM scheme and didn’t make it clear to affiliates that they wouldn’t make anywhere near the amount of money it promised. Vemma paid out $2.2 million as a result. What someone with this background has planned for an unfinished MMORPG is currently anyone’s guess.
