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Nine years on from a $3.2 million Kickstarter campaign and in the middle of a lengthy ongoing alpha, the writing looks to be on the wall for Ashes of Creation. The ambitious MMORPG appears to be in turmoil amid reports of mass layoffs, and a message from director Steven Sharif states he has resigned “in protest” of decisions made by the Intrepid Studios board. Alongside this, several former developers confirm via LinkedIn that they are no longer with the company, with departed director of communications Margaret Krohn writing that the team “was all laid off.”
There had been a tense feeling among the Ashes of Creation community in the past few weeks. The project, which began life with a combination of funding through its Kickstarter and personal investment from Sharif himself, made a surprise leap to Steam Early Access in December, despite being in the middle of a years-long alpha with a big roadmap ahead of it. More recently, players have been wondering why the typically chatty Sharif wasn’t appearing in the game’s Discord nearly as often as he usually did. Then on Thursday January 29, we got a mysterious “director’s letter.”
Rather than being signed by Sharif, this message came simply from “the Ashes of Creation team,” and it acknowledged the public frustrations. However, while much of the community desire was just for a reassurance of the game’s future, it instead addressed topics like RMT, bots, cheating, and bugs – all valid issues, but not what was at the forefront of players’ minds. The post also included dramatic-sounding sentences such as, “Foundations must sometimes be reworked, so what comes next can stand strong.”
Things came to a head in the late hours of Saturday January 31 with a LinkedIn post from Krohn, Intrepid’s long-standing director of communications. She confirms that her time with the studio “has officially ended,” and follows that up with a statement to the community. “You are some of the most passionate, dedicated players I’ve ever seen in this industry. I genuinely wish I could have done more for you. I gave everything I had, and did my very best with what was within my power.
“And I ask one last favor of you,” Krohn continues. “Please be kind to the developers, we are people who have families who have just lost our jobs after pouring our hearts and souls into Ashes of Creation.” In response to a question asking if the game is canceled, she writes, “I don’t work there anymore, so I can’t answer that for you. Personally, I don’t know how they would make it when the heart and soul of the product, the amazing dev team, was all laid off.”
Not long after this, Sharif shared a short post to the game’s Discord, seemingly confirming the reported layoffs. “I can make a limited statement in my personal capacity and not on behalf of the company, regarding the situation.” He claims that “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,” Sharif claims. “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.
“I cannot responsibly speak to further details at this time due to ongoing legal and governance matters,” Sharif writes. “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.”
In a post looking for new work, senior environment artist Adam Anthony refers to the situation as “the closing of Intrepid Studios.” Among the others who have confirmed their departure from Intrepid are QA engineer Keith McAvoy, senior character artist Jessica Jennings, and animator Brad Constantine. Many more, including design director Bill Trost, have marked their LinkedIn image with the ‘open to work’ hashtag.
“As for how this all ended… I don’t really have the words,” Krohn concludes. “It wasn’t what I expected. But I’m holding onto the good because there was so much of it.” As someone who’s watched the project grow from a distance over many years, I’ve always hoped it would eventually reach its goals. Ashes of Creation was stratospherically ambitious from the get-go, but you could see the enthusiasm of the team making it, and a community that was fully invested in its gradual growth.
At the time of writing, Ashes of Creation is still available on Steam in Early Access, and a ‘development update livestream’ is currently scheduled for Friday February 13. I have reached out to Intrepid Studios for comment, and will update this story with any statement we receive in response.
