Highly anticipated indie MMO Ashes of Creation warns that all staff will be laid off and studio doors will shutter. This news broke less than 12 hours from this writing, so information will be messy as more details emerge, but one thing we know for sure is that Intrepid Studios is closing down.
Steven Sharif – Creative Director of Intrepid Studios, has put out a limited statement on this sudden news via the Ashes of Creation Discord: ‘Control of the company shifted away from me and the board began directing actions that I could not ethically agree with or carry out… I chose to resign in protest rather than lend my name or authority to decisions I could not ethically support… much of the senior leadership team resigned… The Board made the decision to issue WARN Act notices and proceed with a mass layoff‘
Now for those who have been following Ashes of Creation, the information about a potential board (presumed board of directors) comes as a surprise; many players had assumed that Steven owned a majority stake in the studio and thus complete control for the near decade of development time that Ashes has seen. Initial funding of the game came from Steven’s entrepreneurship and the subsequent Kickstarter, which has, as of last update (October 2017), raised just under $3.3 million.
While the fate of the game seems sealed, and Intrepid Studios is not making a statement about selling the IP, the fate of the funds both Kickstarter and Steam have generated is up in the air. According to Kickstarter, if the product fails to launch, backers (all 19,576 of them) will receive a refund in full. Steam, which platformed one of the first public tests of the MMO, could potentially see players seeking refunds, and given the public news of the studio shuttering, they might oblige, but there’s no word on that as of right now.
Needless to say, this news has caused a bit of an uproar in MMO communities, dominating the first page results over on their Reddit, and fans on social media are understandably upset about the closure. While some users are fueling the fire of drama, most are expressing condolences for the staff at Intrepid Studios suddenly finding themselves out of a job.
Regardless of personal opinions of the game itself, it is always saddening to see a project fail and a studio close, and we hope that the team can find steady footing in this uncertain time. As news develops, this story may see updates; until then, pour one out for those developers.
