Support NeoGAF

[Darchaos]

Apparently everyone on Intrepid Studios will get fired on 2026-02-02 and Ashes of Creation is in Limbo. This is a thread from the ashes of creation reddit where a pic of a goodbye notice from Margaret, Director of Communications for Intrepid Studios and is one of the 2 frontfigures together with Steven himself as i understand it



And Steven himself has apparently receded according to this clip: https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkxe9were941Nh9kWgsNFWy--c-_UgYeyRu

Post from Discord from Steven himself:

Its not many weeks ago that they put up Ashes Of Creation on steam in Early Access.

More to come i guess!

 

[falconhoof]

Oooh this is probably what KiraTV was hinting about last night on his video.

He said someone had reached out to him and said something big, though he didn't state what as he was hoping for others to step forward and confirm.

I always presumed Steven had control over the company. Be interesting to know who is on the board.

The end of another MMO I guess.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

I guess they were the ashes of their creation.

 

[Punished Miku]

Name was definitely on point

 

[Deus Mortis]

Extremely disappointed. Ranger looked fun and I have had the itch for a new mmo for ages now. I want something fresh that is not a mmo that is 10+ years old at this point. Sucks for everyone losing their job.

 

[Revolutionary]

I haven't been following this game at all but from my quick research, it seems to have a reputation similar to that of Star Citizen, where many (most?) people were convinced it was a scam. Well, it seems like they may have been right...

 

[adamsapple]

 

[TheChadOfGaming]

WoW will rule forever

 

[falconhoof]

Always felt like a project that was trying to do too much at once and putting big focus on complex end game stuff before nailing a core down.

From what I heard of the release was that it didn't have enough content added to reach the end game which meant people had to grind. That probably hurt them a lot.

 

[falconhoof]

I might be a big dumdum, so can someone help make logic of this?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I might be a big dumdum, so can someone help make logic of this?

Sounds to me the studio ran out of money and the ultimate decision was to shut it all down. Steve didnt want his name part of it making him look like one of the bad guys, so he left. The BoD laid off everyone anyway and now Steve can come back and say it wasnt his decision making him look good.

 

[UniformDeliverance]

Sad for them, but not surprised. Writing was on the wall from day one of the kickstarter, the concept simply doesn't appeal to broad audiences. And MMO development is notoriously difficult and expensive.

Props to them for actually shipping something though, more than most kickstarter MMO projects can claim.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Too bad there might be some people who dont know about them shutting down because the game is still being sold Early Access on Steam right now for $65 CAD.

 

[Ribi]

Lol

 

[falconhoof]

Sounds to me the studio ran out of money and the ultimate decision was to shut it all down. Steve didnt want his name part of it making him look like one of the bad guys, so he left. The BoD laid off everyone anyway and now Steve can come back and say it wasnt his decision making him look good.

That's the part I'm trying to understand. Unless I'm not reading the document right it looked like Steven was the board member. That's the legal filing for the company. Directors listed: Steven.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

That's the part I'm trying to understand. Unless I'm not reading the document right it looked like Steven was the board member. That's the legal filing for the company. Directors listed: Steven.

I'm not sure myself either. Do you have a full snippet of the entire document? Or which website you got it from?

 

[Arsic]

Game was destined for failure once everyone realized it was a scam game like star citizen but far less successful in the grift.

 

[An Corp]

WoW will rule forever

WoW legitimately altered the MMORPG landscape.

I was playing UO and EQ at the time and its release was absolutely detrimental to the player base of these older games (and every other MMO at that time I imagine). Guilds fell apart and loads of people eventually left to play WoW. At the time it was such a cultural phenomenon in gaming and to a small niche genre like the MMO.

WoW's always been the king and its failure will always be because of Blizzard, not any other MMO.

Ashes of Creation looked interesting, a shame decent MMO's struggle to ever launch.

 

[Tobimacoss]

MMORPGs are massively expensive and too risky now. Way too many F2P games not leaving enough of a potential userbase.

I guess they were the ashes of their creation.

Name was definitely on point

Lol

That's the part I'm trying to understand. Unless I'm not reading the document right it looked like Steven was the board member. That's the legal filing for the company. Directors listed: Steven.

Maybe he turns into several people at night. His split personalities fired everyone.

 

[Deerock71]

I was today years old when I learned of this games' existence.

 

[falconhoof]

I'm not sure myself either. Do you have a full snippet of the entire document? Or which website you got it from?

EDIT: Ok, it's an AI answer, but ChatGPT tells me that the board of directors do not need to be fully named on this document unless there are no officers listed. So there could be a private board pulling the strings.


Can find it here:

https://bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search/business

Entity number: 3788290

 

[Pokedot]

The game was on Kickstarter, so the guy is trying to avoid any lawsuits by saying it's out of his control and he did everything he could in good faith. If you've seen enough Kickstarter projects fail you can see the red flags.

 

[struggler_guts]

My best friend begged me to buy into this game way back like 2 years ago? So we've been following the news and the monthly livestreams and HOLY SHIT this is crazy!!!

Steven talked SOOO much big shit against all the haters and about how they aren't out of money and too bad if the game isn't for you they're making his perfect vision that ONLY HE HAS FINAL SAY ON, or atleast that's how he painted it.

Like I'm not a huge mmo player so I knew the game would never be "good" in my eyes but this is batshit levels of dumpster fire

 

[newtypepilot]

another scam on kickstarter

 

[Rentahamster]

But how will we benchmark unannounced CPUs now?

 

[falconhoof]

Interesting thought there



The game was clearly not ready for a Steam release, but because it did release it gives them right to say they launched the product and therefore fulfilled their promise.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Too bad there might be some people who dont know about them shutting down because the game is still being sold Early Access on Steam right now for $65 CAD.

Lol Valve really doesn't care do they.

 

[WX3]

My son and I were talking about trying this shit pile out a few weeks back, glad we decided not to.

 

[falconhoof]

 

[Durin]

Too bad, I had some hopes that maybe one of these crowd-funded MMOs could work, but the genre has always been so expensive with long production cycles to make all the content + ways to keep pumping out more regularly.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Not even worth risking 5,000 cents.

 

[Meicyn]

Interesting thought there



The game was clearly not ready for a Steam release, but because it did release it gives them right to say they launched the product and therefore fulfilled their promise.

Damn, that's... actually brilliant. And fucked.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Interesting thought there



The game was clearly not ready for a Steam release, but because it did release it gives them right to say they launched the product and therefore fulfilled their promise.

LOL. Gotcha gamers. No wonder they dumped it on Steam in December. And an Early Access launch probably counts as a launch even if it's not the final release version.

Never fund any KS of GoFundMe trash. Let the guinia pigs fund it and wait for the final release.

You wouldnt trust a flea market guy with $50 for years to find a product would you? Of course not. Dont do it with KS stuff.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

WoW will rule forever

Yep no MMORPG is ever beating WoW ever.

 

[nikos]

Sucks. Been waiting for this game since around 2018 and have been periodically checking on it.

 

[Shubh_C63]

Yep no MMORPG is ever beating WoW ever.

MMOs are bringing bold ideas with no meat whatsoever. I thought PAX DEI also might become niche but successfull but no. Its probably gonna die soon also.

 

[Darchaos]

Ive always followed the games progress during the years, not everything but to know what happens.

Never pushed the "buy button" though, to see it end like this is sad but not totaly suprising. The Early acces listing on steam a couple of weeks ago just feels as a desperate attempt for a last paycheck in hindsight.