"Ashes of Creation is living up to its name. The fantasy MMORPG came to Steam in Early Access on December 11. Less than eight weeks later, its future is in complete limbo amid staff resignations and reported layoffs. The Intrepid Studios-made open-world game raised over $3.2 million on Kickstarter back in 2017. Now its director claims that board control of the company has been stolen away from him and that those who seized it are trying to do unethical things."
"I can make a limited statement in my personal capacity and not on behalf of the company, regarding the situation," director Steven Sharif wrote on Discord on January 31 (via ). "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."
""I gave everything I had, and did my very best with what was within my power." they wrote. "And I ask one last favor of you, 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." The message continued, "As for how this all ended...I don't really have the words. It wasn't what I expected. But I'm holding onto the good because there was so much of it."
Ashes of Creation launched on Steam Early Access on December 11 and entered crisis less than eight weeks later. The game's director, Steven Sharif, says control of Intrepid Studios shifted away from him and that the board directed actions he could not ethically support, prompting his resignation. Multiple senior staff reportedly resigned alongside him and the studio is reportedly moving forward with mass layoffs. Intrepid is based in San Diego, where layoff notices are required, but state records show no updates yet. A former communications director asked for kindness toward affected developers after leaving the company.
Read at Kotaku
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