Ashes of Creation in Crisis: Unpaid Devs, Player Refunds, and the Uncertain Future of a Kickstarter MMO

In 2017, Ashes of Creation emerged as a beacon of ambition for the MMORPG genre. Promising a player-driven world with revolutionary node-based city development and a dynamic, reactive ecosystem, it captured the imagination of tens of thousands, becoming one of Kickstarter’s most-funded MMOs. Nearly a decade later, that beacon has been violently extinguished. All signs point to catastrophic failure, with the project's collapse marked not by a quiet fade-out but by a chaotic implosion involving mass layoffs, denied final paychecks, a vanished Steam store page, and a community scrambling for refunds. The human cost and consumer fallout present a multi-faceted crisis, forcing the gaming community to ask a painful question: Is this the definitive end for a once highly anticipated game?

The Internal Implosion: Layoffs, Unpaid Wages, and Leadership Exodus

The foundation of Ashes of Creation’s crisis is a profound internal breakdown. The scale was formally confirmed by a WARN Act notification filed on January 31, 2026, which detailed layoffs affecting 210 employees, with 123 of those based in California. This represented a gutting of the development team at Intrepid Studios.

However, the tragedy deepened with reports of severe compensation failures. Former director of communications, Margaret Krohn, stated that affected employees were denied their final paychecks for January, the legally mandated 60-day WARN Act notice pay, and owed PTO payouts. This left a significant portion of the workforce not only jobless but financially stranded, a stark violation of trust and labor law that underscores the studio’s operational collapse.

Simultaneously, a leadership vacuum opened. In late January 2026, the game’s visionary founder, Creative Director, and CEO, Steven Sharif, resigned "in protest." In a statement that reverberated through the community, Sharif claimed the studio's management board had asked him to do things he "could not ethically support," pointing to deep internal conflict at the highest level. His departure triggered a domino effect, with much of the senior development team also reportedly resigning. The project lost its creative helm and experienced leadership in one fell swoop, leaving it adrift.

From Early Access Launch to Steam Delisting: A Rapid Unraveling

The timeline of Ashes of Creation’s public demise is breathtakingly short. The game launched into $50 Early Access on Steam on December 11, 2025, a move intended to begin generating revenue and community feedback. Instead, it appears to have been a last-ditch effort that accelerated the downfall.

Within weeks, Valve took drastic action, removing the "Buy" button from the game’s Steam store page—an effective delisting. This rare step by the platform is typically reserved for titles with severe legal, technical, or business issues, signaling a loss of confidence in the product’s viability or the developer’s ability to support it.

This swift unraveling stands in bitter contrast to the project’s origins. Its 2017 Kickstarter campaign was a resounding success, with 19,576 backers pledging $3,271,809 to bring its ambitious vision to life. The recent collapse renders that early faith and investment a painful memory. Adding insult to injury, amid the reported layoffs and payment issues, the game’s official website was reportedly still accepting payments for cosmetics, a surreal detail that highlighted a disconnect between corporate operations and on-the-ground reality.

The Player Fallout: Navigating the Refund Maze

The direct consequence of this internal and commercial unraveling was immediate panic and financial loss for the player base. For those who purchased the Early Access title on Steam, the crisis translated into a scramble for recourse. Widespread reports emerged of disgruntled players seeking refunds from Valve, navigating an inconsistent and stressful process.

Steam’s standard refund policy is clear: games are eligible within 14 days of purchase and with less than two hours of playtime. Ashes of Creation’s situation, however, falls into a gray area. The game’s effective abandonment and delisting constitute extenuating circumstances. Some players have reported success in obtaining refunds even with playtime exceeding two hours by contacting Steam Support directly. The recommended method has been to select "I have a question about this product" and request a manual review, explaining the developer’s collapse and the game’s removal from sale.

For the nearly 20,000 Kickstarter backers, the situation is far grimmer. Crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter explicitly frame pledges as investments in a project’s development, not pre-orders. The inherent risk is that projects can fail. As such, refunds for backers are considered highly unlikely, a hard lesson in the speculative nature of supporting unreleased games.

Radio Silence and a Ghosted Roadmap: What Happens Next?

Perhaps the most telling indicator of Ashes of Creation’s dire state is the deafening silence from its corporate leadership. As of this reporting, there has been no official statement from Intrepid Studios management addressing the reported layoffs, unpaid wages, or the game’s future. This communication vacuum has left employees, players, and backers in limbo.

The only semi-official word came from Steven Sharif himself, who posted on Discord on February 4, 2026. He acknowledged the "heartbreaking" situation but stated that setting the record straight would require time for proper public filings, deferring a full explanation. This leaves the community with conflicting signals and no authoritative source of truth.

The situation borders on the surreal when examining the studio’s planned communications. The game’s website had, until recently, scheduled a developer diary livestream for February 13, 2026. Given the reported departure of the senior team and mass layoffs, it is utterly unclear who would host such a stream or what it could possibly announce, making it appear as a ghost schedule haunting a dead roadmap.

The overwhelming uncertainty now is not about if the game will receive its next major update, but if any development is continuing at all. The viability of Ashes of Creation as a live, evolving MMO is in serious, likely fatal, doubt.

The story of Ashes of Creation is no longer one of potential, but of systemic failure. It connects the unethical treatment of developers—denied their final paychecks as the ship sank—to the abandonment of players left with a delisted product. It is a story of leadership that fractured under pressure, leaving a communication void filled only with confusion and despair. For the broader gaming community, it serves as a sobering case study in the compounded risks of crowdfunding followed by a premium Early Access launch—a one-two punch that leveraged community trust twice before the collapse, magnifying the human and financial wreckage. The legacy of Ashes of Creation is now tragically cemented not by its revolutionary gameplay promises, but by the wreckage of its implosion. The game’s future appears to be not one of development, but of becoming a definitive cautionary tale in the annals of video game history.

Tags: Ashes of Creation, Intrepid Studios, Game Development Crisis, Steam Refunds, Kickstarter