Ashes of Creation co-founder Steven Sharif resigns as Intrepid begins mass layoffs

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Ashes of Creation is facing major uncertainty after Intrepid Studios co-founder and creative director Steven Sharif said he resigned “in protest,” citing ethical disagreements with decisions made by the studio’s Board of Directors. Sharif’s statement, shared on the game’s official Discord, also claims that “much of the senior leadership team” resigned after he stepped down.

Sharif said control of the company “shifted away” from him, and that he chose to resign rather than “lend my name or authority” to actions he couldn’t ethically support. In the same message, he said the Board then decided to issue WARN Act notices and proceed with a mass layoff, adding that he can’t share more due to “ongoing legal and governance matters.” The message is viewable via Discord.

 A screenshot of a discord post by Steven, the founder of Intrepid Studios, confirms the mass layoffs:

Steven also provided the following comment about the reason behind his resignation:

The current wave of speculation comes from a Reddit thread discussing the situation, along with a LinkedIn message attributed to Margaret Krohn, who says her time at Intrepid Studios has “officially ended” and asks the community to “be kind to the developers,” adding that people with families “have just lost our jobs after pouring our hearts and souls into Ashes of Creation.” The Reddit discussion is available via the thread on r/MMORPG.

Ashes of Creation was one of the most well known of the Crowdfunded MMORPGs. The game’s Steam launch on December 11, 2025 was seen by some as a last ditch effort to raise funds, but despite its flaws the game did manage to hit 31,882 peak concurrent players and even today hit a peak of 14,795 players.

UPDATE - Are Intrepid Studios And Ashes of Creation Being Sold?

An additional claim surfaced from content creator Theory Forge, who said on stream that a WARN Act letter was being sent to staff and would take effect on February 2, 2026, with language suggesting the company may not be able to meet payroll. That letter has not been independently confirmed in the source, and Intrepid has not publicly verified it.

For now, what this means for Ashes of Creation itself, including its Early Access build and the project’s long-term future, remains unclear.