CEO Behind Kickstarter MMO That Ran Out Of Money Breaks His Silence And Claims First Legal Victory

You’ve likely heard a lot of stories about the collapse of Ashes of Creation, the Kickstarter-funded MMORPG that was removed from the Steam storefront on February 2. Now Steven Sharif, former CEO of Ashes developer Intrepid Studios, has issued a lengthy statement on Ashes of Creation’s Discord server, following his “first legal victory” over Intrepid’s Board of Directors.

Ashes of Creation’s collapse was accompanied by an assortment of eyebrow-raising events and assertions: Over a hundred developers laid off without being paid their final month of wages, an allegation from an investor accusing Intrepid’s CEO of financial fraud, and the multiple lawsuits accusing Intrepid Studios of violating the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification act.

What we didn’t know is what Intrepid’s former CEO thinks of all this. That’s because he’s intentionally chosen to remain silent. This isn’t because Sharif “had nothing to say,” but rather because he decided that the place to defend his former colleagues “would be in court, where the facts matter and where evidence would determine the outcome.”

This all comes from a statement Steven Sharif posted on the Ashes of Creation Discord server last night, in which he detailed his recent legal victory against “Intrepid’s Board of Directors, led by Chair Rob Dawson, and their affiliated entity, TFE Games Holdings LLC,” in a lawsuit claimed on behalf of Intrepid Studios’ shareholders.

“I brought claims for breaches of fiduciary duty, violations of federal and state trade secret laws, and wrongful efforts to seize company assets, including its valuable IP, through an unlawful and manufactured insider foreclosure,” reads Sharif’s statement. “My lawsuit is the result of Rob Dawson and his agents trying to dismantle the company I founded and built alongside our community, repurpose Ashes of Creation as a vehicle for their own enrichment, and shift responsibility for Intrepid’s collapse onto me through an orchestrated public campaign.”

Sharif also shared the order granted by Judge Lopez in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, which details the TRO (temporary restraining order) issued against Intrepid Studios’ Board of Directors and TFE Games Holdings LLC on March 4. The TRO forbids the defendants from “accessing, using, selling, distributing, or causing anyone to access, use, sell, or distribute the trade secrets of Intrepid,” which includes Ashes of Creation’s source code. A preliminary injunction hearing has been scheduled for March 18, and the TFO will remain in effect until that date.

“What happens next will ultimately be decided in court,” Sharif explained. “But I will not allow the work of hundreds of developers and the belief of millions of players to be erased by a small group of individuals who attempted to take control of something they did not create. As we started to see in San Diego federal court yesterday, those responsible will face real accountability.”