Quick Read
- Steven Sharif, co-founder and creative director of Intrepid Studios, resigned on February 1, 2026, citing ethical disagreements with the Board of Directors.
- His resignation was followed by the departure of much of the senior leadership team.
- Intrepid Studios issued WARN Act notices, signaling mass layoffs affecting potentially over 200 developers.
- Reports suggest the WARN Act notices indicate the studio may close by February 2, 2026.
- The future of the crowdfunded MMORPG Ashes of Creation is now highly uncertain, raising concerns among backers.
LOS ANGELES (Azat TV) – The future of the highly anticipated massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Ashes of Creation has been thrown into severe doubt following the abrupt resignation of its creative director and co-founder, Steven Sharif, on February 1, 2026. Sharif stated his departure from Intrepid Studios was “in protest” of board decisions he found ethically irreconcilable, a move that has since triggered mass layoffs and the potential imminent closure of the development studio, leaving the game’s dedicated community and crowdfunding backers deeply concerned.
The Resignation and Ethical Stance
Steven Sharif publicly announced his resignation from Intrepid Studios, the developer behind Ashes of Creation, via the game’s official Discord server. In a statement, Sharif explained that “control of the company shifted away” from him, and the Board of Directors began “directing actions that I could not ethically agree with or carry out.” He emphasized that his decision to resign was “in protest” rather than lend his “name or authority to decisions I could not ethically support.” This internal conflict at the highest levels of Intrepid Studios quickly escalated, with Sharif noting that “much of the senior leadership team” also resigned in solidarity after his departure. Communications Director Margaret Krohn later confirmed these leadership exits through a post on LinkedIn, further corroborating the significant internal upheaval.
Mass Layoffs Signal Studio’s Potential Closure
The leadership exodus was swiftly followed by a decision from the Board to issue Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act notices, initiating mass layoffs across the company. While the exact number of affected employees was not immediately confirmed by official channels, reports circulating among the gaming community, including statements from Ashes of Creation content creator Theory Forge, suggest that these layoffs could impact more than 200 developers, effectively halting active game development. Theory Forge, who recently resigned as a content creator for the MMORPG, reportedly received and read a copy of a WARN Act notice on stream. This notice, slated to take effect on February 2, 2026, allegedly indicated that Intrepid Studios could not meet its recent payroll obligations, making it sound as though the studio was preparing to cease operations by the end of business on Monday, February 2, 2026, according to MMORPG.com. The WARN Act mandates that employers provide at least 60 days’ notice for large-scale layoffs, making the immediate effective date particularly alarming.
A Sudden Reversal for Intrepid Studios
This wave of resignations and mass layoffs marks a dramatic and rapid deterioration of circumstances at Intrepid Studios. Only weeks prior, on January 23, 2026, the studio had faced a smaller round of targeted layoffs affecting nine employees from a team of approximately 250. At that time, Steven Sharif had provided insights into these earlier adjustments via a Reddit post, reassuring fans that such decisions were necessary for “targeted team adjustments” and were “not indicative of the project’s overall health,” as reported by Filmogaz.com. This earlier statement stands in stark contrast to the current situation, where the scale of the layoffs and the departure of the founder suggest a fundamental crisis rather than routine operational adjustments.
The Troubled Journey of Ashes of Creation
Ashes of Creation, first announced in 2016, garnered significant attention and financial support, raising over $3.25 million through crowdfunding efforts in 2017. The ambitious MMORPG promised a dynamic, player-driven world where choices would have lasting impacts. The game saw a closed alpha launch in 2021 and subsequently transitioned from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, releasing a second alpha via Steam in 2025. Despite its promising premise and a dedicated community, the game has faced a challenging development cycle, common for large-scale MMORPGs. Recent reviews on Steam were described as “mostly mixed,” although overall, the game had accumulated over 13,000 reviews, with a majority being positive, according to NicheGamer. The sudden uncertainty now surrounding the studio’s future raises significant questions for the thousands of backers who invested in the game’s vision, particularly regarding the promise of refunds if the game fails to launch.
The sudden and comprehensive nature of these events—from the founder’s principled resignation to the immediate mass layoffs—indicates a profound and irreconcilable conflict within Intrepid Studios’ governance. This rapid escalation from targeted adjustments to a potential studio shutdown underscores the inherent volatility of independent game development, especially for projects as ambitious and resource-intensive as Ashes of Creation, leaving its future, and the investments of its community, in a state of precarious limbo.