Ashes Of Creation Players Are Starting To Refund The Game En-Masse On Steam

Ashes of Creation is the next in a long line of crowdfunded MMOs which have failed to live up to expectations and folded soon after.

If you’ve not been following this puzzling saga, here’s a quick summary. Ashes of Creation was the most successful MMO crowdfunding campaign ever, raising $3.3 million for developer Intrepid Studios in 2017. Fast-forward eight years, and Intrepid Studios has announced mass layoffs. The studio founder, Steven Sharif, resigned from the company while claiming the board of directors seized control of the company and asked him to carry out unethical orders.

It’s strange because, for years, Sharif claimed Intrepid had no investors or executives that it was beholden to, because of the money gained from the Ashes of Creation crowdfunding. Then, Sharif is suddenly ousted by a board that has never been mentioned before. The listing for the company in state records lists only two members of the board, Sharif and his husband, John Moore. These records aren’t always detailed, but the alleged existence of a new board of directors that excludes Sharif has raised a few questions.

Users Are Refunding Ashes Of Creation En-Masse

One of the terms of the Ashes of Creation crowdfunding project was that backers would receive refunds if the game didn’t release. This is likely why Ashes of Creation was released (in early access) in an unfinished state in December. While the game’s backers have been burned, some players who picked the game up on Steam have managed to get refunds from the platform.

Steam’s automatic refund system won’t work for Ashes of Creation if the player has over two hours in the game, but if you can get in contact with a human at Valve, then you may be in luck.

Users on Reddit have reported success by choosing the ‘I have a question about the purchase’ prompt on Steam, rather than gambling with any of the options that are processed automatically.

Intrepid Studios, whoever the studio now consists of, has announced an update stream to clarify the future of Ashes of Creation. Regardless of what’s announced during that stream, MMO fans are no stranger to slow deaths, and many would rather try to recoup their investment now rather than watch a half-baked MMO wither slowly with a skeleton crew at the helm.

Ashes of Creation

Systems

Released

December 11, 2025

Developer(s)

Intrepid Studios

Publisher(s)

Intrepid Studios

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op

Number of Players

Single-player

Steam Deck Compatibility

Unknown

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