This MMO’s Collapse Should Be a Lesson for the Industry

The current state of gaming is a tumultuous one, where surprise successes can be offset by industry woes and larger failures. Some of gaming’s biggest companies have been cutting back drastically, whether that be shuttering popular titles or firing large portions of their staff. While there are still some big success stories in gaming, they are often being overshadowed by the biggest challenges faced by developers.

Take, for example, the drastic collapse of Ashes of Creation. After several years in development, the highly anticipated MMORPG finally hit public Early Access in December of 2025. Less than 60 days later, the game has been pulled from Steam, the company behind it is in turmoil, and the larger player base is irate. Here’s everything we know about how Ashes of Creation fell apart and what lessons it could teach the larger gaming industry.

The Collapse Of Ashes Of Creation, Explained

After raising over $3.2 million on Kickstarter in 2017, Ashes of Creation could have been seen as a success story in the gaming world — but now it serves as a stark warning to other developers and publishers. Intended as a factions-centric fantasy MMORPG that eschewed typical in-game monetary transactions, gamers helped bolster Ashes of Creation‘s production budget with one of the largest turnouts for an MMORPG in the website’s history. After several years in development and backer-only alpha builds, the game was finally launched as an Early Access title on Steam in December 2025 for $50. Despite updates from developer Intrepid Studios, seemingly laying the groundwork for upcoming patches and changes, the company was collapsing behind the scenes.

Game Director Seven Sharif has been very vocal about the challenges, resigning from his post at the end of January and explaining in a statement that “Control of the company shifted away from me, and the Board began directing actions that I could not ethically agree with or carry out. As a result, I chose to resign in protest rather than lend my name or authority to decisions I could not ethically support.” Other members of the senior staff also resigned, suggesting there was a real cause for alarm behind the scenes.

Those fears came to fruition when Intrepid Studios laid off over a hundred workers with little warning. On Feburary 3, Karen L. Boreyko — whose exact position in Intrepid Studios is unknown at the time of writing but who had previously been the co-founder of Vemma, a wellness company shut down in 2015 by the FTC for being a unethical practices — took to Discord to announce that “Intrepid Studios is moving forward with a renewed long-term vision for the game, including continued development in China and a transition to a subscription-based model supported by optional daily battle passes, a new in-game gold shop, and expanded skill point progression systems.”

The thing is, there might not be an Ashes of Creation left for all those elements to be implemented. At the time of writing, the game has been removed from Valve’s storefront, the game has been review bombed, and many backers are demanding refunds. Intrepid Studios’ head of marketing Margaret Krohn has expressed sympathy with players frustrated by the situation, telling them, “You should pursue a refund, you deserve it.” Although some Steam users have found luck with getting refunds for their $50, players who invested in the Kickstarter are less likely to get their money back due to the nature of crowdfunding. Even the developers who were laid off don’t seem to be getting their dues, as the former employees of Intrepid Studios have reportedly not received their final paychecks or been given their contractually obligated 60-day notice before being let go.

What The Gaming Industry Needs To Learn From Ashes Of Creation

As it stands now, Ashes of Creation is technically still in Early Access, with a February 13 development update stream to address the future of the title despite the apparent closure of Intrepid Studios. However, it may be too late for the game. In an industry where a failed game can become a broader insult — such as gamers directly referencing Sony’s failed hero shooter Concord to call other upcoming titles dead on arrival — it seems like Ashes of Creation could become an enduring story about the challenges of game development and the problems that can arise when profit-driven investors clash with overly ambitious developers.

While the full story behind the game’s collapse is still unknown, the comments from Boreyko suggesting that the game will incorporate more money-making features speak to the profits-driven approach many companies take to game releases. This approach has seen a rise in tactics that draw the ire of players and governments alike and only further enflame the gamer community. Going forward, it’ll be hard to redeem Ashes of Creation‘s reputation with players, which is crucial for any massive title in the MMO space to flourish. Approaching entertainment from a strictly money-making perspective isn’t a good way to endear your title to players.

On the other side of the equation, the ambitious project may have captured attention in 2017, but it’s already 2026, and the game has only just become available in an Early Alpha release. All the great ideas and lofty goals for a game don’t mean much in the current environment if there’s not a product to sell, which might have prompted the board of the company to take control of the project. Their subsequent actions haven’t done them any favors publicly, but the lengthy development cycle amid the collapse of other MMOs like New World speaks to the challenges it was going to face in justifying the lengthy development time and costly budget. Managing expectations and amitious are crucial, especially when lenghty development cycles can make turning a profit next to impossible.

No matter what, the biggest blow will be felt by the developers who invested their time into the project and the players who backed the game. Both clearly wanted to see the game succeed, but this industry needs more than just passion to turn an idea into an actual success. The biggest lessons seem to be in developers learning not to over-promise. Ashes of Creation was clearly a passion project for Shariff, who also founded Intrepid Games. However, the game’s lofty goals proved to be too high to achieve on a moderate budget. All the passion in the world can’t make a game appear out of nowhere. Similarly, the board’s swift decisions have resulted in disgruntled workers and a furious fanbase, making it even less likely that a reworked game could connect with the intended audience.