The saga of Ashes of Creation, a fantasy MMO with a successful Kickstarter campaign that's no longer available, continues. Accusations of misappropriated funds and general mismanagement have been shot down by the founder of Intrepid Studios, the studio behind the project, Steven Sharif.
This chapter starts with YouTuber NefasQS, who claims to have acquired all of the accounting of Intrepid Studios between 2015 and 2026. This comes on back of mass layoffs within the company in February, leading to finger-pointing at Sharif of millions intended for the game being spent elsewhere.
Per the numbers gleaned by NefasQS, a swath of considerable personal expenses have been made using dollars meant for Ashes of Creation, ranging from hobbyist trading card sites to cigars, antiques, and a private chef.
According to a spreadsheet of these findings that's now available publicly, the cigars were over $420, the chef cost a nice round $21,000, and $25967.75 was spent on antiquities of some variety or another. Not exactly spare change you can easily write off as part of company expenses.
Sharif has since put out a statement denying all wrongdoing. "NefasQS has been fed false and defamatory information by individuals with an axe to grind, in an effort to litigate this dispute in the public domain alongside our lawsuit already pending in federal court," Sharif says. "Rather than verify those claims, he has chosen to repeat them, acting as a mouthpiece to advance a narrative that drives clicks and views, with disregard for basic journalistic standards."
He makes the following direct challenges to the evidence provided. "There was no misappropriation of Kickstarter funds whatsoever," the statement reads, per PCGamer. "The project has been funded over many years through a combination of sources, including substantial personal capital. Assertions regarding 'lavish lifestyle' or personal misuse of company funds are categorically false."
Sharif ends by saying this is all being taken up as part of an ongoing "legal process." Expect more dirty laundry in the coming weeks.
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