Steam is giving some players refunds for Ashes of Creation, which had the biggest MMO Kickstarter campaign ever, after leadership resignation and mass layoffs
15.4k
Jordan Gerblick
2026-02-05
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands
Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands
Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
The future of the Kickstarter-funded MMO Ashes of Creation looks unclear at best and dire at worst, and if you're among the masses who bought the game on Steam and feel you aren't getting your money's worth, you might have success simply asking for a refund.
For some context, Ashes of Creation was the most successful MMO Kickstarter campaign ever, with the fundraiser launching in 2017 and raising almost $3.3 million. The game itself finally launched into Steam Early Access in December, and only a few weeks later its success would crumble into ashes (sorry) with the abrupt resignation of top leadership and mass layoffs.
Intrepid Studios founder and Ashes of Creation director Steven Sharif, who was the first to leave the company, said he resigned in protest after the Board seized control of the studio and started asking him to carry out unethical orders. After that, "much of the senior leadership team resigned" and Intrepid started notifying remaining staff of impending mass layoffs, according to Sharif.
MMO Ashes of Creation hit with "mass" layoffs after studio founder resigns "in protest"
Garry's Mod and Rust studio lead says "games should never die" as Amazon MMO New World prepares to shut down
Disastrous Arknights Endfield launch charges players random amounts for purchases, but refunds are already going out
Intrepid recently announced a developer update stream where it'll answer questions about the whole situation, but it's safe to say players are rightfully concerned. Former Intrepid communications manager Margaret Krohn announced her departure on LinkedIn and said she doesn't know how the game will continue "when the heart and soul of the product, the amazing dev team, was all laid off."
There are a bunch of useful Reddit threads from people who successfully received refunds for Ashes of Creation even with dozens of hours of playtime. Here are just a few I've found, some of them with language you can copy and paste into your own help request if you want to try that:
W Steam! Refund accepted from r/AshesofCreation
How to get a Steam refund on Ashes of Creation when you played more than 2 hours and after 2 weeks. from r/AshesofCreation
Steam accepted my refund request! from r/AshesofCreation
Steam accepted my refund request! from r/AshesofCreation
The lies of the false prophet have come to light. All hail our one TRUE lord and saviour: Lord Gaben from r/AshesofCreation
Steam's official policy is to automatically deny refunds for games played more than two hours or owned for more than two weeks, but it'll occasionally make exceptions in cases like Ashes of Creation. There's still no guarantee your request will be approved, but it's definitely worth a shot using the above information as guidance.
"My goal on PC isn't to topple Steam": Epic Games Store boss says beating Valve isn't the plan – just getting "enough market share on PC that you have to be here no matter what"
whyTho
Feb 05, 02:11 PM
🙌 you feel me? Nice and simple. ?Honestly...
blueberry.tea
Feb 05, 11:21 AM
~[Deleted] Up to you.
rustyGear
Feb 05, 10:31 AM
_Not worth buying. Boring characters. cool beans
Luna_88
Feb 05, 09:31 AM
totally Without going into details... did you buy it? kind of short. ⭐
Feb 05, 08:41 AM
i regret buying this.
Recent Articles