Is MMORPG 'Ashes of Creation' getting cancelled? Future uncertain after mass layoffs, studio head resignation

The developer of the highly anticipated MMORPG game Ashes of Creation, Interpid studios announced that it is laying off employees from its 250-member team.

Studio head Steven Sharif took to Reddit to address the layoffs and his own resignation. In the post, he said that he “chose to resign in protest rather than lend my name or authority to decisions I could not ethically supprit” he also said that much of the senior leadership resigned following his resignation.

The board of the company then reportedly proceeded with a mass layoff.

Sharif said that he was “incredibly dismayed at the situation” and that the “developers and staff, who acted in good faith, deserved better than the uncertainty they are now facing.”

Ashes of Creation was an upcoming sandbox massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG, which allows for a large number of online players and interaction.

The games gained recognition and support with a Kickstarter campaign, a crowdfunding platform. The game had been in development for 10 years since the funding campaign was launched 2017.

The developers raised over $750,000 in under 12 hours after the campaign lauch and eventually raised over $3 million in funds for the game.

Several test versions of Ashes of Creation had been up for early access on Steam ahead of its official realease. Players had already purchased pre-order packages to access some of the early versions of the game.

Ashes of Creation is set in the fantasy world Verra and features diverse biomes which players can explore through characters picked from 64 different class and race combinations. The players can battle each other, develop regions and build settlements.