Ex Ashes of Creation boss Steven Sharif claims he was advised against a $250 million proposal from Riot Games to buy the MMORPG

The Ashes of Creation lawsuit continues to rumble on at pace, and former Intrepid Studios founder and game director Steven Sharif has delivered a fresh statement alleging a "deliberate misinformation and defamation campaign" against him. Astonishingly, it's been only two months since the dramatic implosion of the MMORPG and its studio, and a deep legal battle between Sharif and a group of investors led by Robert Dawson is ongoing. In his latest message, Sharif brings up a reported $250 million offer from League of Legends maker Riot Games, which he claims he was advised against accepting.

The new 3,700-word statement from Sharif was shared to the Ashes of Creation Reddit page, titled "April public statement and update regarding Intrepid Studios." Sharif also attaches the latest court filings, which include witness declarations from himself and several former Intrepid Studios staff members: executive producer Bryan Langford, production director Jacob Beucler, and director of IT Jason Zimmerman. There are also witness statements from three investors in the project, along with a list of attached exhibits presented as evidence.

Among the files is apparent confirmation of a proposal from Riot Games "to potentially acquire Intrepid, contemplating a total Riot investment of approximately $250 - $500 million." Sharif submits an email from Riot's chief financial officer Mark Sottosanti, which discusses a shared goal "of creating and evolving a genre-defining MMO that delights millions of players for decades." The specifics of the proposal have been redacted, and Sharif claims that Dawson advised him against accepting the offer.

"I know the public discourse around me, Intrepid, and Ashes of Creation has been flooded with knives-out narratives driven by a coordinated defamation campaign orchestrated by the opposing parties in my lawsuit," Sharif writes. He claims, "That campaign has been amplified through content creators, including those serving as a mouthpiece for Jason Caramanis." Sharif alleges in his witness statement that Dawson would "frequently request" Caramanis, another investor, "to yell at and threaten me in his stead."

Sharif's latest response comes in the wake of a video from MMO YouTuber Caspar 'NefasQS,' seen below, in which he claimed to "have obtained and processed the entire Intrepid Studios general ledger from 2015 to 2026." Sharif refuted these claims in a statement provided to Kotaku: "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."

While Sharif's case proceeds, defendant TFE Games Holdings, the investor group that currently holds the assets for Intrepid Studios and Ashes of Creation, is also suing Sharif and his husband, John Moore, in a separate case in a Nevada court. The group's ongoing lawsuit accuses Sharif of "misappropriating" millions of dollars in funds. It claims that it believes some of this money was used for "personal expenses," instead of being spent on the development of Ashes of Creation.

Sharif also responds to some of the most burning community questions in his post. He says his long-time statement that Ashes of Creation had "no board to answer to" changed in "approximately 2024," and was the result of "a forced shift in control." He claims that he didn't go public with this information because he believed "doing so would have triggered immediate consequences from Rob [Dawson] and co. that I was trying to avoid." Sharif says he chose instead to "attempt to go along with their demands, try to manage the situation, buy time, and protect the team as long as possible."

Regarding the game's launch on Steam just months before the shutdown, Sharif claims that "based on the information I was given at the time, the company was not out of money." He alleges that his ability to see company finances "was kept on a 'need to know' basis" following the shift in control. He adds, "As late as January, it was represented to me and multiple team leads that approximately $12 million in cash would be available as of February 1."

As always, this is just one side's perspective in a long and complicated relationship that is still in the process of being investigated in court. It's likely we'll see many more claims made and further evidence presented as the proceedings roll on, and there's currently no clear end in sight. The Ashes of Creation website has now also been taken down. We have also reached out to Robert Dawson and TFE Games Holdings' attorneys for comment, as well as to Riot Games, and will update this story with any response.