Ashes of Creation is one of the most interesting MMORPGs currently in development. Founder Steven Sharif is largely funding the project himself as a millionaire. He sees this as a huge advantage over other MMORPGs, which he considers risk-averse. By the end of the year, he aims to employ 200 staff members.
New building in San Diego: As PCGamesN reports, Intrepid Studios is currently building a new office in San Diego. Here, Ashes of Creation is to be developed on approximately 1500 square meters. In addition to the 100 employees, a team in Malaysia is dedicated solely to creating assets for Ashes of Creation. And they are diligently expanding the team.
200 employees is the goal: Currently, Ashes of Creation is recruiting again. Recently, they hired developers from Daybreak Games, where there were layoffs. In the meantime, it was even said that Ashes of Creation wants to acquire Daybreak Games.
The acquisition rumor was dispelled, but Ashes of Creation is growing: They have gained seven employees in recent months, and 21 positions are currently open.
According to the game’s head, Steven Sharif, the goal is to employ a total of 200 people by the end of 2018. He has already stated that they are one of the largest MMORPGs in development.
Millionaire dreams for 27 years of developing his own MMORPG – now doing it
Founder made his fortune at 28: Sharif shares in an interview with PCGamesN that he entered the real estate business at the age of 24. By 28, he had made his fortune. Now he is fulfilling his dream of developing his own MMORPG.
Sharif has dreamed of this since he played Neverwinter Online over AOL at the age of seven. Back then, everything about MMORPGs was new and risky: the concepts, the systems, the ideas. However, in the meantime, the MMORPG genre has stagnated. With Ashes of Creation, they want to break that cycle.
MMORPG paid with juices and vitamins?
Sharif pays for it himself: According to PCGamesN, Sharif has funded large parts of the project with his personal wealth. It is noted that he made a fortune with the company “XanGo”. XanGo sold fruit juices and vitamins. The company was accused of operating on a pyramid scheme. In any case, XanGo is said to have earned a billion US dollars in less than four years.
But Sharif’s wallet is not the only source of income for Ashes of Creation: Over Kickstarter, the MMORPG has also raised over 3 million dollars.
Despite the income, Sharif seems to insist that he has spent not a cent on advertising. Nevertheless, over 500,000 people have registered on the MMO’s site, and 40,000 have bought into the alpha or beta. Sharif believes that people are not excited about the game’s graphics this early but about the systems and ideas behind it.
Other studios shy away from any risk, that’s why the genre stagnates
That’s why Ashes of Creation is in a different situation than the competition: According to Sharif, financial independence is the strength of the MMORPG. Therefore, they can take paths that established publishers would not dare to.
In MMORPGs, so much money is involved that most studios do not take risks. Moreover, they have publishers behind them telling them: “Make us the next WoW.” All this stifles innovation. Sharif is not accountable to anyone.
A dynamic world evolves while playing
The joke of Ashes of Creation is that the world changes dynamically. Through “Nodes”, connection points, a world is created, that responds to the player’s actions – depending on the world, players should have different experiences.
Difference from other MMORPGs: Usually, MMORPGs advertise that they present players with a finished world at launch: The unique twist with Ashes of Creation is that players step into a world that develops along with them.
But there are also doubts
Is there anything against everything being great here? Even though all this sounds fantastic, Sharif has often come under fire for his elbow tactics.
For instance, he relies on influencers to recruit new players for Ashes of Creation. Through a referral system, they are financially involved in the spending of the people they recruited, which reminds some of the pyramid scheme attributed to Sharif’s former employer XanGo.
Additionally, a journalist noted that the team lacks the experience to realize its massive ambitions. Sharif reacted sharply to this criticism.
