The YouTuber TheLazyPeon has been one of the biggest supporters of Ashes of Creation over the past years. After the sudden end of the MMORPG, he was silent for a long time. Now the genre fan speaks out.
Who is TheLazyPeon? The YouTuber is one of the largest international content creators specializing in the MMORPG genre. The creator living in Thailand has more than 770,000 subscribers and over 770 videos, and there is probably no current online role-playing game that the “lazy peon” has not played.
Over the years, TheLazyPeon has repeatedly reported on Ashes of Creation and shared his personal impressions from the alpha. While he has always expressed detailed criticism, he has always emphasized that he believes AoC is the most promising MMORPG hopeful from the West.
What is happening with Ashes of Creation? For a few weeks now, it has been clear that this dream has shattered. Studio head Steven Sharif stepped down in early February after losing control of the studio to a previously unknown board of investors. This was followed by extensive layoffs and the closure of the studio.
Currently, several parties are fighting in court for the assets of Intrepid Studios, the rights to Ashes of Creation, and unpaid salaries. The allegations in the lawsuits include embezzlement of millions of dollars, an attempted hostile takeover, and physical and psychological attacks on individuals.
The years of lies are the worst
How does TheLazyPeon express himself about it? For a long time, not at all. Therefore, various viewers of his channel flooded the comment sections of old videos to ask the YouTuber when to expect a reaction to the sudden end of Ashes of Creation.
Only this week did TheLazyPeon respond to this request, and in the nearly 12 minutes of his new video, one can see that he is still visibly affected by the situation. He explains that after the incidents, he fell into a hole and could not find the strength to make a video about the end of Ashes of Creation for weeks.
You can watch TheLazyPeon’s video below or on YouTube:
He believed until the end that the current alpha foundation could hold a potentially really good game that only needed another one or two years of development. That this is now not happening is a bitter blow for him and the entire MMORPG genre.
TheLazyPeon also apologizes for possibly leading some viewers to invest money in the project with his often positive coverage of the game.
In two or 3 months, I will participate in a Muay Thai fight. As a kind of punishment. Maybe you will feel a little better if you invested money and now feel cheated when you see me getting hit a few times. I feel cheated too. I have invested thousands of dollars in the game, in all the pre-order and cosmetic items.
TheLazyPeon explains that the feeling of being lied to for years is the worst part of the whole thing. He believed in the project mainly because Steven Sharif always promised that there would be no board, no external investors, and no publisher. He would never have invested so much money and hope if he had known the truth.
Moreover, he emphasizes that no one from the community should have received money for supporting Ashes of Creation over the years. According to TheLazyPeon, the earnings from the referral system (you give away a key for AoC, the new player spends money, the key distributor receives a share) were supposed to be distributed only after the final release.
In the past week, TheLazyPeon has apparently also been thinking about quitting YouTube. However, since he loves making videos about games that excite him, he does not want to take this step. In the future, however, he does not want to report on MMORPGs that are funded by crowdfunding – they rarely even make it past the release finish line.
Ashes of Creation stands on the ashes of a dream that will never become reality. The perfect moment for every long-time critic to say: “I told you so, this is a scam!” Our MMORPG expert Karsten Scholz analyzes this accusation that has been circulating the internet for years: Was Ashes of Creation a scam from the very beginning? Despite the bitter end, everything argues against it
