In 2022, Riot Games wanted to acquire the creators of Ashes of Creation — the deal could have amounted to $500 million
This information became known from the documents shared online by Intrepid Studios founder Steven Sharif during his legal dispute with the studio's investors.
Ashes of Creation
It turned out that in December 2022, Riot Games' Chief Financial Officer Mark Sottosanti sent an email to the management of Intrepid Studios. In it, the manager stated that the company considers Ashes of Creation one of those MMO games that have the potential to remain popular for decades. Considering this, Riot Games was ready to acquire the developers and invest in the long-term growth of Ashes of Creation.
According to the letter, Riot Games proposed to invest $250-500 million into Intrepid Studios. Moreover, after the game's release, it would allocate additional funds to the studio so it could work on further content.
Copy of Mark Sottosanti’s letter
Despite the generous offer, Intrepid Studios turned down the deal. The documents published by Sharif indicate that Robert Dawson — one of the studio’s investors — opposed it. Allegedly, he wanted to gain more control over the creators of Ashes of Creation himself, and therefore convinced the developers not to agree to the sale.
To recap, Ashes of Creation is an ambitious MMORPG for which Intrepid Studios raised $3.27 million on Kickstarter in 2017. Interestingly, rumors suggest that hundreds of thousands of dollars were eventually spent by Sharif on personal expenses, which he denies. At the end of 2025, the game was released in early access on Steam and received numerous negative reviews, shortly after which it was pulled from sale.
The situation around Intrepid Studios has been extremely tense lately. In fact, at the start of the year, the studio ceased operations: in January, Sharif, along with several leading specialists, unexpectedly resigned, and in February, there were mass layoffs affecting most of the remaining staff. Against this backdrop, Sharif's conflict with a group of investors escalated into mutual lawsuits — both parties accusing each other of financial misconduct. It remains unclear how this story will ultimately end.