Steam pulls Ashes of Creation from sale after studio shutdown

Ashes of Creation imploded over the weekend – Intrepid Studios staff received their WARN Act notices for mass layoffs with just two days' notice. As of end of business on February 2nd, Intrepid Studios officially shut down, and with it, the story of Ashes of Creation seemingly came to an end.

Following news of the shutdown, Steam swiftly responded to the Ashes of Creation situation, and a few hours ago the game was removed from sale in the store. DLC packs are still available for purchase on the website, but buying the actual game legitimately is no longer possible – the store redirects to Steam, where copies are no longer available.

This follows the fate of other games launched in Steam Early Access only to shut down shortly after. The most egregious example is the outright scam The Day Before. While Ashes of Creation is certainly not as massive a fraud as the Yakutsk developers' game, the news still sparked anger among those who invested in Early Access and supported the developers in the early stages.

Reports surfaced on Steam Community, Discord, and Reddit that refunds for Ashes of Creation are now being processed manually.

If you purchased the game within the last two weeks or played less than two hours, you can expect a standard Steam Wallet refund. If you spent considerable time or bought long ago but never launched it and are extremely disappointed with the situation and want your money back – you'll need to fight and prove the money should be returned. Steam support is accommodating, but not very quick.

What will happen with the Ashes of Creation code and the game's future is difficult to say. There's no information about the team, servers, or prospects for relaunching the game under a new name or acquisition by some publisher. The developers are drowning in debt and legal battles. For example, in December Sara Systems LLC filed a lawsuit demanding $850,000 for unpaid cloud storage service bills.

In 2017, Steven Sharif raised over $3 million for development through Kickstarter and promised to refund all backers if the game didn't launch. Technically, he kept his promise – Ashes of Creation entered Early Access on Steam on December 11, 2025.

It lasted barely a month.