Stephen Sharif has released a new message to the MMORPG Ashes of Creation community, in which he talks about the progress of the ongoing experiment over the past few months. According to him, in the past six months, nearly 200 procedural documents have been registered in this case, with the total amount of information and applications reaching thousands of pages.
The Intrepid Studios founder said the key event was the court’s ruling following a meeting the previous day. Sharif said the court approved his request to appoint a neutral receiver to collect, preserve and protect Intrepid Studios’ intellectual property rights and related assets.
In addition, the neutral administrator must monitor potential foreclosure attempts on the company’s assets and provide the court with information regarding the legality of any attempts to sell assets.
Sharif tied the court’s ruling to the defendants’ prior conduct, which he claimed violated the California Commercial Code on three separate occasions. The Intrepid founder also said the defendants reversed the foreclosure decision only after he filed suit in federal court.
In addition, the court agreed to Sharif’s proposal to appoint an independent professional (a special master, receiver, banker, attorney or magistrate) to examine the validity of the secured debt claimed by the defendants to be owed by Intrepid Studios. The parties have until August 25 to try to agree on a candidate. If an agreement cannot be reached, the court will determine the candidate itself.
Sharif said his side presented evidence that Robert Dawson and his associates illegally imposed debt on Intrepid Studios with the intent of subsequently foreclosing on the company’s assets. The studio’s founders claim that as a result of this process, Intrepid Studios was nearly destroyed and all employees were laid off without salaries being paid or benefits provided to them.
The defendant provided approximately 700 pages of documents to the court as evidence of the existence of the secured debt. However, as Sharif pointed out, after considering the information submitted, the court left open the question of the existence and legality of this debt.
Sharif also described a situation in which lawyers hired by the board attempted to acquire assets belonging to the founders. We’re talking about Discord, Reddit, YouTube, and X accounts related to Ashes of Creation. According to Sharif, the court refused to honor the request.
In addition, lawyers hired by the board of directors attempted to transfer the “Ashes of Creation” domain name, but the request was denied. Sharif pointed out that the court noted that there was no evidence in the petition that Intrepid Studios owned the rights to the domain.
The board defendants also attempted to gain direct access to the game, its source code, and the system in which the code library was stored. However, this requirement was not met either. Instead, the court agreed to Sharif’s motion to transfer the underlying assets to a court-appointed independent custodian until further notice.
Sharif separately contacted potential investors and publishers who may be negotiating with defendants TFE Games Holdings LLC or Dawnfire LLC to purchase any of Intrepid Studios’ assets.
He urged potential buyers and partners to conduct their own due diligence and not to view access to assets, sales presentations or statements from representatives of Dawson-related companies as evidence that they have authority to control disputed intellectual property rights. Sharif said the rights to the assets were the subject of ongoing litigation.
In addition, Sharif requires third-party developers, outsourcing studios, technology companies and contractors who have previously gained access to Ashes of Creation’s source code, repositories, credentials or technical systems to retain access logs, copies of data, correspondence, instructions, credentials and data transfer history.
Intrepid’s founders said the information may be relevant to investigations into possible unauthorized copying, distribution or use of materials without proper authorization, bypassing oversight processes.
Sharif concluded by expressing regret for the situation faced by former Intrepid Studios employees and their families, as well as players who have supported Ashes of Creation over the years and invested their time, trust, and money into the project. According to him, everyone just wanted to play games, but they were forced to go through legal procedures.
Sharif, meanwhile, believes Ashes of Creation deserves a future and plans to keep fighting.
Sharif warned that further announcements could be weeks or months apart, depending on court timelines and the progress of the case. However, he promised to continue sharing important updates with the gaming community on the progress of the process.
