Eines der wichtigsten neuen MMORPGs aus dem Westen hat seine Anfänge in einer D&D-Kampagne gemacht
With Ashes of Creation the one of the most exciting MMORPGs of the future enters Early Access on Steam on December 11th, 2025. Studio head Steven Sharif discussed extensively in advance with YouTuber Esfand about the beginnings of the project, the goals of the testing phase, and more.
Who is part of the Q&A? Steven Sharif is the founder of Intrepid Studios and the Creative Director for Ashes of Creation. The millionaire is a long-time MMORPG fan and fulfills a dream by developing the game. By now, Intrepid has about 250 employees. On December 11th, 2025, Ashes of Creation enters Early Access on Steam.
Tim “Esfand” Esfandiari is an American YouTuber and streamer who is known to many WoW fans. His main channel on YouTube has 316,000 subscribers and over 2,500 videos. On Twitch, he currently stands at 1.4 million followers with EsfandTV. Esfand is part of the gaming organization One True King, which he founded in 2020 with Asmongold, Mizkif, Rich Campbell, and Tips Out.
The official Early Access guide from the developers for Ashes of Creation:
Ashes of Creation: Early Access Guide stimmt euch auf den Start auf Steam ein
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From Dream to “Fever Dream”
The beginnings of Ashes of Creation: In nearly 2 hours, Esfand and Steven Sharif touch on a wide range of topics. Excitingly, the studio head not only spent countless hours in MMORPGs like Lineage, Lineage 2, Guild Wars, EverQuest, or even ArcheAge. He is also a big fan of Dungeons & Dragons.
The idea of creating his own MMORPG came to Sharif when many of his fellow players left ArcheAge because monetization became increasingly aggressive and featured clear pay-to-win elements. As other genre representatives took this path during this time, Steven Sharif recognized a niche for a project that would completely forgo pay-to-win.
From the beginning, it was clear to him that the game should use a sandbox framework that grants players freedoms and allows them to shape the world with their own decisions. He thus created an overarching story and embedded it within the framework of Ashes of Creation in a self-made “homebrew” campaign from Dungeons & Dragons.
You can listen to the entire talk here, or alternatively visit Esfand on YouTube:
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In this, he allowed his fellow players to build cities, make decisions, and conduct business. He combined the experiences gained there with game systems from various MMORPGs he had played over the years and considered important. That was the foundation for Ashes of Creation.
With the idea, Sharif then approached some veterans from Sony Online Entertainment (EverQuest, Star Wars Galaxies). They showed great enthusiasm. This was followed by a Kickstarter campaign that underscored its success, indicating that the MMORPG fan might have the right instinct. 9 years later, the game is preparing for beta, which will start sometime next year.
In response to Esfand’s comment that Sharif would be living his dream, the chief developer admits that at times it would rather be a “fever dream”. Already in March 2025, he had explained in detail, that the development of such an ambitious MMORPG project is harder than expected. One must have a thick skin and invest a lot of time, money, and heart over the years.
MMORPGs are certainly the most difficult, complex piece of software from a gaming perspective. That’s the simple truth. There is a reason why only a few companies and publishers invest the money and time needed to produce such an MMORPG. That is why there are only a few releases. […] Especially from games that are as ambitious as Ashes of Creation.
Steven Sharif on YouTube
Don’t Develop a WoW Killer
Why the sandbox approach? The developers have consciously chosen an MMORPG with a sandbox framework in which there are many systems that should provide a high replay value on their own. According to Steven Sharif, there are already more than enough good theme park MMORPGs. As examples, he names World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV, and Guild Wars 2.
Anyone who wants to compete on equal terms with these games, which have accumulated content over decades, can only fail in the eyes of the chief developer.
With Ashes of Creation, however, the developers do not just want to copy other sandbox MMORPGs, but push the genre forward through innovations. As an example, Steven Sharif mentions the settlement system around the nodes, which actually allows players to shape the world with their actions and achievements.
By the way, the developer is aware that Ashes of Creation, with its strong focus on PvP, automatically becomes uninteresting for a large part of MMORPG fans. However, he firmly believes that the target audience for a good, ambitious PvPvE MMORPG is large enough to be financially successful. More on this: Ashes of Creation focused on PvE: Can the MMORPG on Steam also entertain PvP averse players?
Ashes of Creation stimmt im Trailer auf Early-Access-Start auf Steam ein
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The team plays in the guilds: According to Steven Sharif, the developers have mingled with the various guilds of the alpha to play the MMORPG themselves and receive feedback from the community firsthand, combining this with their own impressions.
Why is Early Access paid? The Intrepid head first points out that Ashes of Creation has taken an unusual path. Interested parties could already gain access to the alpha of the game very early, and the developers report very openly about progress, problems, and the development process.
For such a – due to the genre – risky project, which brings additional uncertainties through its innovations, it is hard to find investors or supportive publishers. At the same time, a team of 250 employees costs a lot of money. In addition, server operation and other cost factors come into play.
The revenue from Early Access is important according to Steven Sharif to finish the MMORPG over the coming year. However, the chief developer understands the concerns of many players, as crowdfunded MMOs do not enjoy a good reputation. This underlines our analysis: 24 Kickstarter MMOs that wanted money from you – A financial overview after 13 years with a frustrating balance
During the conversation, Steven Sharif emphasizes that the Early Access version of Ashes of Creation is an unfinished alpha that still needs a lot of time before the final release and relies on player feedback. This underscores something that a new trailer wants to highlight: Ashes of Creation aligns expectations of players just before Early Access launch on Steam
This is an AI-powered translation. Some inaccuracies might exist.
