Defunct MMO studio founder allegedly spent Kickstarter funds on private chefs, antiques, and TCGs

An elf-like character in Ashes of Creation — (Image credit: Intrepid Studios)

Kickstarter MMO Ashes of Creation has produced a deluge of drama since the whole team working on it was laid off and development ended two months ago. Investor Jason Caramanis accused Intrepid Studios founder Steven Sharif of taking millions meant for the studio and spending it for himself.

As reported by Kotaku, More details followed last Friday in a video from YouTuber NefasQS, who shared Caramanis' accusations in the first place.

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"We have a staggering [over $12 million] taken out from Intrepid Studios which are not completely accounted for based on the QuickBooks data that we have," NefasQS said in the video. They highlight everything from over $700 spent on Fortnite (for R&D purposes, apparently) to tens of thousands spent at various historical auctions. The video also alleges over $80,000 were paid to Gore Oil Company, which was the deed owner of the mansion sold to Sharif and his husband John Moore in 2020.

The private chef bit is particularly interesting, as NefasQS claims the details align with anecdotes they've heard from people who worked at Intrepid. "According to various former employees, there was a private chef hired for the company, but they never saw the chef at the workplace, the chef only cooked for John and Steven at their home. Employees were instead promised that the chef would cook for them, or that the chef couldn't cook at the workplace due to a permit issue with the commercial kitchen."

While NefasQS said in the video that the ledger was "verified with a plethora of sources and interviews with former employees," it's important to note that the implications of the video, the full extent of Caramanis' accusations (and for that matter, Sharif's defense where he blames the board of directors for Ashes' unceremonious end and denies any misconduct) are difficult to verify. We have reached out to Sharif for a comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Justin first became enamored with PC gaming when World of Warcraft and Neverwinter Nights 2 rewired his brain as a wide-eyed kid. As time has passed, he's amassed a hefty backlog of retro shooters, CRPGs, and janky '90s esoterica. Whether he's extolling the virtues of Shenmue or troubleshooting some fiddly old MMO, it's hard to get his mind off games with more ambition than scruples. When he's not at his keyboard, he's probably birdwatching or daydreaming about a glorious comeback for real-time with pause combat. Any day now...

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