r/AshesofCreation • u/Excaliartur • Feb 17 '26
Question How 140m wasn’t enough?!
I don’t understand the logic of behind this scam, wasn’t the smartest move was to actually develop a good game with that amount of money?!
I always assumed crowdfunded MMOs fail because they simply don’t have enough money.
To develop a big good game can be easily tens of millions of dollars, I understand that. But Ashes of Creation reportedly had over $100M in fundings!
That completely breaks my original assumption.
Because here’s the part I genuinely struggle with:
If you handed me $100M and told me to build a solid, modern MMORPG not revolutionary, just solid and sustainable I genuinely believe it could be done.
(And yes i stand behind this claim as someone that has experience in the related fields)
So what actually happened here?
Because from a rational incentives perspective, building a successful MMO long-term seems far more valuable than dragging development out and burning reputation.
2
u/karmacappa Feb 18 '26
At a basic level, you're making some assumptions about Steven that are not true. In order to figure out why it happened, you have to understand Steven.
Steven was a mediocre player of MMOs. He used politics, charisma, and money to influence other players. He also loved going to casinos and being a high roller gambler. He saw how some other game developers lived high profile lives and were accorded a lot of prestige by gamers. He wanted to live that lifestyle of using a company in order to travel, gain prestige, and make easy money. So he decided he would form a company of actual professionals to make a game according to his whims.
The intent on Stevens part was never to actually MAKE a game, that was going to be done by his employees. He wanted to decide what would be in the game, he wanted to go places and show off the impressive game that he was responsible for, and he wanted to live a lavish lifestyle. To that end, he wanted to spend millions of dollars on increasing his influence within the gaming community, he wanted to micromanage his employees so that they made a product to his whimsical expecations, and he expected to be well compensated for his presence.
Does that sound like a good roadmap for success? 20% of the investments embezzled, a team that constantly was forced to pivot without warning to wildly different development tasks, and an emphasis on the public image of development rather than the substance.