Whenever YouTubers, content creators, or influencers decide to drop a game that they’d hitched their entire online brand to, it can often have a ripple effect across the community for better or worse. That situation is one that the developers and fans of Ashes of Creation are facing, as a prominent AOC YouTuber announced he would stop covering the MMORPG, scorched-earth-style.
YouTuber and livestreamer Narc posted a video address yesterday telling followers he would cease creating content related to AOC, citing several issues with the game and its development as reasons, including the end of Alpha Two key sales ahead of the test build’s release, network problems that he says make combat “completely unplayable,” and long grinds to even get to content testing that he argues go against claims that the alpha should not be played like a released title.
He also casts aspersions on AOC’s update claims related to Phase Two server meshing, makes presumptions about the MMORPG’s playerbase total against Intrepid Studios’ server capability, claims that the studio is openly banning negative remarks since it effectively took over the game’s subreddit in 2018, and argues that the developer is being openly dishonest, owing primarily to a recently added expansion of a desert region in Phase Two looking unlike a 2022 showcase for the biome. Narc also argues that other showcases for locations and game features are not real.
Discussions about this video began to spring up on the AOC subreddit and other genre subs, which in turn brought Intrepid boss Steven Sharif forth to issue an official reply:
“Narc is his own person… not beholden to me, or you, or anyone in any community. While you or I or anyone may not always see eye to eye on a particular issue or opinion, it is important to remain respectful and constructive when speaking to each other on platforms managed by Intrepid and our moderator team. I am sad to see Narc’s take on Ashes, the claims he makes against myself and the team. It is unfounded, false and defamatory.”
Sharif further shared a comment he made on the video, which explains that the desert preview was only a preview and an example of how environment team devs block out a zone “to hit [the] visual intent for the biome.” He also points out that features like freeholds are continually in development, pushes back against accusations that critique was culled from the subreddit, and repeats that the game is a true alpha and not meant to be a fully realized MMO.
“I tuned in a bit to your streams at the start of Phase Two, and I think the biggest takeaway that people can have with our process so far, is; Ashes is not complete yet,” Sharif writes. “We still have a journey ahead of us. It is going to be a long road, and the testing environment in Alpha Two right now can sometimes feel like a game, but it isn’t yet. We are quite literally in the middle of cooking it still.”
Reaction to both the video and to Sharif’s response continue to run a mixture of support for Intrepid Studios, furrowed brows at Narc’s decision to cover the game for four years, some general agreement with some of Narc’s points, and presumptions of censorship and removed criticism from the AOC subreddit. It’s possible that this will eventually dwindle like other tiffs raised by popular content creators, but for now the situation has appeared to raise a lot of conversation about open development in general and whether MMO players who back these projects really understand what they’re getting into.