Riot Games Allegedly Held Acquisition Talks for Ashes of Creation in 2022 to 2023 as Intrepid CEO Steven Sharif Files Counter Lawsuit Against Investor Robert Dawson

The legal conflict surrounding Ashes of Creation, Intrepid Studios, and founder and chief executive officer Steven Sharif has escalated again, with a new counter lawsuit that adds major new claims about attempted acquisition talks, board control, alleged coercion, and the handling of Steam revenue during the game’s early access period.

This latest development follows public accusations from Jason Caramanis against Sharif that included claims of fraud, embezzlement, and other illegal acts, as well as a lawsuit filed by TFE Games Holdings against Steven Sharif and his husband John Moore on 02 09 2026 in Nevada District Court in Clark County, as previously described by Caramanis. Now, Sharif has responded with a counter lawsuit filed in federal court.

A claimed acquisition offer in the hundreds of millions and the Riot allegation

One of the most explosive elements in Sharif’s new filing is the claim that between late 2022 and early 2023, a major game development company offered hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire Ashes of Creation and Intrepid Studios. The filing does not name the company, but Sharif alleges that Robert Dawson urged him to reject the offer in favor of continuing development under Dawson’s financing, after which the talks ended.

In a separate video interview with NefasQS, Caramanis says that the only company he knows of that had dialogues and was communicated with was Riot.

It is important to underline the difference between what is documented and what is alleged. The counter lawsuit references an unnamed potential acquirer. The Riot element is presented publicly by Caramanis in the interview and is not stated as a confirmed fact in the filing as described. At this stage, the acquisition angle is a high impact allegation that could matter deeply to the narrative of why control disputes intensified.

Sharif frames the 2023 to 2024 period as coercion and a control campaign

Sharif’s counter lawsuit frames the alleged rejected acquisition offer as a turning point. Sharif claims Dawson saw the company’s potential for extremely high returns and then began a campaign to seize control of the studio without regard for MMORPG development realities and timelines.

The filing alleges that from early 2023 through May 2024, Dawson repeatedly threatened to withhold payroll and health insurance financing near payroll deadlines, to shut the company down through litigation, and to cause Sharif financial ruin and physical harm unless Sharif signed documents granting Dawson progressively greater equity and control. Examples listed in the filing include a demand for a warrant granting 10 percent of the company for 10 dollars, demands for zero cost non dilutable equity options in convertible debt notes, and demands for involvement in communications with company counsel despite Sharif’s claim that Dawson had no right to that access.

Sharif also alleges severe health impacts caused by these pressures, including a hypertensive emergency, acute kidney failure, hospitalization, and vision loss tied to blood pressure complications including macular edema. These are serious medical claims, and they appear in the filing as part of Sharif’s narrative and damages argument.

The settlement structure and board changes described in the filing

According to the counter lawsuit, debt to equity conversions under a May 2024 settlement agreement resulted in Dawson becoming the majority shareholder, holding 4,008.67 shares of Class A, Class B, and Class C common stock, representing roughly 58 percent of all shares in Intrepid Studios. Sharif also claims that under that same agreement he retained full creative control, even as Dawson gained financial and governance control.

The filing further describes a board meeting on 09 04 2024 where Dawson was appointed chairman of the board and Ryan Ogden was appointed chief financial officer. Sharif alleges Dawson then directed Ogden to open new Intrepid bank accounts at Pathway Bank and that from that point forward Sharif was effectively stripped of financial authority and no longer had access to active company accounts. The filing claims additional directors were added by August 2025, and that Ogden, Theresa Fette, and Aaron Bartels acted at Dawson’s behest rather than as independent directors, a key allegation underlying the fiduciary duty and governance claims.

Early access pressure, retention claims, and the Steam revenue dispute

Sharif’s filing also tackles one of the central flashpoints that has been heavily debated in public: the early access launch and what happened with Steam revenue. Sharif alleges the early access launch was effectively forced by the board against his and other senior leadership’s advice, and that prior to board interference the game achieved a Day 30 player retention rate of approximately 76 percent. That is a striking number and, if accurate, would normally be considered unusually strong for an MMORPG style early access environment, but it is presented as Sharif’s account in the filing rather than an independently verified public metric.

On the Steam revenue issue, the filing alleges Ryan Ogden assured CommerceWest Bank that Steam revenue from the early access launch would cover outstanding loan obligations. That intersects with the previously public claim from Caramanis that Valve notified Sharif of an incoming payout and that Sharif deliberately allowed or directed funds to flow to the CommerceWest Bank loan, which Caramanis framed as using company money to cover a personal debt because the 6 million dollar loan was personally guaranteed by John Moore.

Sharif’s filing presents a different interpretation of the same general assurance, and adds that prior to foreclosure Ogden directed Valve to divert Steam revenue owed to Intrepid into a new Pathway Bank account opened for TFE. The filing claims Valve refused, and then on 02 03 2026 Valve terminated Intrepid’s Steam partnership entirely due to multiple conflicting requests from alleged account administrators to change banking information, demands from multiple potential creditors for Intrepid revenues, and a high volume of player refund requests. The filing states that before refunds, Intrepid would have been entitled to approximately 5 million dollars from Steam, and that funds appear to remain frozen.

The eight legal claims and the remedies Sharif is seeking

Sharif’s counter lawsuit lists eight causes of action, including misappropriation of trade secrets under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act and California trade secrets law, California Commercial Code claims tied to an allegedly unlawful foreclosure process, breach of fiduciary duty claims against board defendants, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty targeting TFE, corporate waste, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy.

The filing seeks broad remedies including injunctive relief to prevent defendants from accessing, using, or selling trade secrets related to Ashes of Creation, annulment of the foreclosure, damages including punitive damages, disgorgement of profits, removal of the board, a constructive trust, legal fees, and permanent injunctive relief.

Sharif’s public message and what happens next

Sharif also appeared in the YouTube chat for the NefasQS video and posted a message stating his goal is maximum accountability and that he prefers court resolution over public opinion.

For now, the story remains a collision of competing narratives, with one side previously leveling criminal style accusations at Sharif and Sharif now leveling an extensive counter narrative describing coercion, governance capture, alleged trade secret exploitation, and contested financial decisions. The most consequential near term outcomes will likely hinge on what the courts accept as supported by evidence, what injunctive relief is granted or denied, and whether any discovery process surfaces documentation about the alleged 2022 to 2023 acquisition discussions that Caramanis claims involved Riot.

If Riot really did explore acquiring Ashes of Creation in 2022 to 2023, do you think that would have stabilized development, or would it have created an even bigger identity and leadership conflict inside the project?