Shocking News For Fans Of Ashes Of Creation! My.com Publishing The Game In Europe!

I’m a huge fan of Ashes of Creation. The game looks very promising – I had been excited for its release, and even its Alpha and Beta tests for a long while now.. keyword being “had”.
Now this may come as a surprise to you, but there are some very shady publishers out there.. some that, and again, this may shock you.. so if you need to take a moment to sit down, then go ahead because this news could shake your to your very core.
Anyway, some companies.. they.. promote.. pay to win. Yes, that horrid abomination.

And don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying Ashes of Creation itself will be pay to win. Intrepid Studios, the team behind Ashes are doing a fine job thus far and I have no reason to doubt them.. at least, not the North American version and the North American team.
Now you’re likely wondering what this article is actually about, then, and what I mean when I call out the North American version of Ashes specifically.
Allow me to elaborate a little bit.

See, Intrepid Studios have announced that they are using a separate publisher to publish Ashes of Creation around the world. A lot of companies use publishers – that’s not really an issue.
The concern right now lies with whom they have entrusted to publish their game in the entire European region: My.com.
My.com has published various high quality MMORPGs in the West over the last several years..
Skyforge, an MMORPG that allowed you to instantly buy high-tier gear with real life money.
Revelation Online, an MMORPG that allowed you to purchase gear enhancement items through use of the cash shop that allowed you to absolutely destroy players who weren’t paying equal amounts on the game.
Allods Online that used to be one of the most pay to win pieces of garbage there was.. and to this day, requires monthly investment if you plan on ever competing in PvP or PvE.
As you can see, with their incredible track record of high quality MMORPG releases, Ashes of Creation is in good hands.

My.com in their recent FAQ addressing the launch of Ashes of Creation in Europe expressed their interest in creating a non-pay-to-win iteration of the game, stating that in the past they had published free to play MMORPGs.
And supposedly, free to play MMORPGs are built around being pay-to-win. Ashes of Creation will be a “subscription-based business model“, requiring players pay a monthly fee to play, and this should dissuade them from implementing any pay to win issues.
However, they also went on to point out that that they will be “supporting the vision Steven and Intrepid Studios have, and we will implement the same model for the My.com version as they implement for their version“.
What this means is that My.com will actually have a completely separate version of Ashes of Creation than Intrepid Studios will.
Although realistically affecting mostly localization, this still, in turn, means My.com will have more control over the European release of the game than people first thought.

While My.com have guaranteed the game will be 100% non-pay-to-win, the fact is.. actions, and history speak much louder than words.
When all you’ve done is ruin MMO after MMO, what are players honestly to expect? You to just suddenly change your tune and publish something completely and 100% free of pay-to-win bullshit?
I’ve seen some people saying “we should give Intrepid, Steven, and My.com a chance” – Sure, we should give Steven and Intrepid a chance. I have no qualms with that. But when a game publisher screws you over several times.. they do not deserve another chance.
In what world would you expect them to get their shit correct on their fourth attempt? Yeah, exactly. You wouldn’t expect them to, and they likely won’t.

Now don’t get me wrong – once again I want to reiterate the fact that I am not hating on Ashes of Creation itself.
The game looks incredible. The sheer amount of work that has been put into the game is just.. astounding, and I want the game to succeed.
Too many MMORPGs in this day and age release, fail to deliver, and ultimately screw over players that were there to support them over either their localization period, or crowdfunding period.

This is leaving players with a very sour taste in their mouth, especially when all we get these days are MMORPG ports from Asia that go pay-to-win a month after release, or indie MMORPGs that are just.. nothing like what they promise us.

Right now we’re in a serious drought. Especially with how poorly Bless Online did – losing 95% of its playerbase in less than 3 months, then Warlords Awakening, a re-release of Elite Lords of Alliance averaging less than a hundred people playing concurrently.
Thankfully World of Warcraft released their Battle for Azeroth expansion recently because without that.. I daresay the MMO playerbase would potentially be in its least played state.. in a very long while.

If you’re a fan of Ashes of Creation and you live anywhere outside of North America.. then I’m sorry in advance.
You’re going to have a publisher that has poorly managed servers, a history of destroying their games within mere months, and.. sigh.
Just be very cautious of My.com – they’re a garbage publisher, absolutely terrible. And while I cannot provide you with a solid replacement or alternative.. I do know that they’re in the 3 worst MMO publishers out there, with Aeria Games and Failfor- I mean, Gameforge.

Here’s hoping we have better luck over in North America with Ashes of Creation’s launch because if this is the route we’re taking.. the future is looking a little less bright for the release of the game.
Which is a shame, because it has been worked on to such a profound degree that I would hate for it to do anything less than succeed.

Either way, guys, that’s pretty much all I have to say on the topic. I hope you’re still looking forward to Ashes of Creation, and hope that this doesn’t dissuade you from playing on the North American servers, or Indie MMORPGs in general.
There are good ones out there, good developers, and good publishers – or, decent publishers that won’t ruin the game.. I promise. It just takes a while to find them.