Ashes of Creation CEO Obtains First Legal Victory with TRO Against TFE and the Board

There's been a major development in the ongoing Ashes of Creation legal battle: Intrepid Studios founder and CEO Steven Sharif has obtained his first legal victory against the board, obtaining a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) from a judge.

As a reminder, following the sudden implosion of the game and its removal from Steam, not to mention the fraud accusations levied by one of the game's investors, Sharif was targeted with a lawsuit filed by TFE Games Holdings on February 9, 2026, in the Nevada District Court, Clark County. However, he quickly filed his own lawsuit against Robert Dawson (the major investor behind Ashes of Creation, who allegedly contributed up to $80 million to the project) and TFE Games Holdings on February 14, 2026, in a federal court in California.

Earlier this week, on Wednesday, March 4, 2026, Judge Linda Lopez of the US District Court for the Southern District of California granted Sharif's ex parte motion on all four required criteria:

• Likelihood of success on the merits: The court found "serious questions going to the merits" on both the Article 9 foreclosure claim (TFE failed to notify senior lienholders and conducted a non-commercially-reasonable sale to itself) and the trade secrets misappropriation claim, writing: "By showing that TFE acquired the Trade Secrets Materials through an unlawful Article 9 foreclosure, Plaintiff has shown misappropriation through wrongful acquisition."
• Irreparable harm: The court found TFE had already identified at least one potential buyer for Ashes of Creation and its trade secrets. TFE's own counsel had actually acknowledged this in a meet-and-confer with Sharif's lawyers. The court noted that trade secrets, once disclosed, are lost forever and cannot be compensated in money damages.
• Public interest: The court found that the public interest in vindicating intellectual property rights is served by preventing misappropriation.
• Balance of hardships: The court found this "tips sharply toward Plaintiff," noting that a TRO to preserve the status quo while ownership is determined would not meaningfully harm defendants, whereas without it Intrepid would permanently lose its primary valuable asset.

With this TRO in effect, TFE won't be able to access, use, or sell any of Intrepid's trade secrets: the source code of Ashes of Creation, its algorithms, as well as game assets, tools, and infrastructure configurations. They also cannot access 24 specific Intrepid platform accounts, including AWS, GitHub, Google Workspace, Microsoft, Slack, Autodesk, Adobe, and Docker, among others, which would be needed to continue developing the game. Lastly, they are prohibited from accessing any accounts or systems belonging to former Intrepid employees or contractors for the purpose of reaching those trade secrets.

Moreover, the judge mandated that a neutral intellectual property custodian be appointed by next Monday (March 9) to hold all passwords, credentials, and source-control access to Intrepid's accounts. This means TFE won't be able to access any of it, even indirectly, until the preliminary injunction hearing currently scheduled for March 18, 2026, at 4:30 PM PST in Courtroom 14B.

However, in the Nevada lawsuit filed by TFE against Sharif, a judge had previously granted a temporary restraining order on February 24, 2026 in the opposite direction: it enjoined Sharif's agents from withholding usernames and passwords for Intrepid's technology platforms, those very same accounts and platforms that the federal court then turned around and froze entirely.

The Californian federal judge explicitly acknowledged this legal collision in the order, noting the fundamental difference between the two cases: the Nevada court presumes TFE is the lawful owner of Intrepid's assets following the foreclosure, whereas the federal case specifically challenges that ownership. The federal judge invited both parties to brief potential first-to-file and abstention issues, legal doctrines that determine which court has jurisdiction when two cases overlap. As a general rule, federal courts supersede state courts on matters of federal law (like the Defend Trade Secrets Act), which would favor Sharif. However, it remains to be seen if the same will apply in this particular case.

For his part, Sharif shared a lengthy letter on the Ashes of Creation subreddit, clarifying that the TRO prevents further dismantling or transfer of Intrepid's assets, and specifically preserves the IP from being sold off to a third party. That said, he acknowledged the damage is already done: employees were terminated without pay or benefits, the game was pulled from Steam, and years of work are now in uncertainty. Still, Sharif signaled this is just the beginning, noting that the court filings so far are only the opening chapter and promising that internal communications, board records, and financial documentation will emerge as the litigation progresses.

In the letter, the Intrepid founder categorically denies taking the Steam revenue from the early access launch of Ashes of Creation. He states he received none of it and that the narrative blaming him for the company's collapse is a deliberate misinformation campaign orchestrated by Dawson and proxies like Caramanis to shift responsibility away from the board's own decisions.

We're probably a long way from getting to any final verdict and, therefore, the truth of what happened to Ashes of Creation and Intrepid Studios. However, we'll keep you updated whenever there are major developments like this.

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