A conversation about the products of a cash register store.

Well, Ashes of Creation creative director Stephen Sharif is most likely not the most outspoken developer in the industry, but recently his hot-eyed take on Amazon Game Studios ‘ upcoming title, New World, has made some waves. The post about the controversy in question was not deleted, but was deemed “unprofessional” by Sharif himself earlier today on Reddit. The comment that led to Sharif’s possible explanation on Reddit was based on a conversation about New World checkout store merchandise that leaked earlier this week and was reviewed by AGS on Friday, May 14. Of course, this information ruffled quite a few feathers in the MMORPG community, and it seems that Sharif was no different, as his initial response directly from the Discord post can attest.:

Sharif’s comment itself earned some praise from Ashes of Creation fans, while the New World reddit mostly discusses payment options to win a cash store at launch. While it’s unclear exactly what projects he thinks inspired Amazon, Sharif, in his Reddit explanation, addresses the unprofessionalism of his words, and also understands that the AoC is not completely immune to the drama of the cash store:

“I agree that my comment was unprofessional, and I will try to be more restrained in my response to questions that I am very concerned about. Sometimes it’s hard when, as a player, I was excited about their MMO and what it brought to the mmo space. Which is in desperate need of new successful products.I know we took our own approach to our pre-order system, which I went out of my way to engage with and explain how our packages work and how our cosmetics are used in options to really help build our world. The MMO community is diverse and has many opinions on aspects of monetization, so of course, each of us will have our own opinion. And that’s fine! But the best thing a company can do is to state its monetization intentions right from the start. And do their best to stick to what they said, and if changes are needed, explain why.”

-Stephen Sharif.

With these big words, many would certainly agree. It is rare for a change in monetization strategy to resonate with players, even if statistics and first-hand reports show that some games are of great benefit both in population and financially when monetization changes occur, even if only temporarily. However, both “New World” and “Ashes of Creation” are currently in development, and neither has launched, so speculation about how either of their monetization models will evolve between now and launch is just speculation. Ashes of Creation recently postponed their Alpha One test until July, after it was initially postponed from the June 1 test date.

Ashes of Creation is currently planning to create a trusted beauty shop that can be seen to its full potential with skin beauty supplements that you can pre-order one by one as part of the package. Packages start at $ 75, with $ 500.00 packages available that will reward you with access to all future testing stages. As the AoC goes through various phases of its development, we look forward to seeing how it can evolve as it approaches release.