Things get heated up on Twitch at times, most recently by PC provider Artesian Builds.
The US company Artesian Builds builds custom PCs for its customers, often live over the own twitch channel with over 250,000 followers. That’s exactly where the company wanted to build two such PCs in a live stream a few days ago and raffle them off to their own brand ambassadors. This is a kind of partner program for streamers and content creators.
Apparently, not everything went as planned during the raffle. One winner of the giveaway was the Twitch-Steamerin Kiapiaa. The CEO of Artesian Builds, Noah Katz, decided during the stream that the streamer offered too little added value for the company and therefore did not deserve the PC. The same fate befell other brand ambassadors whose turn came in new draws.
Katz tells Kiapiaa that she’s been an ambassador for three months, but hasn’t generated a single click. He goes on to say that this is a giveaway for ambassadors and participants must cooperate with his company in order to win. You can find the full explanation in the twitch clip at this link.
It also shows how tricky it can be to stream live there our video series on the biggest live stream failsshown here in the example of the third episode:
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Twitch – The Biggest Livestream Fails, Part 3
Criticism from the winner and big tech youtubers
Kiapiaa then spoke up on Twitter. There she says they won the pc fairly and honestly. The rules for the giveaway would simply state that the brand ambassadors must have the Artesian builds panel in their description on Twitch. She would meet that requirement.
She also says that Katz changed the rules mid-stream because she doesn’t have enough followers. She also criticizes the CEO for defaming her streaming activity. You can find the whole Twitter thread here:
link to Twitter content
Shortly thereafter, the big hardware YouTuber JaysTwoCents spoke up, which has over 3.5 million subscribers on the platform. In his opinion, Kiapiaa was treated unfairly here, which is why he offers to send her a gaming PC as compensation. The video for the action now has over a million views.
Other Youtube greats from the tech space like GamersNexus and Linus Tech Tips are also very critical of the action. As the issue has garnered a lot of attention, other allegations have surfaced against the CEO, including taxes and bank account freezes, as well as stopped deliveries to customers who have already paid.
Artesian Build’s CEO issued written and video apologies, but they have since been deleted. The same applies to his Twitter account.
Like the gaming site My MMO reported, major streaming partners and sponsors of Artesian Builds jumped out of the live stream after the incident in the wake of the criticism. About a week after the incident, Artesian Builds spoke up on Twitter:
link to Twitter content
In the post above, the company announces that all activities have been discontinued with immediate effect. An analysis of the company by outsiders is underway to ensure fair treatment of customers, creditors and employees. They are open to help and investments.
It is currently unclear whether the company can resume operations and how things will continue for the approximately 50 employees at two different locations.
