The head of a company that makes custom gaming PCs, Noah Katz, made a disastrous appearance on Twitch and it all went down the drain after that. Sponsors broke away, the reputation was ruined, now the end of the company is announced. Apparently there is no more money to keep the business going.
What was that terrible 59 seconds on Twitch? The company “Artesian Builds” had organized a giveaway to raffle off a gaming PC to “brand ambassadors”. A Twitch streamer won the PC, but the company’s CEO felt that she was too small.
Noah Katz said live on air that the streamer already has few followers on Twitch and social media. The decisive factor, however, is that no one has yet bought a PC via their link.
The CEO behaved as if he had caught a swindler red-handed trying to snag a prize and had the win re-rolled. He implied that this isn’t really a sweepstakes open to everyone, but a “one hand washes the other” scenario. Only those who bring something to the company can win a gaming PC worth several thousand euros.
The CEO appeared smug and looking down on the award-winning Twitch streamer. His sentence “And there’s the reroll” sounded almost triumphant. He speaks of a “purge,” a cleansing.
Unprecedented backlash against the PC company
This was the consequence: The streamer then wrote that she felt herself and her channel “made small” and “defamed”. She won honestly and feels cheated of her winnings.
This caused a huge wave:
- There was a lot of sympathy for the streamer. One major PC builder, JayzTwoCents, even offered to get her an even better PC, gleefully stepping on the competition he already saw as inferior
- There has been a ton of criticism for Noah Katz and his company Artesian Builds, who have become “Public Enemy #1” on Twitter and Twitch.
- Large partners and sponsors of the company jumped out as a result and distanced themselves from the PC hobbyist company. Twitch streamer Nickmercs called the behavior “very weird”, Tarkov expert Pestily wanted nothing more to do with Artesian builds.
In addition, umpteen other content creators now shed light on what is wrong with the company:
- Streamer Alinity said she received a totally bold and cheeky offer from the company (via Dexerto).
- Others revealed that the company had previously been arrogant towards small streamers.
- Others said that taxes would also be evaded (via youtube).
That’s the consequence now: As the company announced on March 9th, it will go out of business. It is now seeking outside help to reposition itself so that customers, employees and creditors are treated fairly.
We are open to help and investments.
Another tweet states that they are now considering whether the employees can buy the company and continue it. Apparently, the CEO was generally identified as the main culprit in the action.
We reported in detail on the actual incident on MeinMMO on March 3rd:
The head of a PC tinkering company is mean to a small streamer on Twitch – immediately regrets it
