spacecraft998

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@Losing_LOA OG was cooking but they tried to censor him😄https://t.co/OD82jeAaFc

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

Original post:

The Executive Scheme Destroying Lost Ark That No One Is Talking About

The problem with maintaining a web of lies and deception is that it becomes exponentially more expensive to upkeep. Obfuscation and censorship are not sustainable long-term. People are not dumb. You can lay off entire teams to temporarily inflate your quarterly P&L and redirect resources elsewhere, but the consequences are inevitable. The bugs will continue to accrue and more players will start to notice.

"If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."

The Power Play
The primary reason Christoph Hartmann (the current head of Amazon Games) is diverting resources away from Lost Ark is because that publishing deal predates his tenure as head of Amazon Games. He's actively defunding projects that pre-date his tenure in order to give his new ventures the best chance of success. New executives typically follow this predictable strategy—they seldom invest in inherited projects when they can promote their own ventures that will shape their professional reputation and bonus structure. Ruthless macro play but only the most ruthless breathe the rarefied air of the C-suite at a F500. GG Chris.

By running Lost Ark on a skeleton crew, he gets to divert maximum resources to his unreleased titles while still extracting revenue from the existing player base. If the game somehow survives this treatment? He still gets the cash flow. If it eventually fails due to neglect? Even better – he can point to the "failing metrics" as justification to completely eliminate its funding and redirect the entire budget to his future projects. It's a calculated strangulation that benefits him regardless of the outcome. Nice maneuvering, Chris.

Act #1: The Strategic Layoffs and Reassignments
In 2023, AGS underwent two major rounds of layoffs across the entire organization. In 2024, there was another, quieter round of layoffs. These weren't random cost-cutting measures – they were targeted. The teams supporting pre-Hartmann projects like Lost Ark were disproportionately affected.

Let's take a look at Roxx's trajectory, the most public-facing community manager for Lost Ark. She was recently promoted to focus on global partnerships for new third-party games. This isn't a coincidence. Leadership is pulling talent away from Lost Ark (and other old projects) and redirecting it toward their new ventures. The most visible and effective community liaison is now working on Hartmann's new partnerships instead of supporting the existing player base.

Additionally, AGS support tickets, which once received a fair amount of human attention (through manual review), have transitioned to a fully automated appeal system. As a result, some bans are now instantly appealable within minutes, while others are automatically declined without proper review.

So, how does this explain AGS's radio silence on recent issues? It's straightforward: Hartmann deliberately gutted the team responsible for customer service. The remaining skeleton crew serves his purpose perfectly – they keep the lights on just enough to avoid immediate shutdown while ensuring all meaningful resources flow his way.

Act #2: The Mokoko Exploit
Take the Mokoko exploit, for example. This was a severe game-breaking issue that multiple players tried to report on discord for three whole weeks, yet the team remained silent. The only reason AGS took action by week 4 was because a content creator publicly exposed the exploit on stream, forcing an emergency shutdown of players' strongholds. This isn't incompetence – it's by design. Hartmann benefits from letting pre-existing games deteriorate while maintaining plausible deniability. Think about how game breaking that exploit was, yet the turnaround from report to resolution was 4+ weeks.

Act #3: No Communication is Good PR
Why does AGS benefit from staying silent? It's simply standard PR avoidance – corporations routinely minimize communication during challenging transitions to prevent negative publicity and maintain operational flexibility. This textbook damage control approach allows them to make internal adjustments without triggering premature community reactions or creating statements that might later contradict business decisions. The recent ban on bussing advertising isn't about improving the game – it's about creating metrics Hartmann can point to in meetings to justify keeping Lost Ark on life support while he continues to redirect its resources elsewhere. This slow, deliberate strangulation of the game has been ongoing since he took over, and it's accelerating.

TLDR: AGS (under Hartmann's leadership) wants players to remain unaware that he's tanking old projects to benefit his future/unreleased titles and projects. The recent drop in communication & support isn't that deep – it's about extracting maximum value while gradually shifting all meaningful resources to Hartmann's projects. Don't be caught off guard by this executive maneuvering. Spread the word and stay informed.

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@Losing_LOA OG was cooking but they tried to censor him😄https://t.co/OD82jeAaFc

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@ajassy

@HenryStelter

@roxxlyy

@NVIDIAGFN

@amazon

We're nearing 9 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended for no valid reason. Can PAYING CUSTOMERS get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action instead of on a PPT slide ❤️

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@ajassy @HenryStelter @roxxlyy @NVIDIAGFN @amazongames @amazon
We're nearing 8 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended. Can we please get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action ❤️https://t.co/2iOk7Kr4bt

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@playlostark Can you please escalate the issue of players being automatically banned by EAC for playing through GeForce NOW (a partner you have listed on your official website)? Its been a week already and there hasn't even been an acknowledgement on the matter.

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@HenryStelter @ajassy
@HenryStelter
@roxxlyy
@NVIDIAGFN
@amazon
We're nearing 8 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended. Can we please get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action ❤️

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@HenryStelter @ajassy
@HenryStelter
@roxxlyy
@NVIDIAGFN
@amazon
We're nearing 8 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended. Can we please get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action ❤️

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@roxxlyy @ajassy
@HenryStelter
@roxxlyy
@NVIDIAGFN
@amazon
We're nearing 8 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended. Can we please get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action ❤️

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@roxxlyy @playlostark @ajassy
@HenryStelter
@roxxlyy
@NVIDIAGFN
@amazon
We're nearing 8 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended. Can we please get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action ❤️

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@ajassy @ajassy
@HenryStelter
@roxxlyy
@NVIDIAGFN
@amazon
We're nearing 8 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended. Can we please get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action ❤️

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@ajassy @ajassy
@HenryStelter
@roxxlyy
@NVIDIAGFN
@amazon
We're nearing 8 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended. Can we please get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action ❤️

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@ajassy
@HenryStelter
@roxxlyy
@NVIDIAGFN
@amazon

We're nearing 8 days of radio silence on the issue of hundreds of paying customers getting suspended. Can we please get some assistance? We love 'customer obsession' and 'bias for action' but we prefer to see it in action ❤️❤️❤️

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@playlostark Can you please escalate the issue of players being automatically banned by EAC for playing through GeForce NOW (a partner you have listed on your official website)? Its been a week already and there hasn't even been an acknowledgement on the matter.

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@playlostark @ajassy @HenryStelter @roxxlyy @NVIDIAGFN @amazon The new EAC rollout (as of the last 2 weeks) is now inducing a new category of false bans for non Geforce users (people suspect it could be any sort of mass reporting). It all gets marked as an EAC ban though. Can we get an update?

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@NVIDIAGFN @playlostark @roxxlyy @HenryStelter After 8 days of downtime, you've finally restored service to Lost Ark, however the initial bug on Geforce Now (which you claim to have resolved now) caused many users to get incorrectly suspended through EAC ("EAC - Forbidden tool detected -> disconnect). Have you touched base with the AGS ops team to assist & help them identify what tripped the false bans? There's been no acknowledgement for 2 weeks.

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@hollowic @playlostark @roxxlyy Thanks for chiming in. Hopefully we (paying customers) get some semblance of support instead of an automated chatbot message.

[Jay @hollowic]

@spacecraft42523 @playlostark AFAIK, people are still being hit with that EAC permanent ban and everyone who has appealed has received the same automated response. @roxxlyy has said they would give an update. I know both US and Canada has a holiday today on Monday, but really hoping they would give an update

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@playlostark Can you please escalate the issue of players being automatically banned by EAC for playing through GeForce NOW (a partner you have listed on your official website)? Its been a week already and there hasn't even been an acknowledgement on the matter.

[spacecraft998 @spacecraft42523]

@amazongames @playlostark How hard is it to run a query for suspensions handed out during the 4 day span where 'GeForce Now' was falsely disconnecting players every 5 minutes for having 'forbidden tools open'? Please AGS step it up.