The Artesian Builds drama explained: Giveaway controversy, alleged tax evasion, bankruptcy and more

Artesian Builds was, until very recently, a company that built custom PCs for gamers and streamers. What began as a giveaway stream has ultimately ended in a disaster for the company. The incident led to light being shed on the company.

This included accusations of tax invasion, the company going bankrupt, and the company ultimately shutting down.

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A brief recap of the Artesian Builds drama

The whole controversy began with the Artesian Builds’ CEO livestreaming a giveaway. Kiapiaa, a Twitch streamer, was supposed to win, but the CEO did not approve of their metrics, despite meeting all of the requirements. A huge wave of backlash hit the company as a result.

Following that, a Twitch streamer claimed that Artesian Builds was deliberately making their PC builds weaker by throttling the overall performance, and a debate sparked up on Reddit. A wealth of huge streamers spoke up about the controversy and groups like OTK declared that they would not work with the company.

Artesian Builds then came under fire for alleged tax evasion, and because of this, the company had its business license suspended. The final moment was when the company was shut down indefinitely, and this all began with a giveaway stream.

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The fall of Artesian Builds began with a giveaway

Noah Katz, CEO of the company, openly mocked a Twitch streamer who won their free PC giveaway. The CEO mocked the streamer because of their metrics. The Twitch clip quickly went viral, picking up nearly 2M views on Twitter alone.

The streamer won the giveaway fair and square, but Katz decided to remove them from the contest. The CEO blamed this on the streamer not having a single click on their affiliate link, which wasn't a requirement for the contest. Therefore, it came across as incredibly petty on social media. Numerous big names in the content creation industry have spoken out about it.

The company offered to give the streamer the PC anyway, but they turned it down.

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OTK, Mizkif, and Nickmercs speak out about Artesian Builds

Not too long after the giveaway controversy, several people spoke up about Artesian Builds, including some of the biggest streamers on Twitch. An example of this would have to be Mizkif, who couldn’t believe the PC they sent him was in the sorry shape it was in. He called it a “sh*t PC”, and he wasn’t worried about losing a sponsorship.

OTK, the gaming organization started by Mizkif, Asmongold, Rich Campbell, Esfand and Tips Out, also said they officially parted ways with Artesian Builds. They took everyone in their community who spoke up in consideration, and refused to do further business with the company.

It did not take long for Nickmercs to also speak out about the controversy. Not the one to mince words, Nickmercs of FaZe Clan said that he didn’t want to support the company in any capacity. Nickmercs, a co-owner of FaZe Clan, is one of the biggest names in esports.

While he did briefly talk about how he’s not a fan of cancel culture, he didn’t think any good would come out of the situation.

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YouTuber OnePeg alleges that Artesian Builds weren’t paying their taxes

YouTuber OnePeg alleged that Noah Katz, CEO of the company, wasn’t paying their taxes. The YouTuber talked about a website that looks at corporations and companies that are incorporated into them.

For Artesian Builds, it was Artesian Future Technology, which is the name of a company in North Carolina. The YouTuber then said that as of March 2, 2022, the franchise tax board of Carolina suspended the business license of the company.

In order for the company to resume building PCs as a business, they would have to pay the taxes owed to California, as well as a fee. Artesian Builds had to remain open, but could not conduct business until they paid what was owed. OnePeg also pointed out that during this time period, Noah Katz bought a $150,000 car instead of paying taxes.

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Artesian Builds freeze and suspend activities, and close their doors

Artesian Builds lost many of their previous sponsored streamers, and the company tweeted that they would be open to being bought out. Afterwards, there was talk of an employee-led buy-out. Things were looking incredibly grim for the company.

The next tweet was a notice that all activities were being suspended, and that the company is doing outside analysis and counseling to make sure everyone caught up in the situation is treated fairly. Thanks to one unfortunate PR move, everything spiraled out of control, leading to the bankruptcy of a company.

The future of the company is undecided at this point. There is always a chance of a buyout, with Trainwrecks talking about buying the company and running it in the right manner. This also led to PowerGPU saying they would help take care of the back orders. It’s an unfortunate situation that all began with a very callous dismissal of an affiliate of the company during a giveaway.