I think you are heavily underestimating what a Publisher is and can request changed for them to publish a game. They aren’t directly involved in the development but can request things.
Also it’s a 2 way street, the publisher wants money so they don’t have an interest to go against the devs and not publish what they are given , but the devs also want money and don’t have an interest to argue against publishers and get denied in the market.
Except the game’s already launched in Korea with a year’s worth of content ahead of us and they work closely with AGS to manage the timing of what’s launched and AGS said that in their apology announcement when they gave us all that free stuff last month.
I don’t like Amazon either, but it’s weird that you call me a sheep and also say “Smilegate can’t do anything about this.” Imagine defending Smilegate that hard and calling me a sheep.
???
Smilegate makes recommendations. Amazon says yes or no. Amazon makes recommendations. Smilegate says yes or no. But unlike Amazon, they need a reason to say no. The lack of stuff in the shop could be Smilegate’s recommendation, I have no idea. But Amazon could overrule that. To think otherwise is foolish.
That’s the question I was proposing too tbh.
Hence why I don’t like Amazon either. 
Smilegate have full ownership of the game, its their game, they are giving AGS the priviligate to launch their game in the west, its a gift, but that doesnt mean that AGS rules over SM cuz they dont
Have you not played BDO? U think Kakao Games had ANY power over pearlabyss? lmao
Pearlabyss if Kakao refused to impliment a system or a patch that Pearl gave them cuz they knew it wouldnt go down with their playerbase Pearl would just hold all the new content hostage untill the western version of BDO goes into a content drought and Kakao had to give in to Pearls demands.
which is why Pearl eventually self published in the West because Kakao was constently trying to fight their decisions for their western playerbase to make the game better for the western market. Either way, they couldnt do it cuz Pearl would just give them the finger when they did and after time they always had to give in
AGS do not own Lost Ark, they got no real say about anything, its Smilegates.
Its like saying my supermarket have a say in the creation of new Ben and Jerry flavors etc just because they sell it in their store
Too late. Already spent 5k on this game lol. 150$ for 12k crystals - gold 15k seems like a good deal
Hehe
I love and spend money in this good f2p game and you can’t do anything about it
dont tell me how to spend my money
Skins?!
That’s a cute position. But no.
Smilegate owns it, but that’s essentially it. They’re a kid with a ball. Amazon is the bully that decides what everyone is doing with the ball. Who does what, where, why, and how. If Smilegate crys, then Amazon simply tells them “you can take your ball and go home, no one will play with you here.” So they 2 choices, comply, or walk. That’s it. They’ll cater to every whim Amazon has, because even though they don’t own it, they’re in control.
U are so wrong, smilegate controls it, amazon games controls nothing xD they can give smilegate the feedback and tell them west would like this and that, but in the end its smilegate making the decision
this is why amazon games didnt release a roadmap for the longest time, cuz smilegate literally sent someone to america to oversee it etc
if amazon dont want to publish their game anymore, smilegate could easily find a new publisher or just self publish lol
amazon got no power
but lucky for both parts they arent in a toxic relationships but want it to work so they work things out together
Yeah. Ok. Like I said, it’s cute you think so. If Smilegate could afford to self publish… they would. There’s no reason not to if you can afford it. There’s no upside to having a 3rd party publisher other than saving you money. But having a publisher means answering to that publisher. That’s the entire point of their existence, depending upon their necessity.
If Smilegate decides to self publish, things would only get better. But as long as they don’t, you’re wrong.
Why didnt pearl abyss self publish bdo then? they didnt but now they are, they want to make sure its worth it first lol.
The reason Tencent got the reigns of Riot Games is because Tencent BOUGTH riot games, they own them. Reason Microsoft rules over Activision Blizzard is because Microsoft BOUGHT Activions Blizzard
Reason EA get to tell Dice what to do, is because EA PAYS Dice to make them a game
Amazon Games didnt pay smilegate to make them lost ark, lost ark was already an IP nor did amazon games buy smilegate
Look at BDO, look at Destiny 2, publishers, got no power
You really have no clue what you’re talking about. The reason pearl abyss didn’t self publish was because they couldn’t afford it at first. Later on they decided it was worth it IN ORDER TO NOT HAVE TO ANSWER TO THE PUBLISHER ANYMORE. But you believe whatever you want. This. Santa. Invisible old guy in the sky… Nothing will change your mind apparently so you just go on believing.
You really have no clue what your talking about.
Pearl abyss never had to answer to kakao games, reason they didnt renew the contract and said f*** off to kakao games is cuz kakao games didnt do what pearl told them to do, but tried to fight pearl abyss decisions.
Pearl would make a new system that they impliment in the KR version of the game. then send it over to kakao games and say “here, put this in the western version”
Kakao would say “no we wont do that, our playerbase dont want it”
Pearl would then go “okey, then dont, but we will not send u new content, new patches if u dont do as we want”
eventually the western playerbase went “WHY DID KR GET A NEW ZONE AND NEW CLASS 5 MONTHS AGO AND ITS NOT HERE YET!!!”
so kakao impliements the system pearl sent them 6 months ago for pearl to send them the patch their game despertley need to survive
due to this toxic relationship and kakao not doing what pearl wanted them to do, is why pearl did not renew kakaos contract and why they decided to self publish when it ended.
Sure, kakao games could do “whatever” they wanted with their version of the game, they could, not impliemtn what pearl abyss sent them, but pearl abyss had just the same amount of right, to not send anything over to kakao games
so whos actually in power here?
I spend money because this game deserves it.
The game is incredible, yes they are restrictions but more about the golds than anything else.
It is also a game designed to be played with alts, they also restricted the contain to not overwhelm the players.
Some activities in KR were bounded to characters and you could do them on multiples alts but they changed it to only once a day ( I think it was the chaos gate for example) to avoid burning the players.
If you think this game doesn’t deserve any money and you see only the issues, well it is up to you. Others think different.
You should always spend money on food and shelter first.
Never have I seen a more stupid post on these forums.
You, sir, clearly deserve this 
I agree with OP.
i’m pretty sure who has the rights to decide what in this game is determined in the contract both sides signed. just bc it was like this and that in another case doesnt neccessarily mean its the same with lost ark. and unless one side or both tell us how it’s handled here in detail we will never know who’s fault unpopular decisions are.
i think it’s really not fruitful to engage in discussions about who is to blame, in the end if you are dissatisfied with anything its BOTH their fault. Even if for example AGS made SG implement all the “bad” stuff, it’s SG fault for giving them the opportunity to do so. In the end it’s their game, if they negotiated a contract in which they have no say in these matters they are to blame as well.