[2022] Who is developing Western version of Lost Ark? Smilegate, or Amazon?

Strictly speaking, Smilegate RPG is still the primary developer of the game, which means they are responsible for the coding, builds, development, etc, etc, and Amazon Games is the publisher, which means we do things like Market, support Live Ops, Localize, more etc, etc. But, we are partners and we work together and in tandem, sharing feedback back and forth and working through things together

That is… a whole lot to pull from my comment that said none of those things, and is not accurate at all. As I stated above, work together when it comes to making decisions; no team is “gatekeeping” another. Sitting in a meeting room isn’t “Smilegate vs Amazon,” it’s a bunch of adults talking through different perspectives, data, and feedback, and reaching a conclusion through discussion and collaboration.