One and a half years after announcing a complete reboot of the Dota 2 collectible card game, Artifact, Valve have released a statement confirming that development has ceased entirely.
The statement cites low active player numbers as the primary reason, having failed to increase the level 'that justifies further development on the Artifact 2.0 Beta'.
However, Valve will not be removing the game from Steam. Instead, they have released two versions of the game which they say are fully free-to-play.
Artifact Classic will see players be given all cards, and packs will no longer be on sale. Those who have already paid for cards will see them become special Collector's Edition versions, and can be traded on Steam Marketplace. The paid tickets have been removed, and those who initially paid for the game will continue to earn packs of Collector's Edition Cards.
Artifact Foundry, the 2.0 Beta, is released in its unfinished, but fully functional state. It sees players access cards through playing the game. No cards earned in this form will be marketable.
Widely anticipated when first announced at The International 7, Artifact failed miserably upon launch. Much of the hype came thanks to its designer, Richard Garfield — the lauded creator of CCG behemoth Magic: The Gathering.
While its three-lane mechanics were praised initially, players criticised its monetization model in particular, and it gained a reputation for being pay-to-win. Players could only get new cards from paid packs, and they also had to pay for special tickets to enter Draft mode in the hope new cards could be won.
Numbers tanked quickly, to the point where it had less than a couple thousand concurrent players just two months later. This forced Valve into action, and they announced a pause on updates to re-evaluate the game.
Following Garfield and fellow Magic alum Skaff Elias being laid off from Valve in March 2020, it could be said the writing was on the wall.
Now, Artifact is officially dead in terms of active development, but it will be interesting to see how player numbers pan out now it is fully accessible to all.
