Back on November 28th, 2018, Valve attempted to pick up the card game crowd endemic to Hearthstone and Magic the Gathering, but found a formidable challenge in retaining an active player base.
Based upon the universe of DOTA 2 and billed to be a “digital collectible card game” for PC via Steam, comes the game Artifact. Yes, the game is struggling to keep active players and seems to lose more each month.
This information should come in as no surprise to those following the controversial game. Back during the early part of August 2017, Valve unveiled Artifact to be met with the following reaction:
Moreover, according to publication website Gaming Lyf, after Artifact‘s initial launch the title faced a rapid decline in active players. The website reported on December 6th, 2018, that the player-base had lost 60% of players in its first week accompanied by another new low.
This new low was reported early today (January 15th, 2019) by the same website stating that SteamCharts depicts a low player count of 1,639 players.
The publication website calculates that the number of players lost tallies up to around 97%, which is noted to be a “staggering decline particularly for a game created by one of video game’s most revered developers.”
It’s worth noting that games by Valve like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive made a return in 2016 — rising from 30,000 players to 850,000.
CS: GO may have made a comeback, but it doesn’t mean the same magic can work for Artifact, though. The reason behind this is that the website shines light on a situation that happened last year on December 21st, where an update for the game was released. Although the update brought forth a spike, a week later numbers became meek once again. However, the December update doesn’t erase problems such as the live-service setup where the entry fee to play is $19.99, accompanied by a monetization system that creates a “pay-to-win feel.”
For the curious wondering about the game, Artifact is out now and currently available to play on PC via Steam.
