Players and fans were not impressed when Valve debuted it’s new card-trading game Artifact back in November. While reactions to the overall gameplay were mixed, the developer and its title received a great deal of heat for the high costs to be found within the game.
And it seems that frustration is taking a toll on active player numbers. Back in December, Gaming LYF reported that Artifact had lost more than 60% of its players during its first week of availability on Steam. According to SteamCharts, that number has spiraled even lower, totaling a player loss count of 97%.
As of Midnight (GMT) last night, the game has a player count of just 1,639 users.
The low numbers come even after Valve released a major update on December 21, which saw players being able to level up their accounts and gain free items such as card packs. But while the update increased the player count for a while, it has dropped back to where they initially were.
The future does not look bright for Artifact, as the card-trading game continues to be dominated by other popular titles such as Hearthstone, and Magic Duels, which is now free to play. While the developer may have been able to re-invigorate titles such as Counter-Strike in the past, it remains doubtful that gamers will return to Artifact.
Last Updated: January 15, 2019
WickedMONK3Y
January 15, 2019 at 15:46
Games that try and fleece users must die a horrible fiery death!
Pariah
January 16, 2019 at 06:50
You haven’t played it, have you? HS tries to fleece users. HS is P2W. Artifact requires nothing more than the purchase price, UNLESS you want to play competitive constructed. Which is really only a small part of the game.
GIAPPOSU
January 17, 2019 at 01:06
You are delusional.
You don’t need to pay to play hs in constructed, you need to shop to play on top of the ladder. Its the same. I made legend with wilfred frizzabomb ffs, 1600 dust.
And hs has other things to do too: arenas brawls and normals.
Artifact you pay the game 20 bucks, HS is free, with 20 bucks you can buy the 2 packages or an old adventure and disenchant everything to build ANY META deck in the game.
Hs has IN GAME currency, has quests and gifts you stuff for doing the free adventure FOR FREE.
If you are really comparing the price, you are doing it wrong.
Keep lying to yourself and people on forums, I’m glad artifact is dying, it proves you wrong.
They were too greedy and got what they deserved, they should have made a b2p game with at max skins (golden cards) and dlc’s added after. They choose greediness masked as elitism and got obliterated from the market.
Original Heretic
January 15, 2019 at 16:10
But the big question I have is: when are we getting Artifact 3?
Pariah
January 16, 2019 at 06:50
A few months before Star Citizen 😛
caponeil
January 15, 2019 at 19:14
I still play. Sigh!
Pariah
January 16, 2019 at 06:50
Me too.
Magoo
January 16, 2019 at 08:14
And VS Gaming replaced the Hearthstone league with Artifact this year. >.>
CrAiGiSh
January 16, 2019 at 10:10
Glad I didn’t get this.