Artifact Goes F2P; Valve Ceases Development
Despite attempts, Valve failed to save the card game Artifact. The devs have announced the end of the game's development. Servers, however, will remain active, and the game has switched to full F2P model.
- Valve is ending development of Artifact;
- Both Artifact Classic and the improved version called Artifact Foundry will remain available;
- Both variants have become F2P games, without any microtransactions.
The card game Artifact is a rare case of a Valve game that turned out to be a complete flop. The devs tried long and hard to save it, but finally had to admit that the situation is hopeless. Therefore, they announced the end of development of the project.
The original version of the game (known as Artifact Classic) has not been updated for a long time. For a year and a half, however, the creators have been working on a refreshed version of the game (the so-called Artifact 2.0), which reached the beta stage. It has now been renamed Artifact Foundry and also abandoned.
Valve does not intend to close the servers, however. Artifact Classic and Artifact Foundry will still be available and at the same time they became F2P games. The devs removed all microtransactions, including paid card packs and event tickets.
Artifact debuted in November 2018, after extensive beta testing. The game recorded a very successful start, but began to lose players instantly. In March 2019, the main designers left the team, including Richard Garfield, the father of Magic: The Gathering. Shortly thereafter, development of the project was halted, and Valve began work on version 2.0.
The developers put a lot of effort into refreshing the game, but ultimately it did not bring the expected results. The game has a small but devoted group of fans, but it's too little to make sense to continue investing in the project. Looking at the data from SteamDB, it's hard not to agree with this verdict. In recent weeks, only a few dozen people played Artifact on Steam at the same time. The transition to free-to-play model has increased interest in the game, but not excessively, because at the time of writing this message, 581 people are playing Artifact Classic, and only 309 are playing Artifact Foundry.
