Is Artifact already a dead game?

Maple · Jan 1, 2019

I've been thinking about getting Artifact for a while, but decided to wait until I had some extra money after the holidays. However, I've noticed that the game seems to have completely disappeared into irrelevancy.

I pulled up Twitch to watch some streams, and oddly enough...couldn't find it. So I scrolled, and scrolled, and scrolled....and finally, I found it. Down with Hyrule Warriors, Super Mario Bros 3, etc, at just 791 viewers. I clicked on the page and found that just 26 people were streaming the game.

So I decided to go to the Steam stats page to find out how many people were playing and...it's not even listed. The last game on the list is MapleStory 2 with 3,783 players, which means Artifact has fewer players currently than that.

All of this is rather stunning to me. I didn't expect this game to have Dota 2 levels of popularity. Or even Hearthstone. But let's recap a few things about this game:

It's made by Valve.
It's a collectible trading card game, and the digital competitors to Artifact (Hearthstone, MTG Arena, etc) are doing well.
It was built from the ground up for competitive viability.
It's based on Dota 2 lore.

Any one of those would be big enough alone, but the fact that this game checks all four of those boxes and is doing this poorly is rather stunning. Prior to the game's release, I thought Artifact would stabalize around 5k viewers on Twitch, with around 15k-20k people playing on Steam at any given time.

But less than 800 viewers on Twitch? And not even listed on Steam's Game stats page?

Is Artifact still a game worth purchasing? It looks so appealing to me, but with so few people apparently playing, I'm worried about long term support. This game is supposed to come to iOS/Android later this year as well, and now I'm wondering if that's even going to happen. If these numbers don't improve, how long will Valve devote resources into this game? The last thing I want to do is purchase the game, start spending money on cards, only for Valve to do what Blizzard recently did with HotS.

jon bones · Jan 1, 2019

It's a fantastic game with a playerbase big enough to get games constantly & instantly.

I would focus less on Twitch views and dive right on in. Once the big tourny arrives and a mobile client drops, the game may grow like CS GO and DOTA 2 ended up with a nice dedicated playerbase.

It won't ever get bigger than Hearthstone, and I don't know if Twitch kids will care about it, but it's certainly worth $20 for draft mode fun.

Deleted member 4367 · Jan 1, 2019

They need a hell of a good first expansion.

Lactose_Intolerant · Jan 1, 2019

Games take too long, so you don't want to keep playing after like 2 games.

That's been my experience

spam musubi · Jan 1, 2019

Service games can turn around. We see it often. Valve have every reason to keep making it successful.

signal · Jan 1, 2019

Was going to come into this thread to jokingly shitpost "It depends on the Twitch numbers" but OP unironically already included it.

Answer though: yes.

Deleted member 28523 · Jan 1, 2019

You can spend 20 dollars and draft for free forever. You can do that for a bit, sell all your cards, and then never touch the game again. That's pretty good value.

jon bones · Jan 1, 2019

nynt9 said:
Service games can turn around. We see it often. Valve have every reason to keep making it successful.

Very true - R6: Siege & Street Fighter V are maybe the best examples of this.

Lackless · Jan 1, 2019

Artifact will forever be haunted by its announcement.

MTR · Jan 1, 2019

It's a very fun game and I think it's worth the $20. Especially because you can draft for free and play some of the event decks. You may even make some money back if you pull good cards. Unfortunately the combination of poor watchability, marked resistance to the economy model and some balance issues have really affected its launch.

Personally I spent a lot of money and have cashed out now without too much of a loss. I think he card pool limits it a bit at the moment. I would consider going all in again if they release a good expansion. I'd just wait and see over the coming month or two how valves plays it from here. So far the responses have been quite swift and appears to show a commitment to fixing it but you never know if they might just fork it and cut their losses.

SteveWinwood · Jan 1, 2019

jon bones said:
Very true - R6: Siege & Street Fighter V are maybe the best examples of this.

Cs go is the best example of a humongous turnaround after a not stellar launch

also a valve game it turns out

sandboxgod · Jan 1, 2019

I've been tempted to buy the game but the price of the cards still seem a bit high. And I hate loot boxes (so I ain't paying for that). I know I can play the free draft mode but I've never really been big on draft modes. Idk man.

RestEerie · Jan 1, 2019

they really need to put these on mobile....with crossplay with the PC....

if blizzard can do it, why can't valve?

fertygo · Jan 1, 2019

Can people stay away from the game pls, so the card value can stay high so I can keep profiting from prize mode

kthxbye

rashbeep · Jan 1, 2019

Lackless said:
Artifact will forever be haunted by its announcement.

still funny

Deleted member 28523 · Jan 1, 2019

RestEerie said:
they really need to put these on mobile....with crossplay with the PC....

if blizzard can do it, why can't valve?

They are doing it. It's not at launch. Just like blizzard.

ZeroX · Jan 1, 2019

It's a great score for $20, you can refund if you don't like it and the marketplace still sells cards for enough that if you want to cash out you'll probably turn a profit with the additional free packs and tickets they give away now.

You can also still find games at most levels within seconds.

Nintendo · Jan 1, 2019

ZeroX said:
It's a great score for $20, you can refund if you don't like it and the marketplace still sells cards for enough that if you want to cash out you'll probably turn a profit with the additional free packs and tickets they give away now.

You can also still find games at most levels within seconds.

Yeah, I made much more than $20 by selling cards.

Deleted member 13645 · Jan 1, 2019

It looks like the 24 hour peak for the game is 3,628 so it's not a steep drop from Maplestory 2 to Artifact.

https://steamcharts.com/app/583950#1m

Here's the 1 month chart for the active playerbase. It seems to have been fairly steady in the last month.

jon bones · Jan 1, 2019

RestEerie said:
they really need to put these on mobile....with crossplay with the PC....

if blizzard can do it, why can't valve?

coming to iOS & Android this year!

Dark Knight · Jan 1, 2019

I love Artifact but I have very little urge to play if I don't have steam bucks in my wallet to buy more tix lol

fertygo · Jan 1, 2019

Nintendo said:
Yeah, I made much more than $20 by selling cards.

Artifact literally pay my internet bill this month lol

ZeroX · Jan 1, 2019

fertygo said:
Can people stay away from the game pls, so the card value can stay high so I can keep profiting from prize mode

kthxbye

more newbies getting free tickets = bigger pool of players for easy wins

i hate cheaters · Jan 1, 2019

it's a long way away from dead

turn-based games don't need that many concurrent players. you only need to find 1 person to play against, and they can be anywhere in the world since latency is not a factor. skill is also not much of a factor in artifact, so the matchmaking doesn't even have to be that granular

the idea that a 1v1 game needs thousands of concurrent users is absurd. most games i've ever played would be dead by the ridiculous definitions i see going around this forum.

if you're worried about whether the game will be supported in terms of getting new content, that's actually a legitimate concern rather than player count. i'm not worried about that because:

valve has deep pockets
artifact isn't free-to-play, so there's more average revenue per player than you'd see from ccg's

mjc · Jan 1, 2019

It has a trash economy and card acquisition system.

collige · Jan 1, 2019

I think it'll be fine in the long run once with more patches, a mobile release, and an expansion but it really is unbelievable how badly Valve botched the launch. The game should've been delayed till this year imo and pushing it out the door in November really fucked the word of mouth. You only get one chance to make a first impression.

Maple · Jan 1, 2019

mjc said:
It has a trash economy and card acquisition system.

I was under the impression that most people actually preferred the card acquisition system in Artifact.

funky · Jan 1, 2019

It seems more about playing the Steam Marketplace then playing the game itself.

In the end Valve still makes money so they probably wont do anything to change it drastically yet.

collige · Jan 1, 2019

SteveWinwood said:
Cs go is the best example of a humongous turnaround after a not stellar launch

also a valve game it turns out

CS:GO wasn't a Valve game at launch though

Qvoth · Jan 1, 2019

imo you should judge the state of the game after the 1st artifact international
got the game for free so i ain't complaining, the game itself is quite fun
though if you're never going to spend any money but is aiming to have a complete card colletion then this game isn't for you, technically it's possible but you have to be really good at the game

ZeroX · Jan 1, 2019

Maple said:
I was under the impression that most people actually preferred the card acquisition system in Artifact.

Most players do, that person didn't like the game before they even played it. They also pulled a valuable card and could've just made their money back from the game anyway.

funky said:
It seems more about playing the Steam Marketplace then playing the game itself.

You can literally just pay $20 and stick to draft and not worry about the marketplace at all (or just sell any cards you earn).

jon bones · Jan 1, 2019

Maple said:
I was under the impression that most people actually preferred the card acquisition system in Artifact.

yeah, it's far better than Hearthstone / MtGA if you don't have 100s to grind

funky said:
It seems more about playing the Steam Marketplace then playing the game itself.

In the end Valve still makes money so they probably wont do anything to change it drastically yet.

they already drastically changed their approach to balancing cards and allowing players to earn packs in game

no idea what the steam marketplace gaming is about, the actual game is a blast

sandboxgod · Jan 1, 2019

fertygo said:
Artifact literally pay my internet bill this month lol

Yeah but you're a pro player. I remember watching you play on HS stream a year ago when I was active in that game (not anymore, havent played in about a yr)

You guys got my attention with this "Cashing out" statement. I get it now- so if I don't like the game (which is unlikely) I could always cash out. Interesting....

matimeo · Jan 1, 2019

Asked a few friends who have played card games forever , tournaments, etc and some who are game designers as well. The game itself has some core issues for them.

Also heard what was already echoed here the pacing is not great.

None of them mentioned the marketplace stuff , they couldn't get past the core game issues.

It's always harder to move from things like Magic and the accessibility of a hearthstone to any new game however.

What happened to all the streamers pre launch praising the game? Are they still playing themselves a lot ?

ZeroX · Jan 1, 2019

sandboxgod said:
Yeah but you're a pro player. I remember watching you play on HS stream.

You guys got my attention with this "Cashing out" statement. I get it now- so if I don't like the game (which is unlikely) I could always cash out. Interesting....

Basically if you play the tutorial and really hate the game, you can get a steam refund before you open your packs.

After you've opened your packs, you can't refund, but you can sell any cards you open. The game will give you weekly packs (technically you can grind them out faster, but the huge EXP bonuses are weekly) and tickets to play prize events. With all of that, you'll get enough cards to sell and make the $20 back and then some.

matimeo said:
Asked a few friends who have played card games forever , tournaments, etc and some who are game designers as well. The game itself has some core issues for them.

Also heard what was already echoed here the pacing is not great.

None of them mentioned the marketplace stuff , they couldn't get past the core game issues.

It's always harder to move from things like Magic and the accessibility of a hearthstone to any new game however.

What happened to all the streamers pre launch praising the game? Are they still playing themselves a lot ?

Eh? The core game is widely agreed upon to be the strongest part and the main reason anyone stayed after launch. It's phenomenally well designed. It was the consensus in reviews too. The games definitely take a while though and that's why I only play 2-3 a day.

sandboxgod · Jan 1, 2019

matimeo said:
Asked a few friends who have played card games forever , tournaments, etc and some who are game designers as well. The game itself has some core issues for them.

Also heard what was already echoed here the pacing is not great.

None of them mentioned the marketplace stuff , they couldn't get past the core game issues.

It's always harder to move from things like Magic and the accessibility of a hearthstone to any new game however.

What happened to all the streamers pre launch praising the game? Are they still playing themselves a lot ?[/QUOTE]

I attended Blizzcon 2016 and took pics with some popular HS streamers. They are good guys BUT---

You cant trust a damn thing they say. They are in Blizzard's pockets hard. They cannot leave that game because they will lose a crapton of views. I unsubbed all HS streamers because they are tethered to that game whether they like it or not.

tl;dr- I personally give 0 stock into avg card game streamer. Only one I trust is Lifecoach and SuperJJ because I know 100% they are NOT in Blizzard's pockets

fertygo · Jan 1, 2019

sandboxgod said:
Yeah but you're a pro player. I remember watching you play on HS stream a year ago when I was active in that game (not anymore, havent played in about a yr)

You guys got my attention with this "Cashing out" statement. I get it now- so if I don't like the game (which is unlikely) I could always cash out. Interesting....

I'm sucked at this game tho lol, I'm not anywhere can be close to top leaderboard or even can go infinite yet, but still the return already profitting

Qvoth · Jan 1, 2019

the most popular artifact streamer was savjz and he dropped artifact like a week after launch? since his viewers went down too much
also magic announced their 10 million pro tour, so he returned to magic
even mogwai, who was very involved with artifact (one of the analysts of the 1st artifact pro tournament) dropped artifact like last week? or so

sandboxgod · Jan 1, 2019

ZeroX said:
Basically if you play the tutorial and really hate the game, you can get a steam refund before you open your packs.

After you've opened your packs, you can't refund, but you can sell any cards you open. The game will give you weekly packs (technically you can grind them out faster, but the huge EXP bonuses are weekly) and tickets to play prize events. With all of that, you'll get enough cards to sell and make the $20 back and then some.

Eh? The core game is widely agreed upon to be the strongest part and the main reason anyone stayed after launch. It's phenomenally well designed. It was the consensus in reviews too. The games definitely take a while though and that's why I only play 2-3 a day.

fertygo said:
I'm sucked at this game tho lol, I'm not anywhere can be close to top leaderboard or even can go infinite yet, but still the return already profitting

Alright I'm sold. I think this game is not dying at all. I regularly play many digital card games. The current Steam concurrent quotes look thriving and healthy too me lol. I guess most people expect HS/MtG numbers. I understand where they are coming from- but they not thinking bout the little guys like Slay the Spire, Star realms, Faeria, Eternal, etc. Most card games wish they did Artifact numbers

Deleted member 1190 · Jan 1, 2019

Stop using Twitch as a metric of any sort.

CaptainUnderpants · Jan 1, 2019

When the money making aspect of this game emerges more often in a conversation than the actual gameplay, that's an indicator to me that there's something wrong with the game.

It's like when a lot of people a few years back were obsessed with weapon skins prices as opposed to actual counterstrike matches.

sandboxgod · Jan 1, 2019

Qvoth said:
the most popular artifact streamer was savjz and he dropped artifact like a week after launch? since his viewers went down too much
also magic announced their 10 million pro tour, so he returned to magic
even mogwai, who was very involved with artifact (one of the analysts of the 1st artifact pro tournament) dropped artifact like last week? or so

Yeah this is exactly it right there. This is why I unsubbed him too. I love the HS streamers but they make so much money from Blz they will quit any game unless you pay them for their losses. Even still- they will bail from your game because they have to think about the long term.

(THat's cool he's playing Magic though, but he's following the money like I was getting at)

edit: Artifact needs a huge money pot for pro players. They got any huge tourneys?

Qvoth · Jan 1, 2019

also keep in mind that the casual phantom draft mode is free
you don't keep the cards, that's keeper draft but you gotta spend tickets and packs for that mode

cakely · Jan 1, 2019

That's too bad. It's a great game and I continue to play it. It has a high skill ceiling and I'm still in the early learning stages.

mjc said:
It has a trash economy and card acquisition system.

I like it the way it is. I paid to have unlimited draft and call to arms gauntlet, and to play against my friends. I prefer that to a free to play model that offered a time-consuming grind to earn packs.

My rewards for playing right now are:

I get an enjoyable, skill-based card game.
I learn something and get a little better every time I play it.

That's really all I want. I bought a few very cheap cards (less than $5 total) to build a blackburn deck, but that's it so far. I don't even know what the constructed deck I would want to buy would even look like at this point.

EDIT: I just realized that the OP was using Twitch as a metric of the game's success. Sigh.

Sovereign · Jan 1, 2019

Skab said:
Stop using Twitch as a metric of any sort.

^

fertygo · Jan 1, 2019

CaptainUnderpants said:
When the money making aspect of this game emerges more often in a conversation than the actual gameplay, that's an indicator to me that there's something wrong with the game.

It's like when a lot of people a few years back were obsessed with weapon skins prices as opposed to actual counterstrike matches.

I mean its talked so much because the competitor is f2p

"why you need to buy this with hearthstone/shadowverse being free"

Ferrio · Jan 1, 2019

Great board game, terrible CCG. $20 was well worth it for the call to arms and unlimited drafts. The whole constructed mode and collectible aspect doesn't seem to fit the game at all to me. I feel Valve wanted to chase that market money too badly and undermined the strengths of the game.

ZeroX · Jan 1, 2019

CaptainUnderpants said:
When the money making aspect of this game emerges more often in a conversation than the actual gameplay, that's an indicator to me that there's something wrong with the game.

The problem is severe misinformation that's spread - a lot of that is Valve's fault, but a lot of it is people repeating false information or not taking the time to understand how things work. It's not a F2P game but it's much cheaper than the F2P card game equivalents. The monetization is fair and the latest patch made it even more generous.

The actual gameplay is great, extremely satisfying and has a high skill cap but the internet drama machine has clouded that. The biggest complaint seems to be that games are long.

Qvoth · Jan 1, 2019

Ferrio said:
Great board game, terrible CCG

i agree
valve got too arrogant thinking they can make the new paper magic (but digital lol) when they're competing against HS and magic arena which are free

darkside · Jan 1, 2019

The game is cool but honestly this bomba was predictable from a mile away.

Valve has been training their customers to not pay for games for the last decade plus. And this is the most pay for your game model there could possibly be.

Don't really understand people saying not to use Twitch as a metric for this. Other card games do just fine on Twitch.

Is Artifact already a dead game?

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