Valve wants to try again with Artifact 2.0 after the game failed on Steam. One of the key features for obtaining cards is being removed completely.
One of the biggest flops in gaming in recent years was certainly Artifact. Valve’s card game was supposed to take down other games like Hearthstone, Shadowverse, or Magic and excite card fans all over the world. That didn’t work out – after just a few weeks, Artifact lost 97% of its players and the game disappeared into oblivion. For a long time, there was no news from the developers – now Artifact 2.0 is supposed to come and promises to bring some drastic changes.
What is going to change? In a blog post on Steam, the developers explained what the rough roadmap for the development of Artifact 2.0 looks like. They also talked about one of the biggest changes: Buying and selling cards will no longer be possible in Artifact 2.0.
At the same time, the developers announced that players will not be able to purchase card packs. They want to monetize other areas of the game and already have a few ideas.
This means that all cards will likely be available solely through gameplay and there will be no trading between players.
Why is card trading being removed? For many players, trading on the Steam “Market Place” was an important unique feature of Artifact, but in the long run, it seems to have harmed the game. Although the developers do not provide specific reasons, it was clear at that time what the card trading led to. Players who wanted to spend a lot of money could quickly assemble the perfect decks. Those who did not invest money had to wait a long time for suitable cards, which led to frustration.
This is the roadmap for Artifact 2.0: The developers have so far announced four steps that broadly describe how the progression of Artifact 2.0 will unfold. These are:
- “Testing boring stuff”: Internally, initial tests of Artifact 2.0 are already taking place. This is mainly about whether the gaming experience is smooth and whether the general vision of the goal is being achieved, as well as technical foundations.
- Beta invitations will be sent out. There is no exact date for this yet.
- The game is supposed to stay in closed beta for a while, giving developers time to prepare Artifact 2.0 for an open beta.
- The beta is to be exited and Artifact 2.0 released. Here, there is a bit of joking, hoping to be faster than with Dota 2 – that took almost 2 years back then.
Who gets into the beta? Beta access will be distributed randomly, but players who played the original Artifact will receive early access. However, this only applies retroactively – anyone who buys Artifact now will not receive early access to the beta of Artifact 2.0.
If you want to play something with a friend before Artifact 2.0 launches, check out these 5 games.
Are you excited about an improved Artifact 2.0 without purchasable cards? Or did you find this aspect particularly interesting?
