Valve is ending all development on Artifact, its Dota 2-based digital card game. The company made the announcement today.
Artifact debuted in November 2018 for PC. The digital card game didn’t manage to sustain an audience. Unlike hits like Hearthstone, Artifact did not launch as a free-to-play game. It cost $20, and players could spend more money on cards.
Complicated play systems that tried to replicate Dota 2’s shops and lane mechanics may have also turned off players. Following the failure of the original Artifact, Valve began working on a reboot. Artifact 2.0 entered into closed beta in March 2020.
“While we’re reasonably satisfied we accomplished most of our game-side goals, we haven’t managed to get the active player numbers to a level that justifies further development at this time,” Valve explains.
Both the original version of Artifact and the 2.0 beta, now called Artifact Foundry, will be available for free to everyone going forward. Without any future updates, both titles aren’t likely to attract many players.
Artifact is the second major game to give up on a reboot recently, following BioWare’s announcement that it was stopping development of Anthem Next.