Some of you may remember Artifact, Valve's oft-maligned attempt to break into the digital trading card game market using the DotA IP. The game's announcement in 2017 was met with cheers from live audiences gathered at DotA International, DotA's premier esports tournament, which proved to be a sign of the game's fortunes.
Fast-forward nearly a decade, and the artifact has seen an unexpected resurgence. Overnight on July 10, Artifact's concurrent player count on Steam jumped from about 300 to over 10,000, and it hasn't fallen below 7,000.
The thing is, no one is actually playing Artifact. This is not one of those biological revivals that we often see, but something more mysterious. The only logical answer is that the artifact has been botted, but to what end?
There are certainly automated operations that farm Steam trading cards, which can be sold on the Steam market for a few cents to those who want a complete collection for a particular game.
However, for 10,000 bots to land on an artifact at once, there must be something else going on. You can still buy and sell in-game items from Artifacts on the Marketplace — the Ax card went for over $25 at one time. However, a quick scan doesn't reveal any objects that are obvious targets for cultivation. This is definitely a mystery.
Why did the artwork fail?
Artifact was designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield, who designed a very novel and attractive system consisting of three lanes, mimicking the map of its source material.
However, Artifact's direct integration with the Steam Marketplace quickly turned players off the game. You earn very little just by playing the game, and instead have to spend real money to buy cards.
Although it is not unlike physical trading card games, consumers are less likely to purchase digital cards than physical cards. Artifact also lacks the bells and whistles players now expect from competitive games, such as a ranked system and opportunities to earn additional in-game rewards.
After a month, 95 percent of players had abandoned the artifact and the game's player count never recovered. A short-lived attempt to revive the artifact, dubbed Artifact 2.0, began in 2020, but the project was abandoned entirely by 2021.
artwork
- issued
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November 28, 2018
- ESRB
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e
- developer(s)
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Valve Corporation
- publisher(s)
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Valve Corporation
