Valve Commits to Solving Artifact's "Deep-Rooted Issues"

Literally no one is going to be surprised to hear that Artifact, Valve’s DOTA-based TCG, is not doing as great as they might have liked. While the initial response to the gameplay itself was great – people seemed to really like the act of actually playing – the monetization scheme behind it was less-than-loved, where fans had to literally spend money to buy packs, cards, or trade cards between themselves... which was problematic, as the game already had a $20 entrance fee, unlike most digital trading card games.

Which is why it was unsurprising, in recent weeks, when we got news that they were laying off positions within the company that were related to Artifact, or that concurrent user numbers were dangerously low, in the triple digits on the good days. All clear signs that the game straight-up wasn’t doing too hot.

And late last week, Valve finally admitted it themselves in a blog post.

“When we launched Artifact, we expected it would be the beginning of a long journey, that it would lay the foundation for years to come. Our plan was to immediately dive into our normal strategy of shipping a series of updates driven by the dialogue community members were having with each other and with us.

Obviously, things didn't turn out how we hoped. Artifact represents the largest discrepancy between our expectations for how one of our games would be received and the actual outcome. But we don't think that players misunderstand our game, or that they're playing it wrong. Artifact now represents an opportunity for us to improve our craft and use that knowledge to build better games.”

They go on to admit that the game has “deep-rooted issues” and that instead of releasing new features or content, they need to correctly re-examine the game as a whole (the design, the economy, and the social experience) and do some major overhauls. There were no specifics listed, either in terms of plans or dates, but they said they would “get back to you as soon as we are ready”.

A good sign? Kind of. We’ll have to see how they decide to correct the game because clearly, the economy isn’t the only problem; after all, people who already spent 20 bucks on the game were still ditching it in droves after a few days. But considering all the other problems Valve is facing right now, maybe fixing Artifact should be closer to the bottom of their to-do list?

Just a thought.