Artifact Appears to Have Already Lost More Than Half Its Players

Valve's new Dota 2 card game has been out for a over a week, but it seems like players are finding it difficult to stick with the game as data shows over half of the players from Artifact's launch week are sticking around.

According to data gathered by vpesports from Steam Charts and SteamDB the peak player count for December 6 is sitting at around 25,000 players, less than the 60,000 player peak on launch day. That's more than 30,000 players who appeared to have bounced from Artifact a week after launch.

Artifact is an original Valve card game based on Dota 2 and designed by Magic: The Gathering's Richard Garfield. Artifact utilizes Dota 2's three lane mechanic, almost to the point where it feels like you might as well just play Dota 2.

There's also the matter of Artifact's pay structure. $20 is the purchase price for Artifact which also nets you a couple pre-made starter decks. Booster packs are purchased at an additional cost and cards can be traded within Steam's digital marketplace. Rewards can be earned in expert play, but those matches require a $1 buy-in for the event ticket. Basically, a lot of the game is hidden behind paywalls.

While Valve has plenty of successful games including Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (Which recently released a battle royale mode) it will be interesting to see how the company reacts if Artifact continues to drop in player interest. Especially as Valve faces new competition from companies like Epic Games.

For more on Valve's card game check out our Artifact guide.