Valve hasn’t given up on its online multiplayer card gameArtifact, despite the misfire of a launch it had. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. Valve is reportedly redoubling its efforts to resurrectArtifact. It won’t be a simple retooling, either. Valve is apparently putting together a “larger reboot” than many would assume. Valve is even calling the new projectArtifact 2internally.
The report comes from Edge magazine, which interviewedValve’s CEO Gabe Newell. Newell states that Valve has learned a lot fromArtifact’s initial release on Steam. Valve is in-turn taking those lessons and is applying them toArtifact 2. “And that’s what [Valve’s] been doing and that’s what they’re getting ready to release.” The only firm statement Newell said about what’s coming is that it will work to “justify its existence” to players.
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Newell isn’t splitting hairs about theArtifact’s release, either. While he does approach the topic as if he was an interested third party and not directly involved with the game’s creation, he makes clear he understandsArtifactisn’t what fans wanted. “Artifact was an interesting failure in its first go-round,” is how Newell describes it. Having a CEO openly state one of their games is a failure is an incredible rarity anymore.
Even with his willingness to callArtifacta failure, Newell says it still surprised the team at Valve. “We were surprised. We thought that it was a really strong product.” Newell quickly shifted focus back to the follow-up, however. “We ran an experiment, we got a negative result, and now we need to see if we’ve learned anything from that.” Those who purchased the game likely don’t see it as an experiment, of course.
Unfortunately, Newell doesn’t offer any specific criticism of the originalArtifactor plans for howValvewill be changing things. Those things will become public naturally, of course, asArtifact2.0’s rerelease gets closer.
There are two core aspects ofArtifactthat Valve could possibly target. There’sArtifact’s monetization and then its gameplay.Artifact’s monetization required players purchase randomized card packs, a decision that went over extremely poorly. A lot of goodwill could be earned by doing whatRiot is doing withLegends of Runeterraand only offering cosmetic DLC. As for gameplay, many describedArtifact’s 3-lane gameplay as overwhelming. Valve could change it, or it could stick to its guns. The difference could mean success or another failure.
