The Complete Story Of Artifact – Tragedy Of Valve’s Card Game
With promises of a robust esports scene at launch, the inclusion of Richard Garfield in its development, and rooted in the Dota universe, many believed Artifact had the makings for success. However, upon launch things started to downhill with the hype quickly dissipating and player numbers entering a steep decline, but why?
This is the complete story of Artifact and the tragedy of Valve’s Dota card game.
0:00 – Intro
1:22 – The Hype
14:54 – The Beta
24:58 – The Launch
28:11 – The Long Haul
35:04 – The Big Tournament
40:26 – The System
45:53 – The Silence
52:32 – The Sequel
1:03:04 – The End
Big thanks to the interviewees:
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#gaming #esports
I never even heard about this game. Thank you bringing it to my attention so that I might give it the hate it absolutely deserves.
40:00 is the best moment
Damn. I was initially ,cautiously interested during the hype for Artifact, then dropped than interest when the game released. When I got news of Artifact 2 and the changes it would bring, my interest came back doubled, and I looked forward to its release (as a non-player of Artifact 1, I was not interested in a beta experience). As a casual MtG fan, it had the right appeal to me. The cancelation was kinda frustrating, as I think a lot of people like me would get into the game after release, specially it being free to play
It's scary how unwilling people are to acknowledge that gamers utilise the vote with wallet ability (possibly the only power a consumer of video games has) once scorned. "There's some kind of mental illness in people that makes them use magic powers to wish games into failure just so they can laugh at me", in the segment after they talk about how the dev teams told them to shut up and consume during the closed beta is hilarious.
I bought this on impulse but it wasn't worth it, sadly. On the upside, there's Gwent.
Cool vid, from a huge hs player when I heard the hype I was interested in seeing a competitor, but after seeing a bit of gameplay I knew this appealed to whole different type of player. Dota II pretty much abandoned their willingness to accept teaching new players with their complete lack of a proper tutorial, so I knew it would be the same for artifact. The fact they kept to that on a novel game was bewildering to say the least. Hs in a sense is easy to learn but hard to master (maybe less so on the master part, but not super off either), making the f2p aspect the perfect model. Artifact essentially went a route of hard to learn and master, which meant that even if did succeed it would not be a ‘Hearthstone killer’. It’s a tcg yes, but that’s where the similarities end with a game like hs. It’s a great story, but I found it laughable to consider in hs competition, not due to quality, but the style.
Shartifact
Its a beautiful and interesting game that looks super interesting and deep and i would have loved to try, but I don't want to spend $20 to give it a try just to possibly bounce off of it.
I just realized its free to play now, i might give it a try.
Timing of the announcement had a horrible impact on the game. Afterwards they were silent for 7 months.
I've watched this at least 5 times it is such an amazing video
good good… now we need one for Underlords :(.
Anyone else read Fartifact after the intro?
completely failed monetization and even more failed follow ups. they are selling a brand new card game and expect people pays like as if they are paying for MTG, which has decades of fan base.
It surely interest me as a dota player…but dota was first and foremost free…even though I've spent hundreds of dollars for battlepass…compendium, etc. The core experience was free. I was so disappointed about it being a paid app. I mean, 20-30 bucks wasn't that expensive, I bet if it has nothing to do with Dota, I would consider buying it. But, paying for a card game, based on a free-to-play game was rather out of place, in my opinion.
Was so excited to see the world expand, turns out I can't. Now, even if its free, I would be better just watch Slack's loregasm rather than diving into it myself.
Hello Akshon since it is oficial that Underlords is also dead, will you guys make a video on it?
A subtle but very important part of Artifact that made it absolutely terrible:
It tries to be for the more serious, the more strategic player as compared to Hearthstone. A bold move considering it's a deckbuilding game and it remains based on RNG… but they made this so goddamn much worse with the random creep placement; it is an RNG factor that is worse than not drawing the cards that you need…
I love artifact, great game. A ton of problems tat would have been fixed but they put THE ENTIRE CONTENT behind 2 paywalls: 20 bucks for the game, then 50+ dollars for packs/cards… That is what ruined the game for me. On top of a horrific release and a lack of immediate content fix. Such a massive shame..
It really can't be understated the 20$ entry price was a really poor move.
I was curius about the game, but on the fence as I already was heavly invested in Hearthstone at the time.
It really did not help that the game had a entry price for trying it, and rather confusing to watch.
The nail in the coffin was the fact that eaven if I bought the game, it would be really hard to convince friends to do the same.
Shame really, good game both casual and professional, still is but few will invest in a abandoned project.
My favourtie part about all of these videos is seeing poeple trying to cope the fact that thier games were doom to fail since the beggining.
Valve fanboy who still pretending like Gaben is savior of gaming market on PC, you all really need to wake up from reality. Gaben didn't do anything to improve Valve, they don't makes quality game anymore. Valve today is just greedy company which is why he got trash overrated game filled with MTX crap like CSGO and Dota 2 instead of old good game like Portal, Half Life, Left 4 Dead or even good old Counter Strike. As long Valve fans i can tell you Gaben only interrested to milks Valve fanboy money, he is just corporate greed crap. The real savior of gaming market on PC actually is Phil Spencer, Gamepass is too good to be true that even Steam can't be compared into it. Microsoft keep making good game and doing pro consumer things, meanwhile Valve still interested with cash grab garbage MTX like CSGO and Dota 2, even they made shitty card game like Artifacts which is total shame.
As long PC gamer i'm no longer rooting for Valve, they aren't interrested anymore on improving their service even when they now have competitor like Epic Game. I'm rooting for Microsoft and Xbox now, they are doing so much good thing for Xbox and PC gamer. Screw Gaben, Phil Spencer is my savior now.
Selling the right game to the wrong people always works guys, everytime. I don't know why it does not happen more often. Right Blizzard?
2:50 yup, it's zoom because Trent Kennedy have 69 subscribers
Making a game around nickel and diming people was a bad idea
Three lanes was a bad idea
Pay gated with no progression except paying money was a bad idea
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What did they think was going to happen? Most people I know got into MTG by watching then being gifted cards for free to make a deck then playing and trading cards without spending a dime until they could afford to buy card packs. They didn't stop playing because their cards were old and not the "IN" current sets. This game was a cash grab without any thought put into how people actually get into and play card games in real life.
this game's announcement was much more painful than "you guys have phones right?" from blizzard on diablo immortal mobile game.
57:19 you actually see the goddamn heartbreak in the guys face and also what an amazing video was such a pleasure to watch
Jesus I forgot this existed
Subscribe deserved
Still dont understand why we should pay for a 1v1 game
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If there's one thing about the Red Ring is that they don't make the same mistake twice.
I needs to know is kiwi a boy or a girl
Knew nothing about this game, but great vid man kept my attention the whole time. Got a sub 👍🏻
This and Diablo Immortal are the best examples of how managing expectations during an announcement is very important. Particularly when your studio has numerous highly beloved and anticipated IPs.
While lukewarm reactions may have been inevitable. It was definitely the treatment of these announcements, as these big center pole reveals, that garnered such a negative reflex.
I think non-card game fan’s natural reaction would be skepticism or ambivalence. But when one of your favorite developers says we got something you’re going to be excited about, and plays a bit coy with it, people’s gut instinct is going to turn against them when the actual reveal comes out.
Find myself coming back every now and then just to watch that epic intro 🙂
This video and channel deserve more views
THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME !
Still gonna play physical card names… who doesnt love solitaire.
Just joking, but i do prefer physical card games like the old DnD and magic, yugioh, etc. I dont feel right playing card games that isnt something you hold.
Fun seeing Godwai in here
Does anybody knows who is the music from?
im quite sadden that this video didnt get much traction as the rest of your other video. by far the best video on your channel and it shows.
One of my close friends was in the last 70 active players of Artifact. He was obsessed with the game, but he was also a marketing student. I remember him ranting to me “the second there’s a debate about your monetization you lost. No one questions magic, that’s how they’ve always done cards. It’s fucking bullshit”
Got to the end and realized that the video never explained how artifact is actually played lol.
40:15 LOL 🤣
For me personally. Artifact is possibly the least fun card game I've played. Due to needing a hero of the right color in a lane in order to use cards of that color. Being on the losing side of a match often ment being unable to play any cards and hitting pass a lot. Strategically, the game was well designed. Having no emotes or chat made my opponent feel more sterile than any other card game I've played online, completely removing the social aspect of a card game for me. And the players who never had to spend money on the game were the ones who could consistently get 4 to 5 wins in the draft mode. Another system which only rewarded the more skilled players.
Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, Team Fortress 2 and Ricochet died for this utter abomination to EXIST.
Oh how the VALVe towers have fallen…
But hey! Atleast we got Aperture Desk Job and Half-Life Alyx keeping those 2 franchises alive!
The rest tho… I dunno about those man. But atleast TF2 is getting SOME updates, and I hope they get more slowly in the near future.
The fact that everyone was wanting a continuation to Valve gemstones like Half-Life and Team Fortress and instead got Artifact led to a lot of negativity that did not fade, and everything went downhill from there. Then them trying to milk as much money as possible from players certainly didn't help. No one wants to be treated like a money milking machine and players will definitely let you know what they feel about that. That negativity from the reveal just tainted everything, even for people who loved the game.
I remember being interested in artifact, but then seeing as the player number dwindled so close after launch, I didn't want to invest money into a game that would likely die quite soon. I'm sad I never got to try it, but I'm also glad I didn't waste money on it.
We hope you guys enjoyed this video that we put together. It was definitely one of the most ambitious ones yet from us, taking months of research, writing, interviews, and editing, but was something fun to attempt!
Did you ever try Artifact? If so, what was your experience like?