🔗 Towards A Better Artifact
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.
Back in November 2018 I wrote about how I enjoyed the core gameplay of Artifact but was really scared about its monetization plans. There was no sane way to gain additional cards without paying real money and when you did spend the money you didn't feel good about it. At launch it cost almost $350 to buy every single card off the Steam marketplace. Less than five months later it costs only $50.
I still think there is hope for Artifact but it is not going to be an easy road. A lot of gamers were burned by this version and it will take a lot for them to come back. Even fixing the monetization strategy (I suggested making it a "living card game") will not be enough. The core of the game is going to have to change in a way to make it enticing again.