Back in December, Artifact’s player numbers dropped to 20% of its all-time peak, but Valve released a big update on 21 December so one would think the player numbers would have at least increased a little. That is, unfortunately for Valve and Artifact, not the case, as the Artifact player numbers have dropped to an all-time low.
Related: Artifact Review
In my review, I praised Artifact and I stand by that praise, as it is an extremely deep and rewarding digital card game. However, it is hard to ignore the cries of “pay-to-win” and since there is no way to earn cards except for paying for them, gamers are not happy and rightly so.
That’s probably the biggest reason why Artifact player numbers have dropped by over 95% compared to its all-time peak of over 60,000. According to Steam Charts, the total peak player numbers for Artifact in the last 24 hours is only 3126, which is extremely low for a Valve game, or actually any decent game on Steam right now.
It is a pretty big hole that Artifact is in right now and I, for one, believe the only real way to save the game is not with updates, but by making it free-to-play as Valve did with CS: GO. After CS: GO went free-to-play, the player numbers saw a massive increase and even though Valve has been banning cheaters left and right ever since Artifact shouldn’t have that problem.
Further, Valve really needs to add a way to get cards just by playing the game without having to purchase tickets. It is without a doubt the big thing holding the game back and the reason for the current Artifact player number situation.
What do you think about the massive decline in Artifact players and what can Valve do to save the game? Let us know in the comment section below.
