Summary

  • Artifact mysteriously gained 12,000 players, a significant jump from its usual count.
  • The surge in players started on December 31, raising suspicions about potential bot activity or piracy.
  • The player base remains confused by the sudden spike, as this isn't the first time Artifact has seen unexplained surges.

For some mysterious reason, Valve's Artifact card battler game had a sudden player count spike, going up to nearly 12,000 players before disappearing in a day. Artifact is a game that was first released in 2018 and is a card game that is set in the Dota 2 universe. This game specifically is known for having an incredibly mixed reception upon its reveal, with many believing Valve was chasing the trend set by Blizzard's Hearthstone. The disappointment and mild enthusiasm for the game turned into hostility when Artifact's pricing and monetization models were revealed as well.

Artifact was seemingly abandoned almost a few months after it launched, going a full year without updates. Valve announced a retooling of the game in the form of Artifact 2.0, but these plans also fell through. As such, Artifact 2.0's cancelation resulted in it going completely free-to-play, with the old version of the game becoming Artifact Classic and the retooled game being Artifact Foundry, with no further plans for development. While the game had a brief surge in players in 2021 after it went free-to-play, the title is effectively dead. For some reason or another, the defunct game recently had a sudden spike in players.

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Based on some data by SteamDB, Artifact got over 12,000 players on January 1, 2025, a major step up as the game usually averages barely over 100 players on most days. The sudden player spike seems to have started on December 31, going from 400 to suddenly 4000 players within an hour. While the number doesn't quite reach the game's concurrent peak player count of over 60,000 during Artifact's initial launch, it's a strange phenomenon to see the title suddenly shoot up in numbers.

Artifact's Sudden 'Popularity' Explained

For the most part, the Artifact player base is mainly confused about how and why this defunct game suddenly had 12,000 players. Artifact's spike from when it went free-to-play in 2021 barely cracked over 1000 concurrent players; getting 12K out of nowhere over the course of two days is certainly strange. The fact this momentum crashed and burned back down to its average of 150 is also suspicious.

This isn't the first time that Artifact has seen a sudden player spike in 2024, as it also happened on December 14. The player count shot up to 14,000, hung around that number for a few days, and then went back down on the 17th. The Artifact player community isn't sure what has been causing the sudden surge of players, though many suspect that it could be due to scam bots increasing their playtime to make their Steam account look legitimate. While the other theory involves playing pirated video games, the answer to this question about Artifact is still a mystery.

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Artifact Tag Page Cover Art

Artifact
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Strategy
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Top Critic Avg: 77 /100 Critics Rec: 65%
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Released
November 28, 2018
ESRB
e
Developer(s)
Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)
Valve Corporation
Engine
Source 2
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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STREAMLINED GAMEPLAY: We've taken the essence of Artifact and refined it based on community feedback:
All 3 lanes are in view at the same time.
Unified mana pool across lanes.
Dramatically reduced the degree to which randomness affects gameplay.

ALL-NEW CONTENT: Over 100 new cards, including over 20 new heroes!
Extended tutorial and playable demo scenarios for each hero.
New PvE content: Beginner campaign and standalone challenges.
New PvP mode: Hero Draft.

FREE AND OPEN: Artifact Foundry is free to play. Cards are unlocked solely through gameplay, with no pack purchasing.
ARTIFACT CLASSIC

THE CARD GAME REIMAGINED: A collaboration between legendary card game designer Richard Garfield and Valve, Artifact Classic is a digital card game that combines deeply strategic, competitive gameplay with the rich setting of Dota 2. The result is an immersive and visually stunning trading card game unlike any other.

STRATEGY UNBOUNDED: Wield your deck across three lanes of combat, answer every move of your opponent with one of your own. Unlimited hand size. Unlimited number of units you control. Unlimited mana you can employ.
 

Platform(s)
macOS, Microsoft Windows
Genre(s)
Strategy
OpenCritic Rating
Strong