Artifact players drop below 1,000 — a 98% loss since launch

On its two-month anniversary since its launch, Artifact “celebrates” its lowest point yet. The game’s player base has dipped below 1,000 for the first time ever, while its peaks are in the 2,000 range.

This continues Artifact’s free fall into apparent nothingness. Although esports tournaments have managed to attain some popularity, especially the recent WePlay Agility, there are fewer and fewer people willing to stay in the game. If one is to take the new lowest number of 948 and compare it to the players on launch, it means that Artifact has lost more than 98% of its players in mere two months.

The value of a full Artifact collection is also decreasing daily. This, in turn, makes investing in card packs nonsensical. According to one website, an estimated value of a card pack is below $0.80. With packs being sold for $2 apiece still, that’s quite the value loss. A full Artifact collection costs $75 at the time of this article — $20 lower than just a week ago.

• Read more: Full Artifact collection now costs mere $90, as the game has lost 97% of its players

Valve has also been silent on the matter, which is not making the community happy. The company’s last tweet was on Dec. 22, with not a word of future plans since. What’s even more worrying is that Artifact is getting closer to the numbers of Eternal. A card game by an indie developer, Eternal’s all-time peak was 2,800, meaning Dire Wolf’s product is already better at retaining its fans.

Artifact has also fallen out of Steam’s top 150 most played games. It’s currently 156th below Deponia: a five-year-old single player quest adventure.

The community’s theories for Artifact’s downfall are numerous, as are the theorycrafted solutions. One thing is for certain, however: Valve need to act quick, before there’s no one left to care about Artifact’s future in the first place.