Keeping on #trend with the studio’s whimsical custom of not finishing what it started, Valve has quit development of its DOTA card game. You almost got me this time, Gabe!
First launched in 2018 to instant controversy over its questionable in-game economy, and subsequently rebooted as a New! Improved! But that doesn’t mean we’re not going to cancel it anyway, lol! beta version 2.0 in 2020, Artifact is no more and the team has started work on some other new project it won’t finish, probably. In an update on Artifact’s Steam page, Valve explains that both versions of the game are now free to download like some sort of consolation prize.
Final releases of both Artifact Classic and Artifact 2.0 Beta (renamed Artifact Foundry) are now available. Technically Artifact Foundry remains an unfinished product, but most of what’s missing is polish and art – the core gameplay is all there. While both games will remain playable, we don’t plan to ship any further gameplay updates.
Sucks to be the six or seven guys who paid $20 for it, I guess.