When Valve's Artifact project first debuted, the cards that players could unlock through paid-for booster packs or trade between each other for Steam wallet cash, could cost quite a lot.The most powerful and rarest cards could cost close to $20 each, with full collections of all cards costing upwards of $300 at their peak. Now though, with prices falling for cards across the board, the amount you'd need to spend to get a complete deck of everything is just $100.
That's not exactly cheap, but to give you the entire game and the potential to craft any sort of deck you want, that's not terrible. Magic the Gathering or Hearthstone players would be so lucky to spend so little to have every card at their disposal.
Even if you don't want to buy every card, getting the ones you do want is far cheaper than before. Axe, the most popular and arguably the most valuable card in the game, costs just $5 now, compared to its well-into-double-figures peak.
This is likely caused from more people buying packs and cards becoming far more common as a result. Demand may also be slipping as players complete their collections, and as player numbers for the game dwindle. At the time of writing, Artifact has slipped out of the top 100 Steam games, with around 2,000 concurrent players on average. That makes Artifact the weakest game Valve has released in years and considering its focus on multiplayer, does not bode well for its future.
Are you guys still playing Artifact? Do you think it will have a resurgence in the months to come?