Approximately 12,000 Individuals Currently Engaged in 'Artifact' Session, Remarkable Activity Level In Mystery
Earlier on, Artifact, a game that has been largely neglected for some time, has managed to garner close to 12,000 players on Steam, a figure that has not been seen since its launch. This recent surge is odd, as there doesn't seem to be an identifiable cause for this sudden resurgence.
According to both Steam Charts and SteamDB, Artifact Classic, the primary version of the game, had approximately 11,900 players at the moment of writing, with a 24-hour high of over 12,500. This peak follows a similar trend observed around late-December, where the game climbed up to around 14,000 players for a day before settling back down.
Prior to these recent increases in the last few weeks, Artifact Classic struggled to exceed 1,000 players, save for some community-driven surges and an unexpectedly larger player base in 2024. The game has not experienced a concurrent player count of over 10,000 since December 2018, barely a month after its launch.
Perplexingly, I am unable to find any concrete reasons for this increase in players. Typically, when a game that has lost its popularity experiences a surge in players, it's due to a community campaign or an influencer showcasing the game, but for Artifact, neither of these scenarios appear to be in play. Online Western communities remain as inactive as always, and the Artifact section on Twitch still primarily showcases motion pictures and television shows instead of the game itself.
It's plausible that this surge in players is due to bots, considering the lack of any obvious cause for this increase. If a dead game suddenly gains a large number of players, it's usually due to one of those aforementioned reasons. Given that Western communities and Twitch live streams don't seem to be driving this increase, the possibility of bots becomes increasingly apparent.
You might think that setting up bots to attempt selling cards on the Steam Marketplace could potentially be profitable, but considering the lack of market demand, there would be no financial gain from selling them. Another intriguing theory could be that Valve is using the Artifact section on Steam to test rumored versions of Half Life 3, but that seems highly implausible.
A part of me wishes that these new players are genuinely returning to Artifact and discovering its hidden potential for themselves. However, the more likely scenario is that this is the result of some bot-related incident that I'm currently not privy to. Regardless, it seems unlikely that Artifact will ever make a substantial recovery, so this phenomenon is largely insignificant.
- Despite the increase in players, SteamDB data shows that Artifact Classic, an classic artifact game, hasn't seen a significant boost in popularity since its launch, with a concurrent player count of over 10,000 only occurring in December 2018.
- Interestingly, the surge in players on Steam for Artifact, a game developed by Valve, hasn't been accompanied by an uptick in activity on Western communities or Twitch, leading some to speculate about the possibility of bots.
- In the Steam game database (SteamDB), Artifact Classic, an artifact game that can also be played as a Steam game, boasted a peak of over 12,500 players, but the reason for this unexpected resurgence remains a mystery, with neither Valve nor the community offering any clear explanation.
