Summary
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Artifact has mysteriously gained 12,000 players, a significant jump from its usual number.
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The surge in players began on December 31st, raising suspicions of potential bot or piracy activity.
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The player base remains confused by the sudden increase, as this is not the first time Artifact has experienced unexplained increases.
For some mysterious reason, Valve's Artifact The card battle game had a sudden spike in player numbers, reaching nearly 12,000 players before disappearing within a day. Artifact is a game that was first released in 2018 and is a card game that is set in Dota 2 universe. This game in particular is known for having an incredibly mixed reception upon reveal, with many believing that Valve was following the trend set by Blizzard. Hearthstone. Disappointment and mild excitement for the game turned to hostility when ArtifactPricing and monetization models were also revealed.
Artifact it was apparently abandoned almost a few months after launch, going a full year without updates. Valve announced a retooling of the game in the form of Artifact 2.0but these plans also fell through. As such, Artifact 2.0Its cancellation resulted in a completely free game, becoming the old version of the game Classic artifact and the game being reused Artifact Foundrywithout further development plans. While the game saw a brief spike in player numbers in 2021 after going free-to-play, the title is effectively dead. For one reason or another, the defunct game recently had a sudden spike in players.
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Based on data from SteamDB, Artifact had over 12,000 players on January 1, 2025, a significant milestone as the game typically has over 100 players on most days. The sudden increase in players seems to have started on December 31st, going from 400 to 4000 players in an hour. While the number does not quite reach the number of concurrent players of more than 60,000 during the game Artifactupon its initial release, it's a strange phenomenon to see the title suddenly increase in numbers.
The sudden “popularity” of the artifact was explained
For the most part, Artifact The player base is mostly confused about how and why this defunct game suddenly had 12,000 players. ArtifactHis spike since going free-to-play in 2021 has barely cracked over 1000 competitive players; getting 12K out of nowhere within two days is definitely weird. The fact that this momentum has broken down and reverted to its 150 average is also suspect.
This is not the first time Artifact saw a spike in players in 2024, as it did on December 14th. The number of players rose to 14,000, stayed around that number for several days, then dropped again on the 17th. Artifact The gaming community isn't sure what caused the sudden increase in players, though many suspect it could be due to rogue 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 it is still a mystery.