Concern for Artifact as Magic: the Gathering creator leaves Valve amid layoffs

Avatar image for uninspiredcup
uninspiredcup

58646

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 86

User Lists: 2

#1  Edited By uninspiredcup
Member since 2013 • 58646 Posts

A game nobody wanted. A game nobody played. A death, nobody cares about.

Concern for Artifact as Magic: the Gathering creator leaves Valve amid layoffs

"We weren't surprised by the layoff considering how rocky the launch was."

Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: the Gathering and designer of struggling digital collectible card game Artifact has left Valve.

In a statement sent to Artifact fan website Artibuff, Garfield confirmed he, alongside colleague Skaff Elias, no longer work at the company.

The confirmation comes amid recent layoffs that saw 13 employees and contractors exit Valve in February. Garfield, via his company 3 Donkeys, was a contractor.

Artifact, which was heavily criticised for its business model, has haemorrhaged players since launch, and is now down to just a few hundred users. The dwindling player base has caused matchmaking issues and means it's now possible to buy all the cards available for the cost of a full-price video game. On Steam, Artifact has a "mixed" user review rating, but it's "mostly negative" when you consider recent reviews - an unprecedented reception for a Valve-developed game on Steam.

"We weren't surprised by the layoff considering how rocky the launch was," Garfield said, "the team was enthusiastic about the game and were confident that they had a good product but it became clear it wasn't going to be easy to get the game to where we wanted it."

Speaking of his own departure from Valve, Garfield said it "makes sense".

"... now that the game is out there time is more critical, so more voices within the team that you have to navigate may not be as good as making less considered decisions faster."

Garfield added the expertise his company 3 Donkeys brought to Valve is now less critical "after listening to us for 4+ years".

Artifact players have been concerned about the future of the game for some time now, but recent developments suggest it needs a miracle to survive. The official Artifact Twitter pagehasn't tweeted since 22nd December 2018, and the game itself hasn't seen an update since 28th January. In short, it's all gone quiet in the world of Artifact.

Garfield, though, sounds surprisingly upbeat about Artifact.

"Both Skaff and I remain optimistic about the quality of the game and have offered our feedback and advice in an ongoing gratis capacity simply because we would like to see the game do as well as we think it can.

"We enjoyed working with Valve and I was impressed with their relentless focus on the quality of the game and experience being offered to the player."

As for Valve, in a statement sent to Variety, the company said it was business as usual despite the layoffs.

"Last month, 13 full-time employees were let go and a portion of our contractor agreements were terminated. It's an unfortunate part of business, but does not represent any major changes at the company. We thank those affected for their contribution and wish them well in future endeavours."

Avatar image for deactivated-5d78760d7d740
deactivated-5d78760d7d740

16386

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

#2 deactivated-5d78760d7d740
Member since 2009 • 16386 Posts

At least they tried, lol. I'll give them points for not giving in to a fad and trying something different.

Avatar image for deactivated-60bf765068a74
deactivated-60bf765068a74

9558

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#3 deactivated-60bf765068a74
Member since 2007 • 9558 Posts

Valve sucks artifact lost 99% of its playerbase and is sitting at around 100 active players, what a joke and they were gonna do a million dollar tournament but it seems canceled

Avatar image for dzimm
dzimm

6615

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 23

User Lists: 0

#4  Edited By dzimm
Member since 2006 • 6615 Posts

I got Artifact for free, and even I feel like I was ripped off.

OK, Valve, you had your fun. Now can you please work on the games we really want?

Avatar image for madrocketeer
madrocketeer

10560

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: -6

User Lists: 0

#5  Edited By madrocketeer
Member since 2005 • 10560 Posts

Valve should just learn to count to 3.

Avatar image for uninspiredcup
uninspiredcup

58646

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 86

User Lists: 2

#6 uninspiredcup
Member since 2013 • 58646 Posts

@dzimm said:

I got Artifact for free, and even I feel like I was ripped off.

OK, Valve, you had your fun. Now can you please work on the games we really want?

It's the probably the first Valve game I've never been inclined to try.

The marketing from the get go has been really poor.

Avatar image for jackamomo
Jackamomo

2157

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 5

#7  Edited By Jackamomo
Member since 2017 • 2157 Posts

I just don't want to play a card game, sorry Gabe... Especially not 3 simultaneously.

Avatar image for Planeforger
Planeforger

19551

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

#8  Edited By Planeforger
Member since 2004 • 19551 Posts

Valve really shouldn't have launched a Richard Garfield card game so close to the release of a Richard Garfield card game.

Garfield's other recent game, Keyforge, has been a large success - and that's mostly because it solved all of the biggest problems with Artifact (low cost to enter, no deckbuilding, broader theme, much less randomness, etc.).

Avatar image for commander
commander

16217

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 11

User Lists: 0

#9 commander
Member since 2010 • 16217 Posts

I just want magic arena to come to xbox, nice song btw.

Avatar image for madsnakehhh
madsnakehhh

18249

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 4

User Lists: 0

#10 madsnakehhh
Member since 2007 • 18249 Posts

This was dead since the announcement, so is no surprise.

Avatar image for Litchie
Litchie

34469

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 13

User Lists: 0

#11  Edited By Litchie
Member since 2003 • 34469 Posts

They went with an insane pricing model instead of a sane one, got huge amount of flak from gamers, and decided to go with the insane pricing model anyway. Sometimes one wonders why complete idiots are working in an industry like this.

I don't think I want a Half-Life 3, L4D 3 or Team Fortress 3 from these guys anymore.

Avatar image for speedytimsi
speedytimsi

1415

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 0

User Lists: 0

#12 speedytimsi
Member since 2003 • 1415 Posts

I'm sure Richard Garfield will do just fine lol

Avatar image for R4gn4r0k
R4gn4r0k

45996

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 1

User Lists: 0

#13 R4gn4r0k
Member since 2004 • 45996 Posts

Any devs still working at Valve?

Avatar image for uninspiredcup
uninspiredcup

58646

Forum Posts

0

Wiki Points

0

Followers

Reviews: 86

User Lists: 2

#14  Edited By uninspiredcup
Member since 2013 • 58646 Posts

@commander said:

I just want magic arena to come to xbox, nice song btw.

The rippy rap version is gud, he talks about how tuff he is, how difficult the hood was, and who of his brothers are real.

Loading Video...