Valve has announced a release date and price for Artifact. The card collection game is based on its popular MOBA, Dota 2. The Artifact release date is November 28 for Windows, macOS, and Linux via Steam. Artifact's price is $19.99 (around Rs. 1,366). Artifact Android and iOS release date is slated for 2019. At the time of filing this story there's no Steam page for the game yet, so there's a good chance it might be priced less for India when it eventually hits. The game will ship with 280 cards and players will be able to buy and sell them on the Steam Community Marketplace according to Touch Arcade. This could result in an interesting economy around the game, but could also crash and burn as we saw with Diablo 3's auction house during its early days.
Unlike other card collection games, Artifact will not be free-to-play and it won’t be pay-to-win either, Valve claimed earlier in the year. That being said, you will be able to purchase cards via the marketplace. Bargain hunting will be an important element for building your deck of cards but their power will not be tied to rarity. Valve is looking to towards players playing and understanding the game over time to provide advantages over simply spending more money.
Compared to Hearthstone where cards are rotated out of use each year, the company plans to make Artifact cards relevant beyond that by emphasising on deck-building and theory crafting. Money made from Artifact will go into tournaments akin to Dota 2’s compendium. An option to spectate card packs being opened is being considered as well.
It is also important to note that Artifact will not have a single-player campaign or a story mode. There is no single-player content planned for Artifact other than the ability to play against its AI which could be useful to hone strategies. While most card games don’t have single-player modes, the likes of Hearthstone’s Dungeon Run and Gwent’s solo story are welcome attempts at increasing their lifespan. Evidently Valve doesn’t deem this important just yet.
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