Artifact, a digital card game once considered a competitor to games like Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering has officially thrown in the towel for good. In a statement released today, Valve confirmed the cancelation of all further gameplay updates.

Artifact Classic and the Artifact 2.0 beta (now renamed Artifact Foundry) will now be available for free and remain playable, despite the latter being "an unfinished product" by Valves own description. The decision comes from the frank reveal that both games failed to generate "active player numbers to a level that justifies further development".

Despite an initial hype period during Artifacts 2018 release, the game was marred by an unpopular in-game economy and complicated gameplay that attracted only the most dedicated of card-game enthusiasts.

While the reasons for Artifacts' failure are nuanced, the game's inability to capture the casual card-game audience was likely it's most costly failing. Ironically,  Artifact is now available for free on steam, something the small but loyal community of Artifact fans have been asking for since 2018.