The biggest surprise The International 2017 at the moment – this is not a rigid dominance of teams from China (which was to be expected), and the announcement of the new game from Valve. For the first time since 2013, the year – since the release of Dota 2 – Company Gabe Newell does something new.
About Half-Life 3 online never get tired joke – it is clear that it was not him. Valve creates a trading card game, and the public reaction to it, frankly, mixed.
Let’s try for a couple (three? See what we did there?) Minutes reject aside the poison, bile, skepticism, bitter regret for Left 4 Dead 3 and Portal 3, and still think about how Valve may make of the quality TCG, which will not be lost in the crowd of competitors.
The first and most effective element of leverage, that is, the power lever – ittrading platform Steam . As is well known, any one of the largest currently existing TCG physically no tool exchange cards between players. Hearthstone, Gwent, The Elder Scrolls: Legends avoid it. Perhaps afraid that players will be less Donati. Tremendous interest in the share because of it simply disappears.
Valve may go the other way. Of course, there are scandals on Steam, with sometimes very large, but it is still the most reliable platform for the exchange of make-up and in-game items for friends and for strangers. Now imagine that this powerful marketing tool at the service of Artifact.
Maybe Gabe will introduce some limitations: for example, in a month you can buy and sell no more than X cards or trade itself is possible only with those who are in your friends list for Y weeks. Although if you look at the boxes CS: GO, you can suggest something quite different. Valve just let the economy Artifact card to float freely, with a percentage on each transaction. The risk is higher, but the huge profits.
Such a “wild capitalism” will open the company’s endless possibilities. Let’s say, Valve will be releasing alternative guises for existing addition of new maps: all options remain the same, changing only a picture. Again, judging by the weapon skins CS: GO, it will use the wild popularity.
Second leverage not for the game itself, and even related trade mechanic. It now will be on the “specific weight” of Valve’s . Even Bethesda with its TES: Legends is incredibly difficult to compete with Blizzard as part of an all-powerful Activision.
Gwent despite the popularity of the third, “The Witcher”, too, can not otest significant market share from the Hearthstone. And then appears on the scene Valve with all its roulette, shops, cases, skins and shadow on the billions of dollars in turnover. Like it or not, but this is the first of the Blizzard a serious competitor, which alone is capable of marketing budgets to crush all the others.
Hence, too, stems, and the third point – instant entry into the big eSports . And it’s not just the huge money Valve: Artifact created from scratch, and in the universe of Dota 2, which is known and loved almost everything. The International-2017 set an absolute world record in the prize pool -. $ 24 million course, Gabe will not immediately hold as a major event for the new project, but Artifact obviously do not have to break through to the competitive scene to fight, as it does Gwent. The strength of a suitable brand often decides everything, and one only, “The Witcher” (which does not even have multiplayer) is not enough to kick open the doors.
The fourth point – is the so-called Twitch–drops. Most recently, this Bethesda mechanics successfully used to promote their TES: Legends. It works very simply – streamers runs periodically RNG (random number generator), whereby each viewer has a chance to receive a gift card.
And yet, nothing new: in fact these very same-drops invented Valve back in 2014. Viewers tournaments CS: GO then handed out special “souvenir package”. Surely Artifact team anticipates how Valve through its titanic generosity (at least in the initial stage of promotion) crush almost all competitors – except Hearthstone.
And the last point. I warn you once – the least realistic. Prepare: fantastic graphics . Hearthstone released on mobile platforms, TES: Legends – also in CD Projekt did not exclude the possibility of porting Gwent on Android and iOS. In this mobile platform are the natural technical limitation.
Artists and programmers, and so have to cut back on just about anything, and the complaint of smartphone owners do not cease: the size of Hearthstone application becomes more and more, besides it is also a retarding on some phones.
It can be assumed – but no, you can not … – Come on: still assume that Valve will make Artifact exclusive to Steam, and this will allow it to roam in terms of graphics. Although there is a binge? Look at the Dota 2 and CS: GO: Even in the time of release, they looked a little simplistic, but gamers still do not complain. Valve too fond of money, so Artifact likely be ported to mobile platforms – with all its consequences.
The bottom line is, there are only two of the important factors, “a card economy” with the exchange and the sale on Steam platform, and excessive weight of Gabe in the eSports scene. Two support points may be sufficient to Artifact became a hit, despite the doubts of skeptics army.
