"Half-Life: Valve boss Gabe Newell sent out a surprising message a few weeks ago that Valve was still working on the flop CCG Artifact. Just around the same time, Artifact's Twitter account resurfaced for the first time in almost a year, declaring that the game was "in production" and linking to a message promising more information after Alyx's launch.

With Alyx now out and fans freed from the shackles of VR, Valve released a more detailed update on Artifact's near future. Still in the relatively early stages of redevelopment, it looks like big changes are coming, including the ability to zoom out and see three lanes at once. This sounds like a fairly basic feature, but according to Valve, players will have a better grasp of what is happening in the game and will be able to avoid "shutouts" like those that occurred in the original iteration.

An even more significant change is that cards will not be sold as in the first release, but instead must be earned through gameplay. A hero draft mode will also be added to "give players a taste of deck building without the pressure."

All of this is still a ways off; Valve says it is currently testing "baubles" and will send out invitations to early testers in small quantities from original Artifact players once it is done. Development of the game will continue until it is ready to move into open beta testing, after which it will be released in full "hopefully sooner than Dota 2". (Dota 2 was in open beta for about two years, by the way.)

In a brief FAQ, Valve warns that testers for the new Artifact will be chosen from those who have purchased the game to date, so there is no point in buying now to get into the beta before anyone else. (Of course, you can still purchase the game.)

And unfortunately, for those who have splurged on the game, cards, decks, and stats from the original version of Artifact will not be available in the reboot. Individual cards have most likely been changed, removed, or made new."

How the revenue will be generated is not entirely clear at this time; Valve said it has some ideas in this regard, but emphasized that it will not be through card or pack sales. (No date has been announced on this yet, but it is impressive (and surprising) enough that this is happening at this time. is impressive (and surprising) enough that this is happening.