Sometimes, shortening beta periods is a good sign. Sometimes delays on beta are… well, perhaps not a good sign, but just a necessary one. However, when your beta phase is both shortened and delayed without any change to the game’s planned launch date? That’s enough to raise some eyebrows, and if you’ve been following Artifact’s development we encourage you to raise said eyebrows appropriately. Mouthing a quiet “whaaaaaaaat” is also permitted.
The game’s slightly less-closed invite-only beta is now going to start on November 19th, ahead of the November 28th launch; it was previously meant to start that slightly public beta this month. So now the testing and most of the public feedback will be delayed to a very brief period right before the game launches. You may recall that the last time we talked about Artifact was when an interview revealed that the game would feature no moderation and no way of earning cards through play.
This is fine.
