Virtus.Pro released 2 out of 3 Artifact players

Artifact has become the #1 disappointment of 2018, and some players are experiencing the fallout of this unfortunate circumstance. The Virtus.pro General Manager Roman Dvoryankin has made a statement, that the team was releasing two of its players, Maria "Harleen" Kobzar and Artem "DrHippi" Kravets.

Here is what Mr. Dvoryankin said in the official statement:

Ole «Naiman» Batyrbekov will continue to represent the organization in Artifact. However, the game’s and its competitive scene’s current development rate forces us to reduce our presence there, so today we bid farewell to harleen and DrHippi. I wish to thank Maria and Artem for their readiness to switch disciplines; it is unfortunate that the discipline itself could not support their ambition.

The main problem with Artifact right now, according to the players, is the absence of a competitive ladder. Streamers and professional players report that they have nothing to play for and find it hard to maintain motivation.

There are rumors, that Valve is gearing to release Artifact on mobile devices together with a story-based campaign and ladder. If they are true, we might still see players returning to the game.