Valve’s Deadlock quickly surged to 90,000 players after official announcement

Some might say that hero shooter fatigue is happening in the industry right now. In fact, I’ve said that myself and it often seems to prove true (RIP Concord). But sometimes that’s not true at all. Whether it’s the stylized superheroes of Marvel Rivals or the new heroes of Valve’s Deadlock, it really depends on the game.

Deadlock’s debut was somewhat confusing. The Verge detailed every aspect of the early testing before anyone else, as no NDAs or actual embargoes were sent to anyone playing. Deadlock had around 20,000 players before it was officially announced, thanks to a widespread invite system, but now? Now that Valve has officially announced it, concurrent players on Steam have skyrocketed to 90,000 – and that’s still within the invite system.

Valve’s official debut, i.e. actually putting the game on the store, is still incredibly lukewarm. It’s not even what you’d call a “promotion,” it’s just a literal acknowledgement that it exists. Here’s the full “About this game” section:

Early Development Build – Deadlock is still in early development with a lot of temporary art and experimental gameplay.

Restricted Access – Currently, access to Deadlock is restricted to playtesters and friend invites.

In fact, this is very early, earlier than many games in closed alpha, but it’s resonating very well with fans, despite Valve’s lack of enthusiasm for promoting it. There’s no release date, but this is… a new shooter from Valve. Valve! A company that barely makes games anymore! This is a big deal in the industry, and with 90,000 players in a live version limited by an invite-only “playtest” situation, it’s easy to imagine that this could become a true monster in the new future as Valve opens it up more and adds more over time. Meanwhile, players will be watching streams, making character tier lists, and everything will be as if it was officially released.

It’s a strange situation, since there’s no roadmap for what’s to come for Deadlock, and this initial surge of interest may die down if no meaningful progress is made or if it’s not opened up to more players. But one thing is clear: this is a game that tens, maybe hundreds of thousands, of people are itching to play, and if Valve actually has big long-term plans for Deadlock, they might be tempted to be a bit more responsive to it.

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Check out my sci-fi novels, the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.