Deadlock, the one game Valve refuses to publicly acknowledge, is currently undergoing an extensive playtest, which recently opened up to waves of new players. So many have flocked to the game that it now has more players than its supposed main competitor, Smite.

According to SteamDB, Deadlock currently has around 9,171 concurrent players (as of August 10), while Smite has a slightly lower player count of around 7,360 concurrent players. As a third-person MOBA, Deadlock is attempting to tackle the market that has been dominated by Smite for years, as no other game has achieved this level of popularity in the past decade.

Of all the leaks we’ve seen in recent months, Deadlock will feature four lanes with six heroes per team, whose design, oddly enough, feels more like Overwatch than anything else. Yet Deadlock, in terms of its core gameplay, feels the most like Smite, and Valve is well aware of that.

Valve has been reaching out to former and current Smite pros, inviting them to play Deadlock early and share their thoughts on the game. Dexerto reported in early June that Valve had invited virtually every Smite pro and content creator under the sun. One of them, Incon, told the outlet that Valve "plays to win" and "feels Deadlock is set up for success." Hi-Rez Studios, the team behind Smite and its upcoming engine update Smite 2, will have a tough time competing with Valve's latest project, Incon said.