Valve’s worst-kept secret, Deadlock, is already approaching 200,000 total players, suggests renowned Source dataminer Gabe Follower. The game is also seeing impressive concurrent player numbers for something that doesn’t officially exist and is slowly making its way to the top of Steam’s charts.
Valve's unannounced hero shooter has already attracted over 10,000 players
Gabe Follower posted a screenshot of the SteamDB page for Deadlock, an unannounced in-development MOBA created by Valve. As of the evening of August 11th, the game had nearly 17,000 concurrent players. He added that the game already has over 200,000 players and is looking to break the 20,000 concurrent player barrier. This increase in player count can be attributed to Valve’s recent decision to relax its invite process, allowing players to invite anyone on their Steam friends list.
We previously reported on how Deadlock is steamrolling past Smite, the supposed main competitor in the third-person MOBA genre. In the report, we noted how Valve is also targeting former and current pro Smite players, as well as prominent figures from other games like Overwatch, giving them keys to test the game and provide valuable feedback. That, combined with word of mouth and casual invites, has likely propelled the unannounced project to these levels.
From the leaks and the official Deadlock forums and Discord, the best way to describe the game is as a true MOBA with lanes, carries, supports, neutral camps (Jungle), and a Roshan Nashor-esque boss that spawns mid-game. It features elements mainly found in Overwatch, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2, with heavy borrowings from Smite and, to some extent, Heroes of the Storm.
