In the last 24 hours, Deadlock’s concurrent player count hit 127,256, pushing the game up to become the 13th most concurrently played game on the platform, according to data from SteamDB. What is even more interesting is that the game has not been released yet.
Months after gameplay footage surfaced across different social media platforms, Valve acknowledged the presence of the game with a listing page on Steam. The page has just a picture and a teaser video.
So, if Deadlock has not been released yet, why has it attracted so many players? The reason is simple. Valve is carrying out a closed testing on the game. During this time, players only have access to the game through an invite from the platform.
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However, invited players can invite other players. Judging from the rate the game’s player count has been rising, our best guess is that players invited by other players can also invite other players. This complex chain makes it logically possible for the game to have over 127,000 players. What is even more interesting is that Valve is still keeping the game a secret.
Invited players are often expected to abide by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). However, the proliferation of gameplay videos from the game clearly shows that someone has broken that agreement.
Valve has already rolled out updates for Deadlock
Deadlock is a work in progress and Valve will continue to roll out updates for the game until a time they feel it is launch-ready. According to Grant Taylor-Hill of Insider Gaming, the new update has introduced wall-jumping mechanics and over 100 balancing changes.
“Players diving into the game yesterday would have noticed a patch being installed, and it seems that Valve is already leaning on community feedback to shape the future of Deadlock,” Hill wrote.
So far, the sentiments about Deadlock from those who have experienced the game have been positive. The most recent patch also addressed problems with pause abuse, matchmaking mechanics, menu interactions, and reporting functions.
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Valve will leverage the feedback from its community to continue developing the game to achieve the same level of success it has enjoyed with Counter-Strike. They will also likely create esports tournaments around the game in the future.
According to Hill, Valve has quickly addressed issues the Deadlock community raised. Players who currently have access to the game are impressed by the speed at which changes happen.
There is so little that players know about the game so far because Valve has been keeping information about the game hush. Details like the number of developers working on the game or when it will be released are currently unknown.
