Olivia Richman 
It looks like the hype over Valve’s upcoming game Deadlock is building despite it never being officially announced, as it’s out-drawing Sony’s struggling hero shooter Concord.
Even though Deadlock hasn’t been revealed by Valve to the public, the hero shooter and MOBA hybrid is already common knowledge and already being watched by trackers like Steam Charts. Though it still hasn’t been officially confirmed by Valve, its player counts are still fairly high. High enough, in fact, that it’s beating out some of its direct competitors.
PlayStation’s take on the hero shooter genre, Concord, is one of those competitors. The game landed with a thud and now finds itself floundering on Steam, even stacked against games that don’t officially exist yet.
How many people are playing Deadlock?
Deadlock is hitting player counts above 2,500, which actually makes it one of Steam’s most popular games despite not even being officially revealed.
That has led to Deadlock being stacked head-to-head with some of its direct competitors. Depending on the time, Deadlock’s player count exceeds games like Concord and MultiVersus. The player count also stands comfortably higher than the likes of Payday 3 at almost all times, according to numbers from SteamDB.
A lot of gamers responded to the high player count with pure shock. Many wondered how there were even people playing the unannounced game.
What even is Deadlock, anyway?
Deadlock is an upcoming hero shooter from Valve that combines shooter gameplay with MOBA elements. The game is likely to be a middle ground between Smite and Fortnite.
Not much is known about Deadlock since it hasn’t been officially announced by Valve, but there have been several leaks showing gameplay. Deadlock is only available to those given a referral by another person with access to the game. It’s most likely exclusive to content creators and players that have a working relationship with Valve.
Many of Deadlock’s heroes have been leaked, showing fantasy-inspired characters with unique abilities. At launch, there may be over 30 heroes on the roster. Among the characters are a robot with a missing eye, a vampire sniper, a samurai, a 1930s-style gangster, and a monkey-pig duo.
The gameplay is six-on-six on a four-lane map that works similarly to a MOBA, complete with minions, towers, and a zipline system for mobility. Deadlock has a third-person perspective that combines gunplay and abilities, similar to Overwatch. A map leak shows many similarities to Dota 2’s map but the ziplines are an interesting addition.
The game may change drastically before launch. The 2,500 players on Steam likely have some feedback for Valve, and much of this is new ground for Valve.
Deadlock is shaping up to be fascinating for shooter fans. Though many are still frustrated over Valve building a new hero shooter when Team Fortress 2 is seemingly positioned for a renaissance.
Valve’s MOBA-style shooter is expected to come out in 2025. If this proves true, it means that there will most likely be an official announcement sometime this year followed by alpha and beta tests. Hopefully, these will include more players than the mysterious playtest currently happening on Steam.
