Deadlock’s testing phase began in late 2023, although exact dates and initial numbers are unknown. At some point, possibly in May 2024, a true private test began. It seems that its first 2,000 or so testers were invited directly by Valve or existing testers. This was when Deadlock first became known to the world in the form of public tracking through websites like Steam DB.
Within a few days, the first leaks had surfaced. These leaks showed characters, gameplay, and more, but details were still scarce. At this time the first communities began to form among the few thousand players who had access. , private YouTube channels, and Steam groups began to form. While these communities were initially limited to only those who had access, they quickly grew to include theorycrafters, casters, pro players from other games, and more.
Then, in late July, a more public friend-invite system was implemented, and the number of players began to increase. Between July 28 and August 18, the number of players grew from around 2,500 to over 44,000. Players who joined the beta during this time were asked not to leak details via a simple dialogue box. However, it was during this time that The Verge published an August 13 leak that caused controversy, and a matchmaking ban was placed on an account allegedly linked to the journalist.
On August 23, Valve went public for the first time with Deadlock, publishing a Steam page that almost met the minimum guidelines, and a blog post. More importantly, it lifted the ban on streaming and making videos about the game, which led to a massive surge in streaming numbers for the title. The game jumped from zero to over 100,000 viewers on Twitch, which is similar to a AAA game release day. In addition, invites began to flow in. In less than a week, the game had hit 100,000 concurrent players. As we enter September, the game threatens to hit 200,000 users with each passing week, and the number of installs is likely far higher.
Since this soft announcement and release, the game has progressed on a traditional Early Access development path. In the early days of the beta, online matchmaking was based on timing, with European servers opening later, and US servers starting a little late for some East Coast players. Now there’s 24-hour matchmaking. There are blog posts on Steam when new features are added, but there’s still no big hype. The expected trailer and reveal at The International 2024 never happened, and Valve hasn’t even really updated its store page since August 23. It doesn’t feel like a marketing campaign, but at the same time, this is a much more polished game than you’d expect in beta testing. And the game is still beating its day one release on Steam. So what’s going on?
