There are nearly as many people playing Valve’s unreleased and invite-only game Deadlock on Steam as there are people playing the resurgent Overwatch. Deadlock was actually the sixth most played game on Steam in January in the US, according to stat-tracking company Circana. It’s an indication, if such an indication was needed, that Valve’s next multiplayer game is shaping up to be something big.

Deadlock is a team-based hero shooter, hence the Overwatch comparison, but it’s also a MOBA. It’s a mash of Valve’s other games Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2, really. You pick a kind of 1930s gangster-inspired fantasy hero, then you set about earning cash while killing computer-controlled characters in ‘lanes’ so you can buy upgrades and power yourself up, and overwhelm the opposing team of players.

Deadlock was softly launched a while ago, in the autumn of 2024, and being Valve’s next game, naturally had a lot of interest. But player numbers dropped off until in January this year, a large Old Gods, New Blood update was released. This brought six new characters to the game along with a new faster game mode, and overhauled a large part of the overall experience.

The effect of the update was dramatic, propelling concurrent player numbers from a highpoint of around 30,000 at the start of the year, according to SteamDB, to a peak of 125,000 concurrents 24 hours ago. Overwatch, by comparison, has a current peak Steam playerbase of 134,000.

Deadlock’s numbers are all the more remarkable because you can’t freely access the game. You need someone currently playing to invite you which, granted, is fairly easily done – plenty of streamers and Deadlock-specialising creators are handing codes out – but it isn’t open access. It’s also not being advertised or pushed by Valve in any way. The Deadlock Steam page doesn’t have much information on it at all. Yet, people are flocking to it.

In many ways, it’s not surprising. Valve’s pedigree is unquestionable, with Team Fortress 2 arguably creating the hero shooter – a formula Blizzard borrowed and honed for Overwatch – and Dota 2 being one of the most popular MOBAs (and games full stop) in the world today. Dota 2’s current peak concurrent player base is 830,000, which is staggering. It’s the second most played game on Steam.

Deadlock currently has no release date, nor is there any word when it will be available openly to test and play.