Valve finally announces impasse, confirms game is in ‘early development’

Valve has finally announced Deadlock, the upcoming hero shooter that has been leaked several times over the past few months. The game is in early development and access is limited to invited playtesters. Images and screenshots of Deadlock have previously surfaced online, but Valve had not confirmed the game’s existence until now.

Deadlock listed on Steam

Deadlock was confirmed via a Steam page listed over the weekend, with Valve listed as the developer and publisher of the title. The studio has not yet provided a release timeline for the shooter, with the mention stating “Planned Release Date: T0o

“Deadlock is in early development with lots of temporary art and experimental gameplay. Access is currently limited to a friend invite via our playtesters,” the Steam listing for the title reads. Users can wishlist the game on the storefront now.

Valve hasn’t released any details about the game, but the Steam page contains a 20-second teaser of an early development build of the game, showing a city block.

Within hours of its announcement, Deadlock reached a record concurrent player count of nearly 90,000 invited users on Steam. At the time of writing, there were 32,788 users were playing the game on Valve’s platform, according to the SteamDB charts.

Testers have revealed that Deadlock is a third-person team-based 6v6 hero shooter, in the vein of Overwatch and Valve’s own Dota 2 and Team Fortress 2.

The game leaked earlier this year in May, with screenshots and gameplay revealing details. Deadlock was previously known as Neon Prime and was reportedly in development since 2018. The hero shooter pits two teams of six against each other across four-lane maps, with each hero having different abilities and gear. Leaks also claimed that the game would be set in a fantasy steampunk world and would feature tower defense mechanics.

Deadlock is Valve’s first game since Counter-Strike 2, which was released in September 2023.