Deadlock closed‑beta surge

Valve’s Deadlock is still invite-only, but it is posting player counts that many shipped Steam games never reach. (steamdb.info) SteamDB showed Deadlock at 80,724 players at its 24-hour peak on April 14, 2026, with 60,020 playing at the time of capture and an all-time peak of 171,490. Valve’s Steam page still labels it “in early development” and says access is limited to friend invites from existing playtesters. (steamdb.info) (store.steampowered.com) The game has been in regular public patch cadence for months. Valve’s official Deadlock forum lists updates on March 6, March 21, March 25, and April 10, 2026, after a long run of patches through 2025. (forums.playdeadlock.com) Deadlock mixes multiplayer online battle arena structure with a third-person shooter camera: teams fight over lanes, neutral camps, and base objectives, but aiming and movement happen in real time. Valve tags the Steam page with “MOBA,” “Third-Person Shooter,” and “Hero Shooter.” (store.steampowered.com) Valve has been reworking ranked and matchmaking while the test is still closed. Ranked mode was added on October 10, 2024 with a 50-match requirement and limited queue windows, then Valve replaced the split normal-versus-ranked pools on November 21, 2024 with one primary matchmaking mode and immediate badge updates. (forums.playdeadlock.com 1) (forums.playdeadlock.com 2) Street Brawl has also become part of the live test, not a side concept. Valve’s January 30, 2026 update added hero banning to both Standard Mode and Street Brawl, a sign that the mode had moved into the same balancing loop as the main game. (forums.playdeadlock.com) The community tools around the game have grown alongside the player count. Valve reworked the Hero Builds system on August 1, 2024 so players could browse public builds by popularity and create custom item categories inside the shop interface. (forums.playdeadlock.com) Valve has also exposed enough infrastructure for players to tinker. A September 12, 2024 update added a `private_lobby_create` console command for custom lobbies on Valve servers, and forum threads now routinely discuss configs, commands, and community-made tools. (forums.playdeadlock.com 1) (forums.playdeadlock.com 2) What Deadlock still does not have is a release date or a public launch switch. On Steam, Valve says the planned release date is “to be announced,” and the store page still carries no user reviews because the game is not yet broadly available. (store.steampowered.com)