Valve officially announces Deadlock, a game ‘in early development’

Valve has finally, officially announced Deadlock, in the most minimal way imaginable. The game now has a Steam page that lists Valve as its developer and publisher, and a simple notice:

Deadlock is in early development with lots of temporary art and experimental gameplay. Access is currently limited to friend invite via our playtesters.

Valve provides no other details, just an animated teaser image. (You can see a still screenshot of it above.) The system requirements only mention that the game requires a 64-bit processor and operating system.

While the game has ostensibly been a secret until now, details about it have been trickling out for months. Information started to emerge from closed playtests in May. By August, tens of thousands of people were playing the game, as more players invited their friends to check it out. The Verge received an invite and published a hands-on preview last week.

Today, many streamers are playing the game live, including Shroud, after admin Yoshi said in the game's Discord that Valve was lifting its rules against public conversation.

While Deadlock seems like another promising addition to Valve's lineup of big multiplayer games, it's unclear if it will have sustained popularity like Counter-Strike or Dota 2 or will eventually fizzle out like Artifact.