Valve officially announces Deadlock, 'a multiplayer game in early development'

Valve has finally announced the existence of one of the worst-kept secrets in the PC gaming world: its new multiplayer game, Deadlock. Tens of thousands of players have jumped into the game in recent weeks and months, so the company is finally ready for people to start talking about it and sharing impressions.

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With Gamescom, you might have expected Valve to appear at the event and drop a Deadlock announcement trailer. Well, that's not the case. All that's happened is that the Deadlock Store Page on Steam has gone live with a little teaser video that doesn't show much, if anything, and a simple description that reads, "Deadlock is a multiplayer game in early development."

With more and more players jumping into Deadlock, we can confirm that it's a team or hero-based third-person shooter that incorporates mechanics that made Valve's DOTA 2 a hit. Lane-based action, upgrades, fighting creeps, and mini-bosses present a different flavor than Overwatch or Team Fortress 2.

The store page for Deadlock also notes the playable build features "lots of temporary art and experimental gameplay," hinting that an official release or beta could be a while away. That said, even in this experimental or early state, the game is proving to be a hit, with 64,054 peak concurrent players recorded this weekend. That's the sort of number you'd want to see at launch, so Deadlock is off to a great start.

Deadlock is also a hit on Twitch, with several streamers jumping into the game and sharing their experiences with the community. Online hero/character guides are also popping up.

Interestingly, Valve hasn't come forward to talk about the game to media or the community and is simply relying on word-of-mouth and friends sending out invites to friends to spread awareness.