Valves Deadlock passes Team Fortress 2's all time peak player count

[Foundry69]

Valves MOBA shooter Deadlock has reached a new all time peak of 262,145 concurrent players, according to SteamDB, PC Gamer reports. That beats Team Fortress 2's Steam peak of 253,997. Deadlock is still invite only, which makes the number even more impressive. The surge came as Valve added the last of six new heroes

The new hero is Solomon, a chess themed mage. His gun is a chess board, and players say it sets up a different historical game position on each reload, depending on how many bullets are loaded. It is the kind of quirky design detail that makes Valve's games memorable. Players have clearly been keen to try him

PC Gamer's Justin Wagner notes that the comparison is not perfect. Team Fortress 2's Steam peak does not include its players on Xbox 360 and PS3. PC gaming was also much smaller when TF2 was at its height. And TF2's numbers have been affected over the years by bots and idle servers

Even so, Wagner calls it an impressive showing for Deadlock, given that the MOBA genre is notoriously hard to break into. League of Legends and Dota 2 have dominated for well over a decade. Valve's own previous attempt at something new in that space, the card game Artifact, failed badly. Deadlock seems to be succeeding where others have struggled

It is a nice reminder that Valve can still surprise people. Deadlock mixes hero shooter action with MOBA strategy in a way that feels fresh. Keeping it invite only has built anticipation without the pressure of a full launch. If it keeps growing, it could become one of Valve's biggest games

Have you played Deadlock? And can it challenge Dota 2 and League of Legends long term?

Deadlock surpasses Team Fortress 2www.pcgamer.com

[Matrix71]

Got an invite a few months ago and have sunk far too many hours into it. It feels like a mix of Overwatch and Dota, but somehow works. The heroes are inventive and the maps are packed with detail. Solomon sounds brilliant. The art style has grown on me a lot

[Tel86]

Artifact was a disaster, so it is nice to see Valve get this right. They have learned from past mistakes. Slow, careful development seems to suit Deadlock

No rushing to market. Learning from failure is a sign of a healthy studio. Valve's patience is paying off this time

[Red Wrench]

Beating TF2's peak while invite only is impressive. TF2 was free to play and hugely popular for years

Deadlock reaching that level before full release shows strong demand. The full launch could be enormous. Valve rarely rushes, and it shows. Invite systems also keep servers stable during growth. It is a sensible way to scale

[QueueJump58]

MOBAs are notoriously hard for newcomers. Deadlock's shooter elements might make it more approachable for people who find Dota intimidating

That could help it grow beyond the usual MOBA audience. Accessibility matters. First person combat feels more natural to many players

[ParallelSelf56]

Bots and idle servers did inflate TF2's numbers for years. Comparing peaks across different eras is always tricky. But Deadlock's growth is real and steady

That is more important than any single record. Comparisons across eras are always tricky. Still, a record is a record