Valve’s shiny new toy Deadlock is flourishing, but with a potential price for the developer’s darling

Valve opened the gates in August for new players to finally test Deadlockthe new third-person MOBA shooter that the developer has been working on for years, and it looks like the exciting game is now really coming to life. Dota2 players abandon ship.

Deadlock was initially closed to the public, only available to a few thousand players. However, when Valve allowed existing players to invite their friends, the game quickly surpassed 150,000 concurrent players in September. On the other hand, Dota 2’s player count has gone into a downward spiral, dropping below 600,000, the game’s lowest player count in over a year. While Dota 2’s The number of players has declined since May, the decline has accelerated visibly with Deadlocks growing popularity, especially among popular streamers like Shroud and AverageJonas.

Many players expressed their concerns this week through various messages on Dota2‘s subreddit, which asks whether the game will be slowly abandoned due to DeadlockOnly a few players admitted to being completely crazy about the new game. However, many are convinced that the two very different MOBAs can coexist perfectly well. Dota2 offers a traditional MOBA experience, where you control your character by right-clicking on the three-lane map. On the other hand, Deadlock This allows you to move around the four lanes using your keyboard (W, A, S and D) and damage enemy targets with your weapon and skills, just like in any other shooting game.

Despite similar games like Heroes of the Storm, To hitAnd Pokémon Unite released in the last decade, Dota2has maintained a firm grip on its player base. Historically, Dota 2’s The number of players peaked each year when The International Battle Pass was released. This allowed players to play levels to unlock many rewards. The most elusive rewards (Arcanas) were tied to higher levels.

Valve recently switched away from the battle pass system and now focuses on gameplay updates instead of skins. In 2023, Valve replaced it with the Compendium. Players clearly have no desire to grind for Compendium rewards (without skins), causing the TI pool (crowdfunded via in-game sales) to drop from tens of millions to just $2,391,612 USD in 2024.

While thousands of players are sure to leave Dota2 behind Valve’s new MOBA, Deadlock‘s popularity can also be attributed to the fact that it is an easier game to play, especially for beginners. In the early development stage, Deadlock offers only 21 heroes to learn, as opposed to 125 Dota2 characters after the recent addition of Ringmaster on August 22.

Or the continuous improvements for Deadlock help it surpass Dota 2’s however, the number of players this year will be visible Counterattack 2 doesn’t seem to be affected by the new game.